Before we begin playing a game, we need to 1) set up the game, and 2) learn the game. Oftentimes, we see these two steps as barriers to actually “playing the game.” After all, who hasn’t bemoaned opening up a new board game only to find a trove of game components and a 30-page rulebook to comprehend?
Game designers reduce the time to set up the game by including the dice, pregenerated sheets, custom cards, or any other game materials in a packaged box. Introductory scenarios for adventure games exemplify the “play to learn” school of thought, engaging new players as quickly as possible. The best introductory scenarios take lessons from videogame tutorials, introducing game mechanics bit-by-bit, building upon each other. The best videogame tutorials are ones where halfway through, a player is presented with a scenario and is able to discover new mechanisms solely by deduction and experimentation using their mastery of the previous mechanisms.
Is there a way where we give the “tutorial” treatment to the setup of the game? How do we simultaneously prepare the materials of play while explaining how to play the game?
Rather than speed through setup, can we embrace setup as tool for teaching the game and explaining the premise? How can we use this time to connect to the game components, to learn how the game components work through a “tutorial”-like process?
Setup is Play
Below are three games that experiment with how setup can be used to teach a game. Two of these games are designed by myself (and are free to download). All of these games are intended to be only one session long, such that setting up the game and teaching the game occurs every time the game is played.
- Six Arrows to Sunset is a bluffing story game where one player is the Archer trying to shoot the suns, played by the other characters, by deducing which Sun bestowed which gifts to the Archer at the time of their birth.
- A Hymn for the Odd-Host is an asymmetric two-player game where one player is a broken Robot and the other player is a sentient alien Slime. Each player has their own rules and must discover the other player’s rules through play in order to accomplish their hidden objectives.
- Ithaca in the Cards: Second Expedition by Aaron Lim Ithaca is a blackjack-driven story game for 2-5 players about doomed travelers on a perilous journey home, inspired by The Odyssey.
Six Arrows to Sunset
The setup of this game represents the birth of the Archer, setting the stakes of the game. The Suns create the Archer’s character sheet together while the Archer has their eyes shut, writing the gifts they bestow upon the Archer. The Suns then crumple the character sheet and hand it to the Archer, who opens their eyes and unfurls the sheet, signifying the Archer’s birth through communal conception. This extremely tactile setup immediately conveys the significance of game materials and the power dynamics at motion. The players take on their roles from the very beginning.
A Hymn for the Odd-Host
The Robot player arranges a spread of playing cards. The Slime player then joins the table, placing their tokens on a non-number card to initiate a script sequence where the Robot player announces that the Slime player has repaired a subsystem and requests further assistance. This explanation immediately connects the spread of cards as the robot’s internal circuitry, and the tokens as a representation of the Slime itself. By placing their token on a specific playing card, the players are both told that this specific playing card is important, and thus, can infer how many subsystems are remaining based on the knowledge that there are only so many non-number cards in a deck.
Ithaca in the Cards
The blackjack mechanic is taught using character creation through an initial Quest (a game of blackjack), setting up the journey for the entire game. The deck is cleverly stacked in such a way as to guarantee that the initial Quest always succeeds (with possibly tragedy along the way) while also generating the different aspects of a character and teaching the players how to use these aspects. This tutorial is signaled by a face-up Joker card (“Fate is with you”). But once the game begins, that Joker card is turned face-down (“Fate is against you”). This signals to the players the state of the game has changed. This is made even clearer when the 9 and 10 cards are removed from the deck, making it more difficult to succeed.
What can We Learn?
Consider the points below when implementing tutorials through setup:
Play the Premise
Include narrative in your setup. Place the meeple on the board and introduce the character. Write out an NPC on a card, then rip it up, narrating their tragic death. Give coins, then have another player take them away. Move game materials, alter them, remove them from the board even before play begins. Practice how mechanisms interact with the materials gameplay through a narrative. What has to happen narratively before the game can begin, and how can we show that through setup?
Explain Diegetically
Rather than recite the premise of the game from a third-person perspective, include scripts from the perspective of the roles the players inhabit. Instead of saying, “this is my weapon, I attack the enemy with it by rotating the card like this,” consider, “I attack the enemy with my weapon” while rotating the card. This conveys that the card represents the weapon, and the action of rotating symbolizes the attack. Suddenly, we’ve created a tactile language where we can convey our narrative goals through physical actions. We immediately connect the materials of play to their narrative significance.
Learn as you Play
Instead of reading examples of play, have the players “act out” the game play while they engage in setup. The more this is like actually playing the game, rather than simply going through pre-determined motions without explaining context or strategy, the more immersive and responsive the tutorial. If all this can happen in the setup, it can happen in the game.
Embrace Meta-Knowledge
A six-sided die can only result in numbers one through six, a 52-card playing deck only has four suits and four royals. Use this common knowledge to convey importance, difficulty, and changing game states, without having to outright explain anything.
Divide Responsibility
None of these points reduce the need to have at least one person read the rules of the game. Rather than burden one person with facilitating the game, split up who teaches what parts of the game. This can be a narrative device in its own right. Consider not just how the components are setup, but who is setting up the components.
Have we started yet?
The act of setting up a game is a ritual, preparing both physical and mental space. Embrace it. When you lay out the materials, you are gazing at the instruments you must use to express your desires. Embrace them.
You are already playing.