leep33•10h ago

DAE think theme matters more than mechanics when teaching new players?

I taught Catan to my sister and her kids last month and watched their eyes glaze over during the rule explanation. But the second I said "you're a settler on an island" and put the little wooden roads in their hands, they were hooked. I've seen this at game night in Portland too, where a dry euro with perfect balance got ignored while a janky zombie game with great art pulled everyone in. Mechanics keep us coming back, sure, but theme is what gets people to the table the first time. My buddy swears by teaching with light rules first, and I get that, but I think the story on the box does more heavy lifting than we admit. Am I wrong here, or does the theme-first approach actually work better for pulling in non-gamers?