Board Game Night Dealer

Game night fails in predictable ways: the game needs 3 players and 6 showed up; it's a 120-minute euro and everyone has 45 minutes; the person who owns the games always picks their favorite; and the teach takes 40 minutes because nobody read the rules first. This skill is the dealer that fixes all four: hard filters (players, time, complexity) then fit scoring, a teach kit per game so the rules explanation is 5 minutes instead of 40, and a rotation so picking is fair instead of habitual.

When to Use

• Planning a game night: "what should we play with 5 people, 90 minutes, nothing heavier than a 3?"
• Teaching a game tonight you haven't taught before — elevator pitch, first-turn script, the three mistakes new players always make
• Rotating who picks the game fairly across a regular group
• Deciding what to buy next from a wishlist against your group's real player count and session length

The Method

# Ranked picks: players, minutes, complexity ceiling, exclusions
python3 scripts/game_night.py pick --players 5 --minutes 90 \
    --complexity-max 3 --exclude 'Codenames,Catan'

# Teach kit: pitch + first-turn script + common mistakes
python3 scripts/game_night.py teach "Wingspan"
python3 scripts/game_night.py teach "7 Wonders"

# Fair rotation: who picks next (state persists in game_night.json)
python3 scripts/game_night.py rotation --people "Anna,Ben,Caro,Dave"
python3 scripts/game_night.py rotation --people "Anna,Ben,Caro,Dave" \
    --picked "Cascadia"

# Interactive survey: 4 questions -> weighted recommendations
python3 scripts/game_night.py survey

Selection Algorithm

1. Hard filters first. Player count must fit (min-max), playtime must fit the budget, complexity must be under the ceiling, excluded titles drop out. No amount of scoring rescues a game you can't play.
2. Fit scoring. Player-count fit (distance from the game's best count), time fit (underage bonus, overage penalty), teach-time check for short sessions.
3. Repeat damping. Games picked in the last 3 sessions score at half weight — variety without banning.
4. Explain every pick. Output says WHY: "supports 5 (best 5); 30 min; party-light rules".

Teach Kit Doctrine

• The 30-second elevator comes BEFORE rules details — people need the shape of the game before the pieces.
• First-turn script: what the first player physically does on turn one. Concrete beats abstract; the second turn teaches itself.
• Common mistakes: the 3 rules new players always get wrong, stated as don't-do-this.
• Teaching time scales with complexity: ~7 min for a party game, ~15+ for a heavy euro — budget it inside the session length.

Common Pitfalls

1. Picking by BGG rank. A #5-ranked heavy euro is a terrible pick for 6 casual players with an hour. Filter by group, not by fame.
2. Forgetting teach time. A 60-min game with a 20-min teach is an 80-min game. The pick command shows both numbers.
3. Same picker every week. Rotation rots silently; the rotation command tracks it so it can't.
4. Teaching from the rulebook. Read it before, teach from the kit: elevator, first turn, mistakes. Questions answer themselves by round two.
5. One long game vs two short ones. For mixed groups, two 40-minute games beat one 90-minute game — everyone resets, late arrivals slot in.

Verification Checklist

• Player count hard-filtered before scoring
• Time budget includes teach time, not just play time
• Recent picks damped (variety check)
• Teach kit read by the teacher BEFORE the night
• Rotation logged after the pick, not from memory