I've taught dozens of people to play Magic, although not in the past 10 years.
First, if at all possible, teach only one person at a time. Teaching multiple people a new game all at once is incredibly difficult for everyone.
Second, they need to understand the basic turn structure or play pattern if the game has one. If you can, print it out and use it as a play-aid.
Third, play several games open-handed with pre-constructed decks. Do not introduce the deckbuilding aspects of the game right away. Make the decks simple and basic. Ideally, create one deck for each "faction" in the game.
In Magic, Wizards made 30-card beginning decks in each of the five colors that were meant for teaching the game. This was 15 years ago or more; I doubt they still do it since Arena exists. They were all common, so nothing complicated. They were like... $10 a set or something. So you'd do the above and play a couple of games with different colors and let the new player find one they like. Then, once they feel experienced and played a game close-handed or with only one of us playing close-handed, I'd ask them which two decks they liked the best, and I'd pick two others. Then we'd each shuffle the two chosen decks together and play again. And watching a person's mind expand into what the game really was during that game was incredibly satisfying. Ideally, at the end, I'd just give them all five decks to keep.
> First, if at all possible, teach only one person at a time. Teaching multiple people a new game all at once is incredibly difficult for everyone.
Interesting observation! I haven't had this experience at all. I've taught lots of board games to people, usually to multiple at once. The thing I find tricky is when you have some people who have played before and they keep interjecting with details that either aren't relevant yet, or I was planning to mention at a better time in the explanation.
I think trading card games are different because everyone is kinda playing a different game. Their hands are all going to vary a lot, so they each get their questions and sticking points in a different order. Games like Magic are harder because you can play on other people's turns, and the game is very very exception-based (cards often break general rules).
Otherwise, yeah I think teaching board games to a group is not that much harder. Or playing card games for that matter.
First, if at all possible, teach only one person at a time. Teaching multiple people a new game all at once is incredibly difficult for everyone.
Second, they need to understand the basic turn structure or play pattern if the game has one. If you can, print it out and use it as a play-aid.
Third, play several games open-handed with pre-constructed decks. Do not introduce the deckbuilding aspects of the game right away. Make the decks simple and basic. Ideally, create one deck for each "faction" in the game.
In Magic, Wizards made 30-card beginning decks in each of the five colors that were meant for teaching the game. This was 15 years ago or more; I doubt they still do it since Arena exists. They were all common, so nothing complicated. They were like... $10 a set or something. So you'd do the above and play a couple of games with different colors and let the new player find one they like. Then, once they feel experienced and played a game close-handed or with only one of us playing close-handed, I'd ask them which two decks they liked the best, and I'd pick two others. Then we'd each shuffle the two chosen decks together and play again. And watching a person's mind expand into what the game really was during that game was incredibly satisfying. Ideally, at the end, I'd just give them all five decks to keep.