"But It's Just Rolling Dice." - Getting People Interested In Yahtzee.

 

  Kids today. Am I right?

  Oh, you want me to elaborate? Well, okay, I guess I've got a few minutes to spare. You see, kids today need instant gratification and loud noises and all the other shite that comes along with social media. It's actually kind of upsetting. But who am I kidding? Most of the bloody adults these days are exactly the same way, and that's not sad, it's terrifying! They can't seem to sit still for more that four minutes without picking up their phones and scrolling. It's like ADHD sponsored by Apple and Samsung, and it makes me mad. This needs to stop. Kids (and increasingly more and more adults) need to learn to slow down, and appreciate that things take more than a minute to reach it's conclusion, the bloody philistines.

  So you can imagine, when you broach the idea of Yahtzee to these addicts of the instant, it doesn't always go down very well. That's because it takes longer than a minute to get through and it only requires five dice to play. Hardly over stimulating in the eyes of these young (and old) whippersnappers.

  So how do you get these twitchy things interested in such a thing? It's not always easy, but I do have a couple of suggestions.

  Getting people interested enough to play a game, whether it's Yahtzee or some other game is a bit like a good sales pitch. If you just say "you roll dice and score points" you're not gonna interest anyone. To the initiated, we know that Yahtzee is far more interesting than that, so sell it as such. Now, which one of these sounds better:

  "Well, you roll five dice and try to score different combinations and achieve a better score than your opponent."

  Or:

  "Yahtzee is a full throttle battle of dice, quick wits, razor sharp decision making and just a smattering of luck in order to crush your enemies with punishing scores and wicked combos!"

  You have to admit, the latter synopsis is easily the most attention grabbing. But this is only good enough for you to get your foot in the door, as it were. Once you've done that, you need to actually teach them the rules. I don't know about you, but there is nothing more dull than listening to someone ham fistedly attempting to explain the rules to anything. Nah, that's not good enough. People like to learn by doing. Don't bore them to death by waffling, give them a game. In my experience, people pick up Yahtzee far easier by playing the game, they also get to see sooner rather than later that it is so much more than just rolling dice, and to me, that's the biggest hurdle when it comes to getting others interested. On the face of it, Yahtzee does sound boring. It's only when you get down to the nitty gritty that you realise there's so much more to it.

  If you're introducing people of a more advanced age to the world of Yahtzee, I like to add a little sweetener as an additional incentive to give it a go. And that's money. No, I don't just bribe them to tell everybody they love Yahtzee. I make learning worth their while by gambling with them. After all, cash is the universal language and it usually works. Plus if you know the kind of people I do, y'know, the kind of people that think they're instantly brilliant at everything they turn their hand to, you might even make a few quid.

  But don't get me wrong, none of these attempts are meant to deceive anybody. Perish the bloody thought. The aim is to incentivise people to TRY yahtzee, not like it. I'm not bothered if somebody gives it a go and they still don't like it. That's fine, we can't all like the same stuff. But what does get my dander up are those people that won't even try! That really sours the milk in my cornflakes. Just give it a bloody go. What's the worst that can happen?

  I guess this post goes a lot deeper than Yahtzee, as many of them do. It's more about not being afraid, or reluctant, to try new things in life. If you never try, no matter what it is, you'll never know if you like it or not. I've alway taken issue with that mindset. Imagine what you could be missing out on. I can't tell you the amount of food, drink, books, films, games and TV shows I've had no interest in or thought I wouldn't like, but, after giving them a go, they've been some of the greatest things I've experienced. Life's too short to have a closed mind. Open it, and watch a world of opportunities open up too.