Giving new players a better chance.

[CeartGoLeor]

Does anyone have ideas to handicap/boost players in games where players are at a different level or experience or skill so that it is more competitive?

I've been encouraging various friends to play board games on here over the last year. However, I have ended up playing the games far more than any of my friends. I would not be a great player by the standards of serious board gamers on here. But just being more experienced than my friends gives me too much of an advantage in most games.

I don't want to deliberately lose games. And it doesn't help players improve. But it's not going to be fun for other people if I win all the time. I want to be able to try and win but with giving inexperienced players a decent chance of winning too.

One idea that I had was for Santorini. I would not use my God Power at all or be limited in use depending on the balance of players. But that's the only game I could think of any ideas to level the playing field.

Have any of you found restrictions that helped make any other games competitive with newbie players?

[GeraldineMerida]

Don't steal in Caravan. Or play with a 6th camel in each colour, but never use yours.

But this might work better in a thread in specific games you and your friends play regularly, or want to. There are a lot of games here!

[dschingis27]

Yeah, I think your question could work better if you would name some games where you search for ideas.

What worked well for me, (secretly) prohibiting myself from playing red cards in 7Wonders. Of course you could do that with any type. Try to win without blue cards.

Other than that, I usually try to get out of "gamer mode" when I play with my private casual group. That means I just pay less attention or play more risky/experimental than I used to.

[KongKing123]

As an opponent I'd find that a bit belittling, to be honest. "Let's play chess, I won't use my queen because otherwise you wouldn't stand a chance.". What's the value of a win (or close loss) if the result was only earned because of an intentional handicap? And how can people learn if they don't see good moves?

Perhaps you should simply look for games where the skill gap isn't that large, or where luck is a factor that can even things out. Or indeed, just play a bit more risky or try an experimental strategy without announcing it up front. You might even learn something yourself.

[compte obelète]

As an opponent I'd find that a bit belittling, to be honest. "Let's play chess, I won't use my queen because otherwise you wouldn't stand a chance.". What's the value of a win (or close loss) if the result was only earned because of an intentional handicap? And how can people learn if they don't see good moves?

Perhaps you should simply look for games where the skill gap isn't that large, or where luck is a factor that can even things out. Or indeed, just play a bit more risky or try an experimental strategy without announcing it up front. You might even learn something yourself.

It's feels a bit bad for newcomers, as i saw someone that is the only one that did masterise one of the race games, but all of his most recents play was against people under 200 elo.

Like, if you are that strong, why going in a fight against weak players in some games, like, there's maybe some higher elo level ready to fight too.

[sprockitz]

I'm not sure why some people are berating this idea, it is common in games to make things more fair (a knight or rook handicap in chess is quite common to allow fun games between differing skills)

there are lots of things you can do to self handicap, but it is really going to be game specific, but in general I'd recommend something at the beginning of the game (and generally related to purposefully wasting moves)...looking at your recent plays I just pick a few.

Targi, in round 1 you could force yourself to place across from each other (limiting you to 1 of the center cards). If you don't think 1 round is enough to make it even, you could place this restriction for the first n rounds.

Can't Stop - you can always purposefully bust on your first turn, or probably better stop after 1 roll.

Lucky Numbers - you can place your first n tiles on the table automatically.

Hive - you can artificially limit your options by not placing your last ant, for example. Alternatively you could waste a move or two at the start to give your opponent momentum.