How to Teach the One Piece Card Game

Trading card games have a reputation for being hard to teach. Most of that comes from the cards: there are hundreds of them, and each one bends a rule. The One Piece Card Game has a short, regular turn underneath all that text. Teach the turn and let the cards explain themselves one at a time.

Here is a script in the order you would say it. Print the One Piece Card Game teach sheet and set it between you. Two starter decks, or a two-deck learning set, are all you need.

Before you sit down

Set up both sides yourself, using the playsheet as your guide. Leaders face up, decks shuffled, 10 DON!! in each DON!! deck. Deal 5 cards to each player and put out the Life cards. Skip the redraw for a first game; it is one less thing to explain.

Give the new player the simpler deck if you have a choice. A deck that mostly attacks is easier to learn than one built around tricks.

Minute 1: the goal

Say: “This is your Leader. Your opponent’s Leader has Life cards, these face-down cards. Every time you hit their Leader, they lose one. Hit them when they have none left, and you win.”

Point at their Leader’s Life number. “That number is how many hits you can take.”

Minutes 2 and 3: DON!!

Hold up a DON!! card. “This is your money. Each turn you get 2 more. To play a card, turn this many sideways.” Point at a card’s cost in the upper left.

Then the second use: “You can also tuck a DON!! under your Leader or a Character. It gets 1000 more power for each one, on your turn.”

Stop here. Ask: “Spend it or power up. Make sense?”

Minutes 4 to 6: one turn, out loud

Take your first turn and narrate it.

1. “Refresh: everything stands back up.” Nothing happens yet; say it anyway.
2. “Draw a card.” Skip it if you are going first, and say why.
3. “Add DON!!.” One on your first turn if you are first, two after that.
4. “Main: I play a Character with this cost.” Turn DON!! sideways as you pay.
5. “Nobody attacks on their first turn, so I’m done.”

Let them take their first turn the same way, with you prompting each phase.

Minutes 7 to 9: the first attack

On your second turn, attack their Leader with yours and slow way down.

• “I turn my Leader sideways to attack. I can hit your Leader, or a Character of yours that is turned sideways.”
• “Your turn to respond. If you have a Character that says Blocker, it can jump in front.”
• “You can also throw cards from your hand. See this number on the left edge? That’s how much power it adds. You trash the card to use it.”
• “If my power is equal or higher, I win. A tie goes to me.”
• “You take the top Life card into your hand. If it has a Trigger, you can use that instead.”

Then say the line that makes the game click: “Getting hit gives you cards. That’s how you fight back.”

Minute 10: start, and teach the rest live

Say: “That’s the game. Characters can’t attack the turn they come down, and you can have 5 at a time.” Then play.

Teach the rest when it comes up:

• A rested Character. The first time they attack with one, point out that it is now a target.
• [On Play] and other brackets. Read the bracket first, then the effect, every time.
• An Event. Show where it goes after use: the trash.
• Running low on Life. Remind them that Counter cards are worth saving now.

What to leave out

• The redraw at setup. Add it in game two.
• Every keyword at once. Explain each one the first time it hits the table.
• Deck building. It is a whole new topic. Play the starters as they are for a few games.
• Card values and collecting. Nobody needs to know what a card is worth to enjoy a first game.

Coaching the first game

Play with both hands face up. You can then say why you are doing things, and they can ask about any card. It turns your choices into a lesson, and it stops a new player from feeling ambushed.

Help with the rules, not the decisions. “You can block with that” is helpful. “You should block with that” is playing for them. Let them lose a Character or two. The lesson sticks better.

Swap decks for game two. Seeing the game from the other side teaches more than any rule.

For more on teaching any game, the five-minute teach covers the habits that make a host easy to learn from.