As the forever board game host, I’ve got a ton of games to play, with a ton of rules. All my friends are casual players, meaning sometimes you really can’t get into the nuts and bolts of every game without having to make some concessions because not everyone is as into each board game as you are.
Depending on the difficulty, the in-depth nature of the ruleset, or the genre of board game, you’ve got a lot to consider when introducing casual players. Luckily, there are several games that are beginner-friendly, but even those don’t mean you won’t have to cut corners or make sacrifices to get the game going.
10Summarizing Rules
Their Attention Span Can Only Take So Much
Unfortunately, the biggest detriment to board games is a short attention span. Casual players usually never have the will to listen to rules for any longer than three minutes. This means every time you explain rules, you’ll need to condense them into a form that’s digestible for the casual player.
From forgetting the rules altogether to completely zoning out when you explain specific parts, unfortunately the only thing you’re able to do is summarize the rules. This tends to sacrifice more in-depth situations or specific circumstances to get the overall understanding out there.
9Unavoidable Practice Rounds
They’re Useful, I Promise
Imagine this: You’ve set an entire game up for your table and are ready to explain the rules. You get through the entire process, and you’ve got faces looking at you that are still confused.All that careful shuffling and setup is about to go out the windowas you’re forced to play a practice round to ensure everyone actually understands how to play.
You’re going to have to set up and switch out everything all over again, so yes, you’ve set up the entire game just to redo an initial setup. It’s not too much of a big deal, depending on how difficult the setup is, but be ready to sacrifice your first setup for a practice round.
8Bending The Rules
It’s Easier Than Playing Word For Word
Unfortunately, we’ve all had to do it. Whether it’s intentional or in the moment, rules are always made flexible when playing with casuals. Sometimes when playing with casuals, you already know you will be knowingly playing the game wrong (to the detriment of me, who isn’t casual and wants to play by the rules).
From making an easier scoring system to shortening rounds for ease of play, or even completely throwing out full rules, don’t expect to play a complete game as intended when playing with casuals. Most of the time,rules will be made up or thrown out the windowin the end. It’s inevitable that things will go wrong with causlas, so you’ll find yourself adjusting quite a lot.
7Repetitive Gameplay
You’ll Be Pulling Out The Same Type Of Games Weekly
Casual players always want to play the same game they enjoyed last time. They hardly ever want to learn something new. If they find one they like, every time you host a game night, you can expect to play the same game over and over.
This isn’t necessarily all bad, as you’ll finally be able to quickly set up and won’t have to spend forever explaining rules or doing anything else on this list, really. Small victories in the overall scheme of dealing with casual players.
6Forced To Always Play Casual Games
Quick 10-Minute Cooperative Games Work Best
The difficulty level and involvement of games are severely limited when playing with casual gamers. Go ahead and leave all the more complicated games in the closet and pull out the party games. You’ll be forced to play the easy and simple titles everyone is comfortable with.
Usually, deduction or social interaction titles where everyone can participate are what you’ll be stuck with. Everyone knows you’ll be playing another round of Cards Against Humanity or Sushi Go! Maybe your group has upgraded to Codenames from traditional card games like Uno, and if so, you can count yourself as lucky.
5The Tedium Of Waiting For Your Turn
They’re Going To Be Talking, But Not About The Game
When you’re really into the game and everyone else isn’t, there will be a lot of socializing when people should be paying attention. This inevitably leads to a lot of wasted time in between turns. Everyone needs to socialize, ask questions about rules, or they just aren’t paying attention to the fact that it’s their turn.
So when it is their turn, get ready to wait and wait, and field more questions and wait some more before it happens all over again. You’ll be anticipating your turn, knowing exactly what you want to do, and it’ll take forever to actually come around.
4Realizing The Perfect Game Doesn’t Exist
No One Will Ever Be Satisfied
Forget how long it took you to find the perfect casual game—it’ll never be enough. No matter how hard you try, you have to accept the fact that your gaming choice is always going to disappoint a casual player in some way or another. Unfortunately, you’ll be disappointed too because it’s probably not even what you really wanted to play.
Casual players are far less likely to consider the amount of time and effort you put into learning these games beforehand and catering to your more casual players. You’ll have to deal with how much they dislike this game, even though you’ve tried your best to cater to their interests. Good luck, but you can never make every casual player happy.
3Being The Forever Host
You’ve Gotta Buy The Game And The Snacks
Most of the time, you have to invite the casual players over to play board games with you. This means you’ll almost always have to host game nights. You’ll have to sacrifice your space, entice them with snacks, and prepare not only the games but your house for the guests coming over.
It’s part of being an expert player. You’ll be expected to host game night and explain the rules in a digestible way while providing the perfect environment for the games. You probably won’t mind, though, since getting casuals to actually try a game is the goal, so you’re probably used to the extra effort by now. Still, expect to put in work outside of just explaining the game.
2Being The Decision Maker
Someone Has To Lose At Some Point
While this doesn’t sound like something you’ll necessarily sacrifice, depending on the group you’re playing with, being the decision maker or tie-breaker is definitely not always fun. You’ll be the one interpreting the rules and therefore the one who decides who is right and who is wrong when an issue comes up.
This means pausing the game to check the rules, making up the rules on the fly, deciding in the moment who you want to upset the least, and potentially dealing with a spike of anxiety to round it all out. You’ll be sacrificing your own peace to keep the party at peace.
1Sitting Out Certain Rounds
You Don’t Even Get To Play… Imagine That
The biggest sacrifice you’ll make when playing games with casuals is that, after all is explained and set up, you might not actually be able to play. You’ll want everyone to have a good time, and for casual players to get a chance totry the games out and play together. This means you’re more likely than not to sit out rounds to allow the more casual players to have fun.
Besides, you want them to come back for more game nights, and you want to watch and ensure everyone knows how to play and the game is going smoothly, meaning you’ll inevitably sacrifice playing the games you’ve invited everyone over to play with you.
