A Full Table of Newcomers

Most of this program pictures one newcomer at a table of people who know the game. This lesson is for the other night: you open the box, and every face around the table is new to it. Maybe it is a work team, a family holiday, a group of neighbors. Five or six people, and only you know the rules.

That table is harder in one way and easier in another. Harder, because there is no one to share the load. Easier, because nobody is behind anybody else. The whole table is learning together, and the shared confusion can turn into shared fun if you set it up right.

Play too, but slowly

The tempting move is to sit out and run the game: answer questions, keep the score, watch everyone. Resist it. A teacher standing over the table turns the game into a class, and everyone starts to feel watched. Sit in and play.

But play slowly, and play out loud. Your turns are the best examples in the room, so let everyone see the thinking: “I could do this, or this. I’ll take this one, because it sets me up for later.” Do not rush to show how good you are. Your job is to be the clearest player at the table, not the strongest.

Hold back in another way too. Answer rule questions; leave strategy alone. In a game where five people are all learning, one good player giving tips turns it into five people waiting to be told what to do.

Recruit a second teacher

You cannot sit beside five people. So find help, early.

Within the first round, one person at the table will get it fastest. You will see it: they answer someone else’s question before you can, or say “oh, so it’s like…” and get it right. Recruit them. “You’ve got this already. Can you help me keep an eye on that side of the table?”

This works for two reasons. First, you now have two people who can answer the simple questions, so nobody waits long. Second, a fellow beginner explains things in beginner words. They just learned it, so they remember exactly what was confusing, which is the thing you have long forgotten.

Seat yourself and your helper apart, so each half of the table has someone to lean toward.

Start with a team or party game

For a table where everyone is new, the first game should be one where people learn in teams or play in short, loud rounds. Teams help in three ways. A confused player can follow a teammate without being exposed. A good move can come from talking it over, so quiet players get to contribute. And a loss belongs to a team, not to the one person who learned slowest.

Save the solo-strategy games, where each player sits alone with their own decisions, for a second night.

A worked example: Codenames for five newcomers

Picture five coworkers at a team lunch, none of whom has played Codenames. With you, that is six: two teams of three.

Make one choice before you start the teach: you take a spymaster seat. The spymaster has the hardest job in the game, and the rules warn that the first clue can take a while. Your clues teach by example, showing what a clue is supposed to feel like. Your team will have an edge, so say up front that the key goes to someone else for game two.

For the other spymaster, ask who wants it rather than picking. The person who volunteers is usually the one who will enjoy the pause.

Then teach it short: two teams; the spymasters know which words are ours; a clue is one word and one number; we guess until we miss or stop; and one word on the table is the assassin, which loses the game on the spot. Then play.

During the first game, watch for your second teacher. On the other team, someone will start explaining the plus one rule to their teammates before you do. That is your helper. In game two, when you pass the key along, ask them to keep an eye on their side.

A Codenames game takes about fifteen minutes, so a best of three fits a lunch. By game three, the table runs itself, and you are just one more player. That is the goal.