WHEN TO WRITE RULES FOR YOUR BOARD GAME
August 20, 2019
Do You Need to Write Up the Rules for your Board Game?
You created a great game. You’ve playtested it many, many times with many, many different people, and it’s really solid. You know it will be a big seller and people will play it often. You taught your playtesters how to play each time it got tested. So now, are you ready to pitch to a publisher or self-publish your game? NO!
You may be thinking that writing up the rules is the publisher’s job. But what if a publisher is interested and wants to take your prototype to play themselves? Even if your game is pretty simple, do you really want to take the chance that they’ll remember how to play correctly?
If you’re going to crowdfund your game, the game may sell based on your video but will generate a horrible reputation for you if the rulebook is not clear and people end up not understanding how to play. You should have at least a preliminary version of written rules before you begin your campaign.
Or what if you submit your game to a contest? Even if the initial entry doesn’t require written rules, they will be required if your game makes it to the finals.
I once had a great game entered in a contest, which probably would have won if the judges had played correctly. I didn’t realize that my written rules could be interpreted differently than how I meant them until I got the judges’ feedback.
This is why blind testing is essential.
Blind Testing
What is blind testing? It is having playtesters learn directly from the written rules, preferably without you in the room at all. Not only does it test that your rules are clear, but also tends to get you more honest feedback. Feedback is most honest when delivered impersonally, such as completing a form. Even better if it can be submitted anonymously.
If you are in the room, do your best to sit silently, watch, and make notes. Do not clarify rules unless a misunderstanding would significantly change how the game gets played. A small misunderstanding may actually lead you to a good rule change!
Maybe you’re depending on a “how to play” video. But many gamers, including the writer of this article, like to open a box, read the rules, and play without depending on any technology. Then we rate the game on BoardGameGeek.com and mention it on social media, knocking it down quite a bit if the written rules are confusing or have typographical errors.
So now maybe you’re thinking you’ll teach someone to play the game, then have them write up the rules for you. This may be an option if they have played many times and you work closely with them. But be careful. If they get something wrong, you may catch it when you proof-read it. But you may not. Whoever writes the rules is likely to catch some details about game play that were never noticed before. Rule writing may also catch some outliers, situations that are unlikely, but still could happen.
Show Me the Rules
You’ll need to cover as much as possible in your rules. If you don’t, Murphy’s Law says that the first reviewer to try your game will run into one of those unlikely situations, and they will give it a poor review. Avoid that by noticing those possibilities while writing up the rules and covering even the most unusual, but possible, situations.
When to Start Writing
You may be procrastinating your writing session. But what if you’re out playtesting and a publisher happens to show up, interested in your game. He or she wants a copy of the prototype to test out themselves. First you tell them that you’ll have to write up the rules for them, making you look a little unprofessional. And now you’re rushing to throw the rules together, making errors and omissions likely. If they are on the edge of the decision whether to make an offer for your game, a poor rules book might push them over to the wrong side of that decision.
Avoid the rush by writing up a rough draft as early in the design process as possible. Even though your rules will constantly be changing as you go through playtests, having a written document will help in several ways:
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When someone asks a question and your response is “hmm, I never thought of that,” you’ll have someplace to list both the question and the tentative answer.
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During playtesting you’ll make changes to your game, with multiple versions of the rules. If you update the rules each time, keeping a copy of the old rules, you’ll have a full history of all the versions you went through. Then if a new rule doesn’t work out, it’s easy to go back to a previous version.
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Re-reading something you’ve written in the past is often a good way to catch something that wasn’t as clear or well-written as you first thought. Writing up some rules early will allow you to take advantage of this, finding things later that you never noticed before.
I sometimes write up rules even before the first playtest, giving me a guide to setup and to teaching the game. Of course the initial rough draft does not include pictures or examples; those important items come later after the game has been tested a great deal and is pretty solid. But I use a standard format even for my first draft, saving me time later when I formalize with pictures and details, and making the rough draft a helpful tool for quick lookups of “what’s the current rule” after many iterations.
Rules about Rules
Just as every game is different, every game designer is different. So while writing up the rules early can be helpful for many of us, it may be better for some to start with rougher notes and formalize the rules later. And while rules writing by the designer is often helpful to improve the game, some designers may prefer to concentrate on other things and outsource the documentation to others (as long as they really know the game well.) So all of the above is advice, which just like playtest feedback, you may take some and ignore the rest.
When to Finish Writing
After you have written up your rules, then you need to blind test as much as possible. Also have professionals, like ProofMySpec.com, read the rules for grammar, completeness, and of course clarity. But your rules may continue to change as long as you are still testing, all the way up until the game is finally published. For advice on how to write the rules, see the next article, “Well Written Board Game Rules.”
Candy Weber is the designer of BoardGameGeek: The Card Game, Universal Victory Point Cards, and Trios (coming soon from Flying Lemur Games.)