You have some good friends, they may be long-time friends, or new to the fold, and you are itching to share your love of board games with them. Obviously (to you) it would be a great way to hang out and get to know them better, but how do you successfully introduce newbies to our hobby without scaring them away? Think of it as a game: There are (loose) rules and strategies!
When gathering with inexperienced players, whether old friends or new, your goal is to keep the barriers of resistance low by making them as fun and accessible as possible.
Games for newbies should fit the following criteria:
- *Easy to set up — You don’t want them getting bored or antsy before the game even starts.
- Easy to learn — Remember: easy for a newbie, not easy for an experienced gamer!
- Finishes quickly — In case anyone doesn’t like it, it is over with quickly. And if they DO like it, you can play another game right away with them feeling more confident about what is happening
- Has a silly or entertaining component to it — you may be a *serious* gamer, but you’ll win people over by making sure they have some laughs along the way
We have found a few games that fit the bill that we put out on the newbie table at Flamingocon:
- Mantis — Colors, theft and…shrimp? A card game from the creators of Exploding Kittens. Seems like a kids’ game and has about two rules and colorful cartoonish drawings, but is quite silly and entertaining.
- Flip 7 — Push your luck! Easy to learn, unexpected twists, good silly fun.
- Camel Cup — On-track betting, on Camels? Just the tiniest bit of strategy, anyone could win, cute camels, fun pyramid dice shaker.
- Sagrada — Create a stained glass masterpiece! A game with pretty dice and a famous location people may have been to, understandable goals.
- Dice Miner — Explore the mines! A fun dice game where you get to give each other beer dice, plays quickly
After a fun time playing these entry-level games, you’ll get a sense whether your friends want to move on to a game with a bit more commitment and strategy. Tell them about your favorite strategy games such as to Ticket To Ride, Wing Span or Clank. Build their enthusiasm now that you’ve got them hooked.
You may be itching to pull out a 9-person Cthulhu Wars or Terraforming Mars with all six expansions, but that’ll have to wait until they are ready. The gaming friends are out there; you just have to level them up first!
