I had a slightly cumbersome teach last time (not bad, but not as quick as I felt it should have been), and because the game is so fast to play I decided that next time I would teach it like this:
- Describe the theme of the game, and then immediately…
- Deal the cards and play a complete dummy game without explaining how or why to choose anything – tell everyone where they need to put cards, but get them to do it completely randomly for the 3-4 rounds (6-8 decisions) that the game comprises.
- I figure this should take about 60 seconds (and would make a point of saying this up front so that anyone questioning the process knows it’s going to be super quick).
- Do not separate the positive/negative cards after each round – that will take time and provoke questions and explanation. Leave it for the next game.
- Once all cards are played, work through the scoring, explaining the positive/negative split, and make sure that each player knows what their dummy hand scored and why.
My theory is that the players will then know everything they need to know – how to play, and how their choices are going affect the end of the game.