Fifteen Minutes or It Goes in the Closet

I made a rule official this year that I’d been following informally for a while without ever actually writing it down: if I can’t teach a game to a new player in under fifteen minutes, it doesn’t get front-shelf space anymore. Writing it down turned out to matter more than I expected, because the second it was an actual rule instead of a vague preference, I had to apply it consistently instead of making exceptions for things I was personally attached to.

I lost some real favorites to this immediately. A couple of heavier engine builders that I genuinely love once they’re running got moved to the closet, not because they’re bad, they’re not, but because getting a new player from zero to a real turn takes closer to twenty five or thirty minutes with either of them, and that’s fifteen or more minutes of a weeknight spent explaining instead of playing. I stood in front of the shelf longer than I want to admit before actually moving them, which tells you something about how much this rule cost me emotionally for something that sounds this dry on paper.

The test itself is simple and I’ve gotten strict about applying it fairly. I explain the game out loud, real time, to whoever’s in the room, phone timer running, and if we haven’t started a real first turn by the fifteen minute mark, that’s the answer, doesn’t matter how good the game is once it’s running. I know this sounds harsh toward games that reward patience. I’d argue it’s honest about the actual shape of my week rather than harsh. A brilliant game I never get to the table because teaching it eats a third of the evening isn’t doing me any good sitting on the shelf looking impressive.

What surprised me is what passed. Arnak, despite being genuinely meaty once it’s going, teaches in about that window if you focus the explanation the right way, lead with the core loop and let the exceptions surface naturally rather than front-loading every rule. That’s the same lesson-plan instinct I use at school, and it turns out it works as a teaching technique regardless of subject, whether I’m explaining photosynthesis or a worker placement mechanism.

The closet’s a little fuller now than it used to be, and the front shelf’s a little smaller and, I think, genuinely more honest about what actually gets played on a normal week. I’m still a little annoyed about a couple of the specific games I had to move. The rule’s staying anyway.