GDC 2025 Session Viewer

As board game designers, publishers, retailers, and players, we don't always have teachability and learnability of games at the forefront of our minds. We see a shiny new idea or game and are excited to engage with it! Our expectations of a smooth onboarding experience are often frustrated, at best creating a barrier to playing the game and at worst ensuring that the game doesn't get played at all. Know that teaching and learning board games is not a "you" problem but an industry-wide issue. Luckily, people across the board game sphere are dedicated to innovating in this space, with lots of exciting tools and techniques slowly being experimented with and adopted.

Takeaway

Attendees will come away from this talk with new insights into the struggles of players wanting to engage with board games. Those involved with board game creation will receive concrete techniques and tools to improve the game learning experience, and players will be able to identify easier-to-learn games.

Intended Audience

This talk is intended for a general audience. Board game designers will find it useful to apply to their own work, along with anyone who has ever played, learned or taught a board game. No prerequisite knowledge is required