I have at this time written some version of all of the rules for Cutthroat Fruit Merchant.

I think.

I might have missed something in there.

But when I last put my mind to it I was already considering rewriting everything. A revision is inevitable. I know that if I put these rules in front of somebody they will get confused by something I wrote.

Or they’ll at least notice my typos.

But that is to be expected and I’m fine with that. The problem that I’m having is that I’m already reconsidering the overall structure and layout of the rules and this is tied to two things. One is that I’ve found myself having trouble trying to explain the rules to new players, because I haven’t quite figured out where I should start. I mean, I start with the goal of the game, because that makes sense, but once I start trying to explain how each part of the game works I find myself getting off on tangents for rules that tie into what I’m explaining, but require me to explain further rules that I have not yet gotten to. Alternatively, I just say we’ll get to that later. But having had rules poorly explained to me before, I worry that new players will feel like I’m glossing over something that is actually very important or that they will have trouble connecting the rule later when I’m all like, “You remember that thing I told you to ignore before? Well, it’s important now!”

Also, there’s the possibility of just forgetting to explain that rule, which leads to the many times I have, in mid-game, had to say, “Oh by the way…”

Thankfully, I’ve had very forgiving players.

The other reason I’m already considering revisions has to do with graphic design, board layout, and my last subject regarding Rules and that subject is Rules That Are Written Directly on the Game Boards. I don’t know who first popularized this idea, but I think we should all give them a big kiss!

Unless, they don’t want that. Then don’t do that.

I love board games that have a short-hand rules card or a game board that gives you a quick reference or, better yet, step by step instructions on how you can play your turn. I’m certain there are some rule-mongers out there that hate this, because they love to take advantage of the fact that others can’t keep track of the rules, but I like a level playing field where even a new player can have a sporting chance, because they don’t have to just keep track of rules in their head, the rules are literally right in front of them!

The only question for me here is what rules should go directly on the board? Part of this is going to rely on the graphic design and the game’s needs for playability. My friend Moss is going to be doing the artwork for CFM and I’ll need to sit down with him at some point and figure out what size each of the final board components will be and then see if there is any extra space we can utilize to give little reminders. Then I will probably pick the things that seem to be the most confusing and require the most reiterating. CFM has a lot board space. There’s the Main Board with the map, the Economy Board, and each player has an individual Game Board for their ship so I don’t doubt that some space could be freed up.

But how to use it?

Well, the truth is I just won’t know until we start designing more finalized versions of the boards and do a bunch of research regarding board sizes. That being said, in my revised version of the rules I started explaining the rules based on the individual components of the game. So if I were looking at the Main Board (the one with the map) I would start explaining the difference between a player being At Sea versus being In Port, I’d explain how movement works, and, depending on if the scoring track ends up on that board, I might explain the primary goal of the game and how scoring works.

The difficulty here is that even as I’m writing this I’m wondering if I would also start explaining combat, because this is tied to where you are in relation to others on the Main Board. This would necessitate explanation of individual player stats and jumps me over to the players’ game boards. Or if I would bring up buying and selling goods, since we’re talking about the ports and scoring, which would jump me to the Economy Board. Or if I would mention that a player incurs double piracy if they attack another player while one of them is in a Port Hex, which feels like it would require an explanation of how Piracy works in the game.

And then I’m right back to having no idea where to start.

I have no doubt I’ll figure this all out eventually. I mean, all the rules are going to end up somewhere in that rule book. I just want it to be easy to understand and, probably just as importantly, easy to reference quickly when the need arises.

This may be the most important part of designing a game.

Well, that and making the game in the first place, I suppose.