Tarrant remains my favorite board game teacher. Most of my favorite games I've learned from watching teaches here. Ever since you taught Oath I've been following your teaches even if it's a game I don't particularly care for. If you've been sleeping on learning how to play games at Meeple University, *the tuition is free.* Subscribe already!!!
Tarrant is consistently one of my favourite board game teachers. You 2 also demonstrate great attention to detail for error free videos. I seek out and often rewatch your rules videos to teach a game. Thanks so much for those and these excellent tips.
One good example of the key tip on explaining rules later is Nemesis (the Meeple U video for it is the best!): I don't need to teach new players anything about Intruders (except they are scary, bad and can cause you to lose) until they first appear. I need to rewatch your excellent Mistwind video before my next teach. My last attempt to teach it to new players came out a bit rough.
Thank you so much for your kind words Wendy, you're always supportive and comments our videos which we really appreciate🙏🙏 Ah yes, thank you for mentioning Nemesis, something like that is a good example! Ooh nice, hope you enjoy Mistwind, you got this Wendy!!
Yes your teachings have always been wonderful! If im looking to learn a new game I bought and see one of your video on it, this is my first pick always !
🙏thank you so much 🙏 I had to watch it or get Tarrant to teach me the tricks behind the logic puzzle through this video as well. I'll let Tarrant knows. Thank you! Stella.
Great video, I am the resident teacher in our group and it is definitely a skill that I am working on improving. MU makes it look easier than it is, which is a testament to how good you are, it truly is a skill.
So many times I have watched your "how to play" videos after reading rulebook. Thanks Tarrant for your time, and of course Stella's as well. You both are doing a great job representing the Australian board gaming community!
I have watched your How to Play video of Hadrian’s Wall several times! I think it is the best how to play video for that game that I have seen! You laid out the rules and presented the directions so very clearly! You made a fairly complex game (to me) much more accessible! Thank you also for this video! Such an important topic for so many of us! And as always, so clearly presented!
That was great. I am glad to find out that I am teaching games using some of those tips. The main is I always start with explaining the goal, getting points, and then an overview of what give you points. As well as what trigger the end game and what happens at the time, everyone get one more action.. The next thing is that after each thing that I teach I ask "Does that makes sense?", letting people a moment to register what was thought before moving to next thing.
Absolutely essential video! Thank you for making it!! I can't count how many game I have learned from your channel. In fact, I often just play your videos to others instead of trying to teach them myself. That said, it is very helpful to know some strategies to successfully teach a game in person so that everyone can have a good time learning and playing.
@@MeepleUniversity (Karl's wife here) What he didn't mention is the reason we switched to using videos for rules---which is that I am an utterly TERRIBLE rules listener and your succinct videos are an automatic "conflict-eliminator"😂. He's excited about implementing these teaching strategies, so we'll give it a go!
@violasarah Oh wow, hello Karl's wife! Now this is another level! It's a pleasure to meet you here also, and glad that we helped as a mediator for your rules vs video hahaha. Have fun using these strategies, hope it'll make your gaming experience better, smoother. Cheers! Stella
Supercool Video. Sounds exactly as I teach Boardgames most of the time. In fact time and playing often, helps a lot to teach, above all if you are mostly all the time the teacher 😅. I live to watch your Rulevideos, so I dont have mich work to do. Thanks a lot for that ✌️. I remember teaching "Weimar"... it was the hardest game I had to teach in 35 years 😂... the structure and the amount of things weich where important, where overflowing.
🙏 Well then you got it right hehe. Well, there's not really a right or wrong answers, we just find this way works best for us. 🙏 Haha teaching Weimar sounds fun lol
Fantastic video! So insightful! I especially enjoyed your explanation of different learning styles. My game group consists of half people who learn best with a rolling teach, and half All up front (my personal preference). The techniques you brought out will definitely help next time I get myself stuck with my ongoing circularity challenges. Thank for making this video 😁
😁🙏 You got this! 🙌 And thanks so much for sharing and acknowledging this. So then what would you do when half of them prefer different method, if playing the same time/game?
I’m usually the one that teaches all the games I play with my group. I appreciate this video so much! These are great tips and I’ll definitely be using them in my future teaches.
My goal this year is to learn to teach. So very timely and some great tips. My #1 problem is confidence. Trust me, when you are not confident in teaching, everyone ignores you and someone will start to teach over you. I find myself not being able to follow your teaching method. My eyes glaze over and I learn nothing. I've seen this at game night with others too. Then we ask questions during the game because the teach didn't work for us. And multiple people will probably ask those same questions during the game. I know it's super annoying for the teacher, I see them getting frustrated, but everyone needs to understand that we all learn differently. I would love to hear Stella's teaching method for contrast. She is a lively person so I would probably learn better from her. You are more dry and "just the facts ma'am" which doesn't keep me awake. :) Even with all this, I found good info in your video. I'm hoping at the end of February to be able to teach Bitoku at a con. I'm a moron. But I was a sub-cardio kick instructor and a main dance instructor for many years. Getting old has messed up my brain though, and knowing this my confidence is at an all time low. I need to keep telling myself "You can do this!"
Yay🙏 Published at the right time heheh. 🙏 Oh you got this! No one's a moron, basically when you've done something well (like dance instructor), just apply the similar method ;P (I love dancing, used to dance a lot more). I've seen this happening at times where people kinda want to see the rulebook, want to teach also, which could be a bit of chaos lol. Can always try the simpler game first. Write bullet points notes to keep track. Keep it simple before getting to the heavier complexity games helps. Nothing's wrong with other style of teaching I think, just that this is the way that works for us. Also I personally find playing videos to a group of people before playing is a little bit tricky. Best is for everyone to watch it individually first before getting together, then one person could read the rules and give summary and one more preparation before playing (upfront teach method). For me, my teaching method is similar to Tarrant (sorry), but probably less good, and slightly more distracted haha. I probably looking at the people more, if they look bored or something, I would ask them a question coz I suspect they are lost in their own mind - which could happen to someone like me. And I would probably pause my teach a bit longer between concepts, just to gauge people's understanding of the concept - do they look confused? Maybe repeat in a different way. Are they on their phones? lol. So maybe point that out (politely) To be honest, because I play with Tarrant a lot, he does most of the teach (and hard work). Yes, spoilt in that way, lol. Hopefully that helps at least a bit. Yes, you can do this. Takes practice and getting used to, I promise. Look at our earlier videos compare to the later ones :) . Have a great day friend!
I loved this video format! Well done guys.🙂 One of Tarrant's strengths seems to be his clear and very logical approach, as demonstrated in this video: thoroughly thought out, broken down into memorable categories, and well ordered. Aside from Rolling Teach and Upfront Teach, I've found success with something closer to Demo Teach when teaching complex games to my game groups: that being demonstrating mechanisms in bite sized or isolated parts, even if that means momentarily ignoring how the mechanism being taught interacts with other elements of the game. For example, I've had more success teaching Arcs by bypassing the trick taking aspect, and setting up the board allowing players to 'just do something' ...because my game groups intuitively know how to move characters around a map. This allows for easy discussion on limitations and prerequisites of each action, and is a good platform to jump into explaining Ambitions and it's relationship to trick taking/action mechanic. Thanks for the video Stella and Tarrant. Can't wait to see more. 🔥
Thank you so much for your kind words and sharing that Steve! Arcs is a tricky one to explain yes. And yes we try, no point explaining the methods about how to explain things in logical order, if it's not presented in logical order heheh. Thank you again! Stella.
since I buy a lot of games, I end up teaching a lot of games. For heavier games I will link videos like yours to hopefully get a head start and make the teach easier, but this video is very useful. thanks
Some great points here, I normally try to play through either solo of multi handed to get a feel of the game first. Although some games solo mode do differ from the multiplayer game.
Love this video. I do the teach 95% of the time and agree with pretty much everything here. I liked the sneaky little tease for an upcoming (?) Manhattan Project Energy Empire video. Can’t wait for the new edition.
One of my fav board game topics. I know when I first got enthusiastic about euro games, I really turned some of my friends off to them, due to my clumsy instructions.
This is a great video! I've always been very nervous teaching as I never really understand flow that well. This helps a ton! I do have an additional question, and that is more about dealing with players during the actual teach. Is there a good way of deterring players from assuming or trying to ask questions during the teach? I usually say, "I'll explain this soon or I can answer questions once I get through a certain part", but the consistent disruptions does affect the teach flow. I am assuming this is just because I am new to all this, but very curious how you deal with this kind of situation?
🙏 Thank you for the comment and kind words🙏. Glad we helped you. You can do this! Tarrant used to write bullet points when he prepares the teach as reference point. Start simple also, a good way to build it up. Dealing with players is a good question. Sometimes player missheard which they just asked, which is easy - repeat the sentence. There are times where they just need to clarify things, or when they started thinking of their own strategy then they ask ;P. Others, which I think for your question, I notice when Tarrant teaches, he does said that "I'll explain this later..." bit that you mentioned. Having bullet points notes as reference points help to stay or get back on track. Or I saw him say at the start, to set the scene, something like "I'll explain everything first, then will answer your questions later" this can be done also after each segment. So after some complex things, stop, and give people a chance to ask. This way they know that there WILL be time to ask questions, and therefore less interruption hopefully. Hope this helps.
Do you have any tips on how to communicate basic strategies for a game? It's been a tricky line for me because at a certain point it feels like I'm trying to play the game for a new player, but im trying to emphasize what things are important as a newbie. An an example for castles of burgundy, I've explained to people that getting mines early is a good general strategy because income throughout the life of the game makes it easier to buy more black tiles, but this feels like I'm trying to play the game for them rather then letting them identify the strategy on their own.
I think its useful to convey certain strategies, and you mention a great example, so that everyone can have an enjoyable first game. If I've played a game multiple times before and have some insight into what is important then I like to share a comment during the teach so people dont feel like I sandbagged them
@mikintosh6111 good question. I think there is no right or wrong answer. What @kylethieman4254 is also valid. Good to share some tips at the right time of teaching potentially, or just right after that. Sometimes the students asked what is important, or if you know something is important, sharing at the start as a general tip, let them know and maybe say that you're intending to help them (if you dont know the other people well yet) without sounding controlling. So then they could probably forming strategy round that important thing. For example when Mistwind was said in the video, good to point out that particular bonus is actually quite important, at teaching. Hope that helps🙏 Thank you for visiting us🙏
Do you like this video and the format? Please comment so we know to make more of these. Thanks so much 🙏🙏
Couldn’t agree more - loads of fantastic tips and guides to fellow games teachers.
🙏🙏🙏 It's our honor, Rodney! Thank you for your kind words, and confirming, fellow teachers🫡
Tarrant remains my favorite board game teacher. Most of my favorite games I've learned from watching teaches here. Ever since you taught Oath I've been following your teaches even if it's a game I don't particularly care for.
If you've been sleeping on learning how to play games at Meeple University, *the tuition is free.* Subscribe already!!!
🙏Haha aww thank you so so much! 🙏🙏🙏
Free tuition indeed, thank you for watching, commenting, liking, and more🙏🙏🙏
I always watch your videos before to read the rulebook .You explain all of the game and in a right way !!
Tarrant is consistently one of my favourite board game teachers. You 2 also demonstrate great attention to detail for error free videos.
I seek out and often rewatch your rules videos to teach a game. Thanks so much for those and these excellent tips.
One good example of the key tip on explaining rules later is Nemesis (the Meeple U video for it is the best!): I don't need to teach new players anything about Intruders (except they are scary, bad and can cause you to lose) until they first appear.
I need to rewatch your excellent Mistwind video before my next teach. My last attempt to teach it to new players came out a bit rough.
Thank you so much for your kind words Wendy, you're always supportive and comments our videos which we really appreciate🙏🙏 Ah yes, thank you for mentioning Nemesis, something like that is a good example!
Ooh nice, hope you enjoy Mistwind, you got this Wendy!!
Thank you! 👍
100% Tarrant has taught me many games over the past few years and he’s always done a fantastic job. Thank you!
Thank you so much for your kind words! We're happy we help you🫡🙏🙏
Yes your teachings have always been wonderful! If im looking to learn a new game I bought and see one of your video on it, this is my first pick always !
🙏Thank you so much for your kind words🙏🙏
Thank you! That was as clear, concise, and helpful as could be asked.
🙏🙏 Thank you so much 🙏🙏
Tarrant's explanation of Alchemists' logic puzzle (two videos along the years) is a masterpiece. Thanks, Tarrant.
🙏thank you so much 🙏 I had to watch it or get Tarrant to teach me the tricks behind the logic puzzle through this video as well. I'll let Tarrant knows. Thank you!
Stella.
Great video, I am the resident teacher in our group and it is definitely a skill that I am working on improving. MU makes it look easier than it is, which is a testament to how good you are, it truly is a skill.
🙏Thank you so much for your kind words, you got this! 🙏Have fun with the teach, you got this!
So many times I have watched your "how to play" videos after reading rulebook. Thanks Tarrant for your time, and of course Stella's as well. You both are doing a great job representing the Australian board gaming community!
🙏Thank you so much for your kind words! And you're welcome🙏 Go Aussie hehe.
I have watched your How to Play video of Hadrian’s Wall several times! I think it is the best how to play video for that game that I have seen! You laid out the rules and presented the directions so very clearly! You made a fairly complex game (to me) much more accessible! Thank you also for this video! Such an important topic for so many of us! And as always, so clearly presented!
🙏🙏 Thank you so much! Thank you for letting us know, glad it helps🙏🙏
Awesome video! May need to make that recommended viewing for new Meeples crew volunteers!
Hi Chris! Oooh nice! Hopefully it'll help smoothen the process🙏🙏 Chat later!
That was great.
I am glad to find out that I am teaching games using some of those tips.
The main is I always start with explaining the goal, getting points, and then an overview of what give you points.
As well as what trigger the end game and what happens at the time, everyone get one more action..
The next thing is that after each thing that I teach I ask "Does that makes sense?", letting people a moment to register what was thought before moving to next thing.
Ooh nice!! 🙏 Thank you for sharing and the kind words.
Yes, that too, I usually ask people that in between steps.
Stella.
This is a SUPER video, thank you very much for sharing this very useful tips. This is why you are the best at teaching board games.
🙏Thank you so much for the kind words! 🙏
Absolutely essential video! Thank you for making it!!
I can't count how many game I have learned from your channel. In fact, I often just play your videos to others instead of trying to teach them myself. That said, it is very helpful to know some strategies to successfully teach a game in person so that everyone can have a good time learning and playing.
🙏 Thanks so much for your kind words and support, Karl! 🙏 Always happy to see you pop up in the comments.
@@MeepleUniversity (Karl's wife here) What he didn't mention is the reason we switched to using videos for rules---which is that I am an utterly TERRIBLE rules listener and your succinct videos are an automatic "conflict-eliminator"😂. He's excited about implementing these teaching strategies, so we'll give it a go!
@violasarah Oh wow, hello Karl's wife! Now this is another level! It's a pleasure to meet you here also, and glad that we helped as a mediator for your rules vs video hahaha. Have fun using these strategies, hope it'll make your gaming experience better, smoother. Cheers! Stella
A great video from an awesome Aussie channel 👍
🙏Thanks for the kind words!🙏
Awesome tips! Thanks Tarrant, and fabulous editing Stella😄
Hehe thank you so much Astrid. And thank you for joining our family 🙏🙏
I've been impressed with Tarant's teaching for years: he wow'ed me with his explanation of the card game, Parade.
🙏 Hehe, that's like one of the first our how to play video. Thank you so much🙏🙏
Great video, very well organized, just like your BG teaching. I try my best to follow this, and learn bit by bit how to get better at it
Hi Yannis. Thanks so much🙏 You got this
Supercool Video. Sounds exactly as I teach Boardgames most of the time. In fact time and playing often, helps a lot to teach, above all if you are mostly all the time the teacher 😅. I live to watch your Rulevideos, so I dont have mich work to do. Thanks a lot for that ✌️. I remember teaching "Weimar"... it was the hardest game I had to teach in 35 years 😂... the structure and the amount of things weich where important, where overflowing.
🙏 Well then you got it right hehe. Well, there's not really a right or wrong answers, we just find this way works best for us. 🙏 Haha teaching Weimar sounds fun lol
Thanks!
🙏🙏🙏 Wow, thanky ou so much for the tip!
Fantastic video! So insightful! I especially enjoyed your explanation of different learning styles. My game group consists of half people who learn best with a rolling teach, and half All up front (my personal preference). The techniques you brought out will definitely help next time I get myself stuck with my ongoing circularity challenges. Thank for making this video 😁
😁🙏 You got this! 🙌 And thanks so much for sharing and acknowledging this. So then what would you do when half of them prefer different method, if playing the same time/game?
I’m usually the one that teaches all the games I play with my group. I appreciate this video so much! These are great tips and I’ll definitely be using them in my future teaches.
🙏🙏 You got this!🙏🙏 Thank you for watching and sharing this
My goal this year is to learn to teach. So very timely and some great tips. My #1 problem is confidence. Trust me, when you are not confident in teaching, everyone ignores you and someone will start to teach over you.
I find myself not being able to follow your teaching method. My eyes glaze over and I learn nothing. I've seen this at game night with others too. Then we ask questions during the game because the teach didn't work for us. And multiple people will probably ask those same questions during the game. I know it's super annoying for the teacher, I see them getting frustrated, but everyone needs to understand that we all learn differently. I would love to hear Stella's teaching method for contrast. She is a lively person so I would probably learn better from her. You are more dry and "just the facts ma'am" which doesn't keep me awake. :)
Even with all this, I found good info in your video. I'm hoping at the end of February to be able to teach Bitoku at a con. I'm a moron. But I was a sub-cardio kick instructor and a main dance instructor for many years. Getting old has messed up my brain though, and knowing this my confidence is at an all time low. I need to keep telling myself "You can do this!"
Yay🙏 Published at the right time heheh. 🙏
Oh you got this! No one's a moron, basically when you've done something well (like dance instructor), just apply the similar method ;P (I love dancing, used to dance a lot more).
I've seen this happening at times where people kinda want to see the rulebook, want to teach also, which could be a bit of chaos lol.
Can always try the simpler game first. Write bullet points notes to keep track. Keep it simple before getting to the heavier complexity games helps. Nothing's wrong with other style of teaching I think, just that this is the way that works for us. Also I personally find playing videos to a group of people before playing is a little bit tricky. Best is for everyone to watch it individually first before getting together, then one person could read the rules and give summary and one more preparation before playing (upfront teach method).
For me, my teaching method is similar to Tarrant (sorry), but probably less good, and slightly more distracted haha. I probably looking at the people more, if they look bored or something, I would ask them a question coz I suspect they are lost in their own mind - which could happen to someone like me. And I would probably pause my teach a bit longer between concepts, just to gauge people's understanding of the concept - do they look confused? Maybe repeat in a different way. Are they on their phones? lol. So maybe point that out (politely)
To be honest, because I play with Tarrant a lot, he does most of the teach (and hard work). Yes, spoilt in that way, lol.
Hopefully that helps at least a bit.
Yes, you can do this. Takes practice and getting used to, I promise. Look at our earlier videos compare to the later ones :) . Have a great day friend!
I loved this video format! Well done guys.🙂
One of Tarrant's strengths seems to be his clear and very logical approach, as demonstrated in this video: thoroughly thought out, broken down into memorable categories, and well ordered.
Aside from Rolling Teach and Upfront Teach, I've found success with something closer to Demo Teach when teaching complex games to my game groups: that being demonstrating mechanisms in bite sized or isolated parts, even if that means momentarily ignoring how the mechanism being taught interacts with other elements of the game.
For example, I've had more success teaching Arcs by bypassing the trick taking aspect, and setting up the board allowing players to 'just do something' ...because my game groups intuitively know how to move characters around a map. This allows for easy discussion on limitations and prerequisites of each action, and is a good platform to jump into explaining Ambitions and it's relationship to trick taking/action mechanic.
Thanks for the video Stella and Tarrant. Can't wait to see more. 🔥
Thank you so much for your kind words and sharing that Steve! Arcs is a tricky one to explain yes. And yes we try, no point explaining the methods about how to explain things in logical order, if it's not presented in logical order heheh. Thank you again! Stella.
Love it! Thank you for this content! Shared with our community game group on Facebook and on my personal page.
🙏Oh thank you so much🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
I'm just starting to teach a few games to my friends and this is very helpful information to have! Thank you for sharing your tips 🙂
🙏🙏 Nice! THank you so much for your kind words 🙏🙏
Great video IMO best one on this subject!
Thanks so much!🙏🙏 Wow, big compliment🙏🙏🙏
Tarrant taught me and my girlfriend how to play Azul: Queen's Garden. Thanks Tarrant!
🙏🙏 Hehe , thank you so much
since I buy a lot of games, I end up teaching a lot of games. For heavier games I will link videos like yours to hopefully get a head start and make the teach easier, but this video is very useful. thanks
🙏 🙏 Thank you so much! Hopefully your gaming experience is smoother :)
Some great points here, I normally try to play through either solo of multi handed to get a feel of the game first. Although some games solo mode do differ from the multiplayer game.
Thank you, and thanks for sharing that
Love this video. I do the teach 95% of the time and agree with pretty much everything here.
I liked the sneaky little tease for an upcoming (?) Manhattan Project Energy Empire video. Can’t wait for the new edition.
Hi Tuan, good to hear from you. Thanks so much 🙏🙏 Good to hear!
Hahaha, yes, sneaky preview of what's to come, you spotted it, well done! ;P
Thanks for sharing this
Thank you for watching! Hope you are well!🙏
One of my fav board game topics. I know when I first got enthusiastic about euro games, I really turned some of my friends off to them, due to my clumsy instructions.
Thank you for sharing that.🙏 I'm sure you're fine, just someting new and different 😊
This is a great video! I've always been very nervous teaching as I never really understand flow that well. This helps a ton!
I do have an additional question, and that is more about dealing with players during the actual teach. Is there a good way of deterring players from assuming or trying to ask questions during the teach? I usually say, "I'll explain this soon or I can answer questions once I get through a certain part", but the consistent disruptions does affect the teach flow. I am assuming this is just because I am new to all this, but very curious how you deal with this kind of situation?
🙏 Thank you for the comment and kind words🙏. Glad we helped you.
You can do this! Tarrant used to write bullet points when he prepares the teach as reference point. Start simple also, a good way to build it up.
Dealing with players is a good question. Sometimes player missheard which they just asked, which is easy - repeat the sentence. There are times where they just need to clarify things, or when they started thinking of their own strategy then they ask ;P.
Others, which I think for your question, I notice when Tarrant teaches, he does said that "I'll explain this later..." bit that you mentioned. Having bullet points notes as reference points help to stay or get back on track.
Or I saw him say at the start, to set the scene, something like "I'll explain everything first, then will answer your questions later" this can be done also after each segment. So after some complex things, stop, and give people a chance to ask. This way they know that there WILL be time to ask questions, and therefore less interruption hopefully.
Hope this helps.
This is my go to channel for learning the hottest games. Thank you so much!!!!
🙏 thanks so much for your kind words🙏
Do you have any tips on how to communicate basic strategies for a game? It's been a tricky line for me because at a certain point it feels like I'm trying to play the game for a new player, but im trying to emphasize what things are important as a newbie.
An an example for castles of burgundy, I've explained to people that getting mines early is a good general strategy because income throughout the life of the game makes it easier to buy more black tiles, but this feels like I'm trying to play the game for them rather then letting them identify the strategy on their own.
I think its useful to convey certain strategies, and you mention a great example, so that everyone can have an enjoyable first game. If I've played a game multiple times before and have some insight into what is important then I like to share a comment during the teach so people dont feel like I sandbagged them
@mikintosh6111 good question. I think there is no right or wrong answer. What @kylethieman4254 is also valid. Good to share some tips at the right time of teaching potentially, or just right after that. Sometimes the students asked what is important, or if you know something is important, sharing at the start as a general tip, let them know and maybe say that you're intending to help them (if you dont know the other people well yet) without sounding controlling. So then they could probably forming strategy round that important thing. For example when Mistwind was said in the video, good to point out that particular bonus is actually quite important, at teaching.
Hope that helps🙏 Thank you for visiting us🙏