Lorcana is easy to teach badly. The cards are full of keywords, the deck is full of favorite characters, and it is tempting to explain every ability before anyone has played a card. Ten minutes later, nobody remembers what Evasive does or why it mattered.
The fix is to teach the turn, play the turn, and let the cards teach themselves. Here is a script in the order you would say it, with the moments to stop talking. Print the Disney Lorcana teach sheet and put it on the table between you. For the general craft of teaching any game, our guide on how to teach a board game pairs well with this one.
Before you sit down
Use two ready-made decks, like the pair in the 2-Player Starter Set. Never teach with a deck you built from random packs; a clunky deck makes the game look clunky.
Set out each player’s lore tracker at 0, and something to mark damage, such as dice or coins. Shuffle both decks. Do not deal yet.
Minute 1: the goal
Say: “We’re racing to 20 lore. You get lore by sending your characters on quests. First to 20 wins, right away, even in the middle of a turn.”
Hold up a character. Point at the lore symbols. “This one brings home this much every time it quests.”
Minutes 2 and 3: ink
This is the part new players have never seen in another game, so slow down.
Point at the swirl around the cost. “If a card has this swirl, you can put it facedown into your inkwell. Once a turn. Each card in there is 1 ink, every turn.”
Then: “To play a card, you turn that many ink cards sideways. Next turn they stand back up.”
Give the rule of thumb: “Early on, ink a card every turn. You can’t play the good stuff without ink.”
Minutes 4 to 6: one turn, out loud
Deal 7 cards each. Explain the mulligan in one line: “Once, you can put any cards you don’t like on the bottom and draw back to 7.”
Then play your first turn while you narrate:
- “Ready, set, draw. I’m going first, so I skip the draw this once.”
- “I put this card in my inkwell.”
- “I play this 1-cost character by turning 1 ink sideways.”
- “It’s new, so it’s drying. It can’t quest until my next turn.”
Stop. Ask: “Questions on the turn?”
Minutes 7 and 8: quest or challenge
Wait until a character is dry, then teach the big choice.
- “To quest, I turn my character sideways and gain its lore.”
- “But a sideways character is exerted, and exerted characters can be challenged.”
- “To challenge, I turn one of my dry characters sideways and pick one of your exerted ones. Each deals its Strength in damage to the other.”
- “Damage stays. When it reaches the Willpower number, that character is banished.”
Then name the heart of the game: “Every quest is a bet that your opponent can’t punish it.”
Minutes 9 and 10: start, and teach the rest live
Say: “That’s it. Your turn.” Then play.
Teach these the first time they come up:
- Songs. When one shows up in a hand, explain that a dry character with a high enough cost can sing it for free.
- Items and locations. Explain them when someone plays one.
- Keywords. Read the reminder text out loud when the card hits the table. It is printed right there for a reason.
- Ink drops. If your deck uses them, explain them when the first one appears: a counter in the inkwell, worth 1 ink, gone once spent.
What to leave out
- Deck building. Two inks, 60 cards, 4 copies: save it for Level 2 and the deck building lesson.
- Shift, until a Shift card is in someone’s hand.
- Formats and tournaments. Nobody needs them for a first game.
Coaching during the first game
Play the first game with hands face up. It turns every decision into a conversation, and the new player sees why you made yours.
Help with the puzzle, not the choices. “This card can be ink, that one can’t” is helpful. “Quest with that one” is playing for them.
Watch for two classic slips. A new player who inks nothing on turn one, and a new player who quests with everything and leaves the whole board exerted. One gentle question fixes both: “What can I challenge on my turn?”
When the game ends, play a second one straight away with hands hidden. The rules will stick far better on the second pass, and the person you just taught will start teaching you back.
Next lesson
Your First Ten Games of Disney Lorcana: Mistakes to Skip
Level 1 starts with your first ten games: the rules slips and strategy traps almost every new player falls into, and how to fix each one.
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Unofficial. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Ravensburger or Disney. Disney Lorcana is published by Ravensburger, an official licensee of Disney. Disney characters and names are trademarks of Disney.