Games designed for families are usually less complex than games designed for hobby game players. That will surprise nobody. But the reason for this may not be what you think.
The general assumption is that family games need to be easier so that children can understand and play along with parents. But that is not my experience – not in any way.
Most children of keen board game players know how to play many of the games their parents enjoy. They understand the rules, even complex ones. They don’t have to team up with an adult. They can make their own decisions within the game and play as any other player would. I’ve seen it over and over.
It’s true that not all complex games are great for children, but I think that’s more to do with downtime. We know children can concentrate on playing games for long periods of time. You only have to watch a child playing video games to know that. Downtime within games – where you’re waiting for other players to take turns or make decisions – tests many adults. So it’s not surprising that children will disengage.
Getting ready to play Chimera Station
So if children can deal with complexity, then what’s the problem? Why can’t we just make complex games that minimise downtime? Those would be perfect for families… right? Wrong.
It’s not the children that are the problem. It’s the parents.
Century Spice Road’s (brilliant) one-sheet rules
Family games are designed for the average family – where the parents are not avid board gamers. While board gamers are used to reading rulebooks and learning from them, non-board gaming adults are not. The rulebook is the barrier.
For a game to have any hope of getting to the table, the rules have to be really easy to understand. Ideally, you have to be able to work out how to play from the box, the TV advert or the pictures in the rulebook. Then when you read the actual words, you’re just looking for supplementary information. This may sound harsh, but I think it’s true.
Most adults are out of practice at learning things. Advancements in technology mean that we can just turn new equipment on and it will be obvious how it works. A new phone will lead you through the set up. A new video game will teach you as you play. Board games are an outlier – you have to read the rules.
When you play lots of games, you can skim bits of new rulebooks because you have a frame of reference in which to understand the terminology and mechanics. For the uninitiated, that’s not possible. Learning new rules takes a lot of concentration. It’s a hurdle that’s too big to overcome for many. So games that are perceived as being complex are left on the shelf or not purchased in the first place.
Non-gaming adults are more likely to be happy with complexity in board games if someone else teaches them the game, because it pulls down a barrier. But as anyone that has tried to teach a game with much complexity to non gamers will know – adults are still liable to get overwhelmed and walk away.
And what about the children? Well, they’re far more used to learning new things than adults are. Maybe not reading rules from a rulebook, but certainly listening to instructions. They’re also far more used to embarking on things without having all the information – learning as they go.
So if you’re interested in making family games, don’t make the mistake of thinking that children can’t cope with complexity. Focus on how you’re going to communicate the rules of the game, so that adults will be happy to play.
Hi Ellie, to professionally organize activities based on board games, I have indeed noticed that 6-12 year olds can play games officially intended for enthusiasts without too many problems, and that some parent-players ( overwhelmingly mothers, fathers not even interested in activities and preferring to wait in a corner) often facilitated young people on games like Uranus or Five tribes – where the number of choices of actions disturb the little ones – But the most often indeed, the parents struggle to understand and put in bad will, affecting the group.
Grandparents dare to play a little more with young people, but it is extremely difficult to bring 14-35 year olds to board game activities, the main arguments being “it’s too complicated” or “I don’t like board games”… While their children or siblings are having fun next door.
I’m saddened by this, but not surprised. It’s good to hear that grandparents are more open to playing. I wonder if the problem is partly that parents just don’t have enough bandwidth to deal with learning new games. Exhaustion? Overwhelm? I hope it’s that rather than disinterest.
Documentation is less common, as you say. But also in the broader games industry.
Relatively simple computer games used to come with manuals and a game like Civilization had a book!
Now nobody bothers and players are just left to bumble their way through or try to pick things up from inadequate tutorials.
Almost all software appears to be like this now.
Patience for the written word is thin.
Board gaming does not help itself though, with frequently dire rulebooks. Goodness, at least have an index!
Interesting. I’ve never really thought about putting an index in a board game rulebook.
A bugbear of mine.
If just a handful of pages, probably not needed.. but invaluable with anything longer. Especially if concepts crop up in multiple places.
After first reading a rulebook essentially becomes a reference and a work of reference should have an index.
Drives me nuts thinking “what is the little rule for this again?” because the next question is invariably “where did I see that?” followed by fruitless leafing back and forth.
Yeah, you’re probably right. But it’s not at all common, is it? At least not for medium weight games. And not really for euros either. Maybe war games?
Regrettably it is not common. More so in super complex games I guess, with vast rules, but even a medium weight game would benefit. Designers should really be doing this prior to publication (when all the page numberings are known). Anyway, nice article. I enjoyed reading it.