Better Ways of Teaching Game Rules (Part 1 - Merrill)
What’s the worst part about playing board games? Learning the rules. Specifically, those awkward minutes (sometimes MANY minutes) where your friend is so excited to play, but you’re struggling to understand the how’s and the what’s and the why’s while smiling and pretending you get it. That could just be me, but it can be an excruciating experience. There must be a better way!
This statement is at the heart of what I’ve been exploring lately.
Now, let me set some expectations. I have more questions than answers, but would love to draw you, Dear Reader, into this blog post like a true Neverending Story sequel, to engage with this question.
How can we be better at teaching game rules that will get players playing quicker and with confidence?
First, let me set the stage and provide a little background. I’m a Learning and Development Consultant. My education has focused on the ways instructional design methods and adult learning principles can help employees learn how to perform with excellence in the workplace. I’ve conducted research on using escape games to deliver leadership training and I am fascinated by the intersection of gaming, learning, and growing into our best selves.
Now that you understand why I’m nerding out about this, I want to propose something for your consideration. I believe there is wisdom found in the instructional design models and adult learning principles that can help us be better game explainers and game masters.
Merrill’s Matters!
One model that stands out as a ubiquitous approach to adult learning is Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction. I’ll include links throughout so you can nerd out too! In a nutshell, the model presents a framework for organizing learning in a way that speaks to general adult learner needs.
Figure 1: Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction
Problem/Task: At the heart of the model, you start off with a problem or a task that is relevant and meaningful to the learner. As a nod to Knowles’ Andragogy Principles, the core is that “adult learning is problem-centered rather than content-oriented.”
Activation: To help prepare learners for new knowledge and skill, the second principle is to build on existing knowledge. Essentially, relate the new to something they already know so they can make connections quickly.
Demonstration: You know that feeling that if you could just see someone doing the thing, then you can understand it better? That’s what this principle is getting at. Just show me.
Application: Now that you’ve seen it, you want to dig in and try it yourself, right? Application allows learners to try out their new knowledge and get meaningful feedback so they can gradually level up their skills.
Integration: The final principle focuses on learners being able to take this new knowledge and skill, reflecting on how they can use it, and then making it a part of their new workflow.
Maybe you’ve heard the phrase “Tell. Show. Do.” In an interview, Merrill called out the parallel of this simple framework to his more detailed set of principles.
Merrill’s and Tacos? Yes, Please!
What does this have to do with teaching your friends how to play a board game? That’s exactly what I’m asking, too! There’s some merit to applying this framework to not only teaching your friends how to play your favorite board game, but to get them excited about it as well!!
Let’s do it! Let’s apply Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction to learning a new game! There’s a game I recently learned called T.A.C.O by Levity Games. The rule sheet is only 4 pages long, and game play isn’t very complicated, but let’s keep it simple for this test run of the model.
Figure 2: Merill’s meets games
Problem/Task: So in game language, we would look for The Objective or How to Win the game. The rules say that “The winner is the player that scores the most taco points!” (Later in the rules, there is an important bonus to winning where you get to “Brag about it all night long!”)
Activation: To activate prior knowledge, we could lean into the assumption that most people fall on the spectrum between knowing what a taco is to religiously experiencing Taco Tuesday at its fullest potential.
In this game, there are cards that show taco shells, ingredients, and there is a coveted taco trophy! The shells and ingredients all have point values or described actions that you can take when you play the card. As you build your epic taco, you’re trying to destroy your opponents’ taco.
Demonstration: This game lends to using demonstration for teaching. Pull out a couple example cards, such as a few shells, ingredients, poisons, actions, and instants, to talk through what they are and how to use them.
Application: For this game, demonstration and application could go together. For example, you can deal out the starting 5 cards and play a round showing your hands as a walkthrough. Draw a card. Play a card. Do what your card tells you to do. Discard down to seven cards (if applicable). Next player goes! As the game master, you can provide feedback on what aligns with rules or address those weird situations that can get confusing if you do too many “what-ifs” when explaining the game up front.
Integration: This is the stage where you play the game. Let the new player fully make their own decisions that build skill and strategy based on playing. Remember, newbies don’t have the experience you do, so they’ll have to learn strategy as they go along.
Debrief is an integral part of learning and I would personally add a post-game debrief to this model. Not only to know what they think, but to help them build plans for future strategy that could get them excited to play again.
This is just one example of where instructional design and adult learning principles can help us be better game masters and get our friends onboarded quickly (and excitedly) to a new game.
Now What?
Here is what I want to do next. I want to try this with a more complicated game and see if Merrill’s principles still hold up. I also want to try this with other instructional design models.
Ultimately, I want to hear from you! What do you think about the above application of Merrill’s first principles as a framework to teach new games? What have you seen game masters do to successfully onboard new players to games? I invite you to nerd out with me on this! Game on!
Editor’s note: because the NASAGA website does not allow comments, we invite you to share your thoughts on and responses to Rachel’s question on the LinkedIn post of this blog. See you there!
In her main quest, Dr. Rachel Arpin is a Learning and Development Consultant for OSUCCC. She creates videos and interactive experiences for staff education and wellness initiatives. In her side quests, Rachel creates fun and engaging experiences; anything from escape games to animated TikToks and just general shenanigans. Among her most significant quests includes earning her Doctor of Education in Organizational Leadership by developing a digital escape game that delivered leadership training. Connect with Dr. Rachel on LinkedIn