Question about the 'teach the game once' rule in strategy games

My friend Dave told me I should only explain the rules once before a game of Terraforming Mars, even if someone asks questions during play. I followed his advice last week and two players got frustrated because they missed key rules about the plant resource phase. Has anyone else found that strict one-time teaching ruins the experience for casual players?

2 comments

2 Comments

king.kevin27d ago

Oh man, that one-and-done approach almost never works for medium-heavy games. In my experience, you gotta give people a brief overview upfront then remind them of key phases like plants or heat as they come up, especially for first-timers. Dave's advice might work for competitive groups but it backfires hard with casual players, so take that rule with a grain of salt.

robin_wright27d ago

Is it just me or does Dave sound like he's never actually played with new people before? A buddy of mine tried that same approach with Scythe and it was a total disaster. Two of the players spent half the game confused about how combat worked because he rushed through the teach. @king.kevin is right that you have to give little reminders as you go along, especially for stuff that only happens every few turns like the plant phase in TM. If you want people to actually enjoy the game and come back for more, you gotta be patient and help them out when they ask.