“I move into the room and shoot at the clone with my machine gun,” my friend says.

“You can’t,” I say. “There’s a wall in the way. You need a clear line of sight to shoot your target.”

“What? You didn’t tell me that! If I had known, I would have done things differently!”

“I guess you should have read the rules beforehand,” I mutter.

This is a common exchange in my house while trying to teach people how to play a game for the first time.

I find explaining rules to new players at the beginning of a game session eats up a lot of the time we’d all rather be using to actually play the game. Seeing the blank stares on the faces of my friends and family as I drone on, practically reciting the rulebook that I wish everyone had read prior to playing, has a tendency to sap my enthusiasm. Many times we have opted to play something familiar rather than make the effort to learn a new game.

This is why I think video tutorials are a great companion to a rulebook. Tutorials help bring a game to life and are ideally suited as a first look at how a game plays, providing a more casual introduction to the rules: how they interact, how components are used, and how gameplay unfolds.

Further, only one person at a time can read a rulebook; everyone can watch a video tutorial at the same time before a game session. So, it’s an excellent way to ensure everyone gets the same information in a short amount of time. And, of course, a video tutorial avoids time-consuming rules explanations and gets everyone playing faster.

Privateer Press has a variety of video tutorials, and each one will familiarize you with a game’s setup, concepts, rules, components, and gameplay. After watching them, you will need to explain less and will have more time to answer the question, “Who’s turn is it?”

Happy gaming!

Level 7 [Escape] Video Tutorial
Heap Video Tutorial
War Room Video Tutorial