[…] and while presented on glossy paper and often having great illustrations, the contents of the rulebook are a let-down which makes it difficult to get into and actually play the game. The rulebook is the players’ pathway into the game. As such, it should have a high priority in terms of its design and content.
Quotes about rulebooks
But at the very least, if people open the rulebook, they should be able to find the answer to their question quickly and easily. The more jumbled up things are, the harder they are to find, the less people are playing your game and the more they are sitting around trying to figure out how to play your game.
The trouble is, I suppose, that it’s not as sexy to get a good rulebook and as such not as easy and obvious a selling point as cool minis or gorgeous flat art, or even solid graphic design…
We made our own flowchart once for a game, and the average steps for a single player’s turn was something like seven or so. The rulebook was something like 14 pages. We counted the total number of page flips we had to go through to get through those seven steps and it was somewhere around 30 some-odd pages (!).
I have to admit. I sometimes think reading the rule book is the best part of the game.
