Friday, December 08, 2006

How to lure people into the gaming hobby

Tip #32: Host a theme evening

A good way to invite your non-gamer friends over to play games without them realizing, is to host a theme evening. On a weekend evening (last Saturday in this case) invite 2 or 3 friends over (Sue, Linda and Balazs in this example) for a themed evening (I chose an Indian evening). Organize some exciting food linked with the theme (each of us contributed a home-cooked curry dish or a pudding) and arrange to watch a film linked with the theme after dinner (I showed Monsoon Wedding on my home projector). And here's the clever bit - set up a game that links with the theme (it was Taj Mahal in this case) and (this is critical) make sure someone else wins. I can't emphasise this enough - DO NOT WIN! Specifically, do not crush them into the dirt and laugh triumphantly over their failure (I know this will be hard for some of you). Sue won last Saturday, and I came a distant 4th. They enjoyed it, and expressed a wish to play Taj Mahal again soon. Mission accomplished....

3 comments:

Phil said...

Very sly indeed - get people full of food and wine, bore them to tears with a rubbish film, and then they'll pretty much appreciate anything even mildly stimulating. A game is therefore likely to blow their socks off. Cunning, very cunning....

Anonymous said...

Yeah, right, if you expect us to believe that for all these years every time you invited us around for games you were "trying to loose" we aren't going to buy it. Whatever makes you feel better though ...

Greg J. Schloesser said...

An excellent idea! I love the "theme night" concept, and the possibilities are virtually endless.

Thanks for stirring up my creative juices!