Tips for Getting People to Try a Game

MWChapel wrote:

Shoot. I'll play any game for a Diet Dr. Pepper.

Really? A _diet_ DP? Cause it tastes just as good as regular DP, right?
Zev

Bruno swears by single-malt scotches to get people to playtest his games.

For the obscure ones, I whine about them incessantly via email theatening and demanding that we try this until enough people cave just to shut me up.

Worked pretty well for Kasl. Turns out Kasl is a pretty nice little game. A Risk Clone with a couple of nice twists, and insanely Euro-y chunky wooden pieces. And a random event that can mostly knock you out of the game on the first turn.

It's tough to get people to try a big, long game without their advance consent, and frankly something like JUNTA plied on someone who doesn't really want to dig into it is a big mistake.

Whenever we do a big "event" game in either of my groups, we pass out rules and get everybody psyched up to play. I did that last week with IMPERIAL, even though it's an easy one to learn as you play. But having everyone keyed in on what's going on makes a HUGE difference. I remember trying to teach TI3 when it first came out and it was just an awful, awful experience every time.

I _love_ it when I turn up at an "event" game and the participants are there already talking about the game, looking at rules printouts, and are ready to hit the ground running. That goes a long way to getting people to try a new game.

But the flipside to all this is that I don't really understand having to try to get people to play a game. I'll literally play anything. You put it in front of me, and I'll do my best to have a good time. I only turn down games if it's a time issue. So in order to get me to play something, just put it out on the table and let's go.

Worked pretty well for Kasl. Turns out Kasl is a pretty nice little game. A Risk Clone with a couple of nice twists, and insanely Euro-y chunky wooden pieces. And a random event that can mostly knock you out of the game on the first turn.

The very last thing you do for setup is check and see if plague starts (a 1 in 6 chance ) and what location it starts (there are sixty locations.)

Ha! it did and completely wiped out Franks' starting location.

Steve"4th horseman"Avery

Michael Barnes wrote:

Whenever we do a big "event" game in either of my groups, we pass out rules and get everybody psyched up to play. I did that last week with IMPERIAL, even though it's an easy one to learn as you play. But having everyone keyed in on what's going on makes a HUGE difference. I remember trying to teach TI3 when it first came out and it was just an awful, awful experience every time.

I _love_ it when I turn up at an "event" game and the participants are there already talking about the game, looking at rules printouts, and are ready to hit the ground running. That goes a long way to getting people to try a new game.

I've tried this several times, and it almost never works. Thankfully, I humbly think of myself as a good game-explainer, and most people I game with are good listeners and learners. But reading instructions beforehand? It's never worked for me.

My suggestion for getting 7 people to play a long game:

-Schedule 2-3 weeks in advance

-Email one group of seven and ask for firm commitments only. Then hunt around for other people to fill the seats.

-In your email, include a link to the game rules, but let everyone know that it's not necessary to read them because you will explain everything anyway. Prepare player aids and let everyone know that you will provide player aids and do everything in your power to make the game easy to learn and fun on the first play.

-Include a personal statement (short paragraph) about why the game is worth experiencing at least once in a lifetime, preferably twice. Include a link to a review or article(Sag's piece on Junta would be great) that describes what people can expect.

-Suggest that you are hoping to play the game at two consecutive meetings (first a learning game, then play full out), but that people don't need to commit to both games. (raising the upper end of expectations to two games makes one game seem less of a big deal)

-Offer to cook for everyone. Schedule a bit of time for people to stretch their legs.