The Capstone: Earn the Title

You have learned to pick a game, prep it, teach it in five minutes, run the first game, and close with the next one on the calendar. Now you do all of it once, for one person, and tell the Guild how it went.

That is the capstone. It is one evening and one form. At the end of it, you can earn the title Expert Game Guide.

The assignment

Teach a board game to one person who does not play board games. Then do three things.

1. Score your teach on the Self-Assessment, all ten lines, within an hour of the game ending.
2. Ask the newcomer to fill in the Newcomer Feedback Card. It is five questions and takes them about a minute.
3. Submit both on the capstone form.

Choose your newcomer the way an earlier lesson taught: someone you would like to play with more, with a game that fits them. A partner, a parent, a coworker, a neighbor. Not a friend who plays a lot of games but happens not to know this one. The capstone is about a person who has to decide whether games are for them.

Pick a game you know well. This is not the night to learn something new.

The one score, one more time

The title is earned only if the newcomer agreed to a second game.

That has been the score since the first lesson, and it is the score here. It is also why the capstone cannot be faked with a perfect teach to an eager friend. A great Self-Assessment without a yes is a good evening and a reason to try again. A rough Self-Assessment with a yes is a pass.

If they say no, that is not a failure of the program. It is information. Look at your lowest line, look at their card, and invite someone else. You can submit again whenever you are ready.

Worked example: walking through a submission

Picture a capstone built on Azul, taught to a neighbor who likes puzzles. Here is the form, field by field.

• Your name and email, and the name to print on the certificate if it is different.
• The game you taught. Azul.
• Who the newcomer was to you. Pick from a short list; a neighbor is “Someone else.” No names needed.
• Your ten Self-Assessment scores. Hook 4, goal 5, turn demo 5, gotcha 4, holding back 4, pace 5, checks 3, open round 5, blowout control 4, close 5.
• The newcomer’s Feedback Card answers. Copied in their words, not yours. The last question asks whether they would play again. Their answer: yes, Cascadia, next Thursday.
• What you would change, in a few sentences. Optional, but worth writing. “Checks was my lowest line. I asked for questions after the turn demo, but I did not wait long enough. My gotcha was the floor line, and I said it at the start, but I should have said it again when they first had extra tiles. Next time I will pause after the demo and point at the floor line when it happens.”

Notice what makes that a strong submission. The scores are honest, including the three on checks. The change is specific: a line, a moment, and a fix. And the second game has a name and a day.

What happens next

Levi reviews each submission by hand, and a review takes about a week. If your newcomer said yes to another game, he emails you your Expert Game Guide certificate.

That is the whole process. No test, no fee, no trick questions. Just one person, one game, and an honest account of how it went.

The table you are building

Somewhere out there is a person who thinks board games are not for them. They think so because of one long teach, one bad first game, or one night they felt slow. You now know how to give them a different first night.

That is what this program was always for. Not rules, not trophies, but more people at your table, and more evenings spent with the people you love. The game is the reason. The people are the point.

Go teach someone. Then tell us how it went.