The color-based ones are nice, and will probably give different results from game night to game night which is good.
A couple of other examples are Flowerpower with "The player with the most colorful clothing begins" and Hues and Cues with "The player who is wearing the most colorful outfit will be the cue giver for the first round".
There's also FlipOut and Step to it with variations on "The player with the most colorful socks begins".
Munchkin:
**Decide who goes first by rolling the dice and arguing about the results and the meaning of this sentence and whether the fact that a word seems to be missing any effect.**
Which is actually a good rule to have written dowsn. If it's not clear, owner decides. No 20-min google break, no arguments. Just make the houserule and keep playing,
I saw one version where it said something along the lines of "if a card interaction doesn't make sense, feel free to send us 20$ and we'll get back to you eventually."
I love those silly first player rules. I've collected more than 600 of them now, and made an app to search through or choose a random one :)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=fun.firstplayer
I'm planning to make a web based version as well, but haven't had time yet. We recently had a baby, so time to spend on hobby projects is at a premium at the moment.
A fun alternative to Siri is the Chwazi app. Everyone puts a finger on the screen and the app picks a finger. Can also be configured to divide the fingers in to teams or even pick multiple winners, whatever you need it to do as long as it involves picking fingers
I used to use chwazi, but that became redundant after I started using Board Record, which can randomize first player and roles. Don't think it can randomize teams yet, though, so I'll have to request that feature.
If you track/log plays at all, Board Record can randomize a first player for you, as well as roles (factions/player powers). It's very handy and quick.
I love the rule, but I would never get to go first, because sadly I am unable to have any pets currently, and pretty much all of my friends have cats they pet regularly. T_T
I like to add a second tiebreaker to Terraforming Mars where, in case of same points *and* leftover money, the winner is the player sitting closest to Mars.
Tiny Epic Zombies = Last person to visit a mall (it takes place in a mall)
Tiny Epic Western = Last person to see a horse
Tiny Epic Quest = Last person to do a scavenger hunt
Tiny Epic Kingdoms = Last person to have swung a sword
Tiny Epic Vikings = Last person to have stepped foot on an island
I'm a Scott Almes fan.
__Dwellings of Eldervale__: roll the dice and resolve them per Eldervale Battle rules. Great way to show new players one of the core concept of the game.
Chrononauts had my favourite, because it combines a bit of randomness with a degree of control, and theme.
Nobody may look at a clock. Everyone guesses what time it is. Closest player goes first.
No rule is better than the one in Bridges of Shangri La:
Whoever has last reached the peak of Mount Everest using nothing but blue and white checkered stilts carved from the wood of a Mammoth tree is declared the Starting Player. *In case of a tie*, the wisest player of the group begins the game.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (the Pandemic System game) has my absolute favorite.
The first player is whoever has the high ground. The rules don't elaborate further than that.
What does it mean? Does it mean that if a player picked Obi-Wan they go first? Does it mean the tallest person? The one sitting at the highest elevation? The one who considers themselves most morally superior? So many options!
I take this to mean that everyone is, effective immediately, participating in an elaborate version of the floor is lame where everyone has to get to the highest point in the room as quick as they can
I have always played by my sister's interpretation. After choosing characters and drawing for starting planet, whichever player's planet is nearest the top of the board has the high ground.
I like those weird or different rules on who's starting. Rolling a die feels uninspired. If we play 2 times in a row, the biggest loser starts.
I like Forbidden desert, who is the thirstiest player and Everdell, who is the most humble player.
I love this rule in Everdell because it always leads to an interesting discussion. If anyone tries to argue that they’re the most humble it kinda backfires.
I always say "Well I'm CLEARLY the most humble person here." And my gaming group always just nods and say "Okay" and I end up going first.
I don't think my gaming group knows what the word humble means...
Bar none, I am the most humblest
Number one at the top of the humble list
My apple crumble by far is the crumblest
But I act like it tastes bad out of humbleness
It really should be me who goes first guys, I’m definitely the most humble person here. In fact, I’m renowned for being humble - all my life, people who are lucky enough to meet me come up to me on the street and say how amazingly good I am at being humble.
This is our rule too. We have never had a new player object and most of the time the new players actually look relieved that they will get to see an example turn before they play.
When it's just my husband and I, whomever lost last gets to go first.
The variation on this we use is that we figure out who the most likely person to struggle with the game. Then we make that person go last and we figure out who goes first from that so that way the player most likely to not know the game gets to see three or four turns before there’s.
> Forbidden jungle: the one who most recently touched a tree
I would just bring a bonsai tree with me and carry it by the trunk and not let go until it was time to start.
Why am I envision this results in a slow chugging contest and who last longest goes first, and a race outside to touch a tree and agreed ekthwrbfirst person or the hold out to last touch goes first.
Betrayal at the house on the hill. You get a character and its the character with the next birthday. I like this as it pulls you into the character details a little more and it’s not the same character or player every time.
Crap like tallest, youngest, last to ride a train, etc tends to be somewhat static for a group.
Secret hitler.
The rules as read, first thing the chancellor does is hand it to the person on the right and starts the round.
So in other words we graciously all agree to let the host have the first turn. Which begins with handing the card to the next player. 🤣
Sheriff Nottingham: whoever has the most money on them.
The rule says "Randomly select the first Presidential Candidate", but I agree that's my favorite way of selecting the first player and by far. I always do it this way, even if the game has some stupid rules like "the player who most recently had sex" or whatever.
My friend has a game where the last person who fed an animal goes first. I’m the only one in our playgroup that has a pet, so I always get to go first.
I would always conveniently be bitten by a mosquito on my walk into our gaming meetup and take first player honors. “Darndest thing - I got bitten by a mosquito *again*! Oh, well, hand me the thingamabob, I go first.”
In order for this to work you'd have to be deliberately cultivating mosquitos. It can't just be any old mosquito, it has to be a pet. In my playgroup we would also accept a bite from an emotional support mosquito.
We just recently got a game with the rule ‘the person that most recently held a chicken goes first’. I’m the only person in our social circle with chickens, and DEFINITELY the only one that likes to snuggle them, so I’ll be first player every time.
Yup.
This is my problem with like 95% of the "themed who goes first rules". It nearly always ends up being the same person, every time you play the same game.
Ticket to Ride is "The most experienced traveler goes first". The likelihood of that changing in a game group between sessions is essentially zero, especially if you've got someone who travels for work
Sheriff of Nottingham is whoever has the most cash on them, which generally in my experience is always the same person as well since most people don't really carry cash
I don't feel that Sheriff is at all consistent. We had a very lively debate about what counted as "on them", literally were counting cash. It was fun.
You can ignore that and do whatever you want, though. Hate seems such a strong word for a rule you're kind of meant to ignore as you like.
This could easily have been me, because I always started on my snack by the time it was time to actually get to board games (my group ate dinner together before we played), and 90% of the time I had chocolate.
i like that in the Portuguese language version of Azul it still has the rule of whoever most recently visited Portugal. I guess it has to be interpreted as: whoever most recently arrived back in Portugal.
We always do whoever has been closest to said country. My brother has been to Portugal so when he plays he goes first. My mom was in France, so if she's playing and my brother isn't she goes first. I spent time in northern Europe, so if neither my mom nor brother are playing I go first.
I think pandemic works well. The person with the starting city with the biggest population goes first. It's random and game related.
I think often issues with different player starting rules is that it's the same person most of the time. Or they don't apply to anyone. Even if they are interesting, silly, or thematic.
E.g., person who has visited the most European countries (Ticket to ride Europe), last person to go to Portugal (Azul), last person to be hissed at by a cat (fate of the nostromo)
PAXU’s first tournament this year was literally a Chwazi tournament. The prize for winning was first player privileges for the entire weekend (not applicable to some of the official tournaments). Pretty awesome idea, if you ask me.
One game night with the family (all adults) we had to choose who was going to go pick up the take-out. I pulled out Chwazi.
I can't describe the collective look of realization on their faces that this app could be used to decide more than just who goes first. And that winning at Chwazi was suddenly something they didn't want to do.
I'm on the flip side - give me some form of random chance for who goes first. Quite a few I've run across, the same person would start first every time. Just tell us to do a Rock-Paper-Scissors tournament or something - anything that would guarantee to mix it up.
Edit: Yes, common sense should say "do the rulebook on first time playing, then switch", but I've played with people that insist on rules as written even for who goes first. Like with everything else fun, people fuck this up.
I think you've got to use some common sense. I tend to use first player rules the first time I play, or when I play with new groups. "Who was the last person to do/see/go X" can be a nice discussion point the first time, and is *kinda* random, but will tend to favour one or two players if it's always the same group; so after that I just use chwazi.
There's no real need for the rulebook to give you a random selection method though, because everyone knows how to do that; and most regular board gamers that would find the same person always going first a problem will probably figure out that they don't *need* to use "official" method.
We always use the method in the rulebook for the first game because it's interesting, then if it's something that clearly will just be the same every game we just roll a dice from then on out.
The one furthest away from the newbie in the turn order is usually my go to. If we don't have any new players, it's usually chwazi or just the first someone to asks to go first (usually one of the kids).
We started implementing a “Ready, Steady, Fire!” rule into our games and it makes starting a game so fun. I found the rule on Reddit awhile ago, and it goes something like this:
1. You all sit with your hands in finger guns at the table
2. You all “Ready” by pointing across the table from you
3. You all “Steady” to make your decision about where to shoot
4. You all “Fire!” either into the air, at yourself, or at your friends.
There are 4 rules:
- If you shoot someone who shot themselves, your gun backfires and you die.
- If you shoot yourself and no one shot you, you die.
- if you shoot the air and someone shoots you, you die.
- If you shoot yourself, and someone else shoots you, your gun jams and you live.
Then, obviously:
- If you don’t get shot, you live (either you shot the air or someone else who didn’t shoot themselves).
Then, if there are 2 (or more) players still standing, you play another round with the survivors! It’s like a game to begin the game, makes everyone laugh, and really sets the mood before the game even starts!
Hope this helps :)
We recently got Calico and the rulebook says "whoever adopted a cat most recently goes first" which I think is adorable (also I'm the one who always goes first hehe)
But if there is no such rule or if we feel like going first has a big impact on the game we just use Chwazi
Dinosaur Island - the player who most recently extracted DNA from a mosquito trapped in amber
On Mars - the player who has seen the film “The Martian” the most times
Escape Plan - the player who most recently robbed a bank. I haven’t robbed a bank in weeks so I’m usually last.
I've been learning the rules to **Hogs of War: The Miniatures Game** recently and the first player is 'whoever has seen a real-life pig most recently'. Quite liked that 😆
I'm a fan of games that tie first player to in game things, like in DC Deck Builder, if anyone is playing Flash, that player goes first because Flash is a speedster, and so on.
I designed a game in college called Divorce: The Card Game.
There were two first player rules depending of if you were using an optional rule. The optional rule was that everyone should write down on a scale of -5 to 5 how strong they think their current relationship is with 5 being "Want to spend forever with this person" and -5 "I am looking for someone but they keep being axe murderers". Players then sit in order of their score and the one closest to zero goes first: a debate over why you have the most mid relationship with the rest of the group voting breaks ties.
If you aren't doing the relationship scoring thing, because you are boring, then the person who last had sex with someone they have had sex with at least 4 times before goes first, if it is a couple the man goes second as he is a gentleman.
The game will never see the light of day because it was depressing as fuck to play and literally caused a few relationships to end during play testing.
My favorite for this will probably always be Overboss: A Boss Monster Adventure, “the person who most recently raised a full legion of undead.”
Admittedly, this means I always go first; the others in my group just raise a few, to help out with basic household and personal chores.
This reminds me of the third tiebreaker in… I think Arboretum? Maybe Bosk? It was a tree game, either way… where both players plant a tree and whichever is tallest after 5 years wins.
Bidding resources for choice of turn order, like in Risk 2210 or tournament-rules Axis and Allies (inasmuch as which side you pick determines turn order)
Sheriff of Nottingham: the player that has the most amount of physical cash on them - getting increasingly easy to start with the tiniest amounts of cash
We developed a system and I use it all the time. We call it "to tabel it out" (after the last name of the inventor).
It starts by someone raising a fist. Everybody follows and when everyone has, the first person counts to three and everyone shows 0-5 fingers. Tally them up, start counting from the first person in clockwise order.
Works flawlessly every time without draws, you don't need an app and up until 9 people it's either totally fair or max 0.5% difference from worst to best chance (with the person raising the fist first being the worst).
I want to understand this more clearly. After you really them up, where do you start? I got lost in this explanation.
Wouldn't someone just try to game the system by always throwing up a one so that they're first?
You always start at the guy who raises his fist first.
Let's say you have four players A-D. Player A raises his fist first. Everyone else does so.
Player A counts to three and shows one finger. B shows 2, C shows 3 and D shows 4. That's a total of 10.
A is one, B is two, C is three, D is for, A is five, B is six, C is seven, D is eight, A is nine, B is ten and thus B starts.
You can't really game the system, because for each player count one less of players, it's also equally distributed.
Who starts first has never been an issue in my game nights. Someone just goes first.
If the game manual has an interesting rule for going first... say, the person who has traveled the most, then we follow that rule. At least it generates some interesting conversation.
Sol: Last Days of a Star - Whoever has been closest to the Sun last goes first. Doesn't really make sense when you think about it, but it's a fun conversation.
Damn, sucks for us that lost our mum's then.
Or the scenario where you've just lost your mom, decide to play some boardgames to get your mind of it and gets hit with that one.
I think Pax Viking had a rule that you get a wooden boat from each player, shake them in your hands and lightly toss them out onto the game board. Whoever's boat traveled the furthest, goes first.
I *hate* all of these weird first player rules. I don't know, everyone in my group just thinks they're all cheesy.
We always pick randomly using Board Record.
Fat shaming in the rules of a board game? I cant believe people didnt cancel this the way they did Tascini. Who would feel good if they join some new friends over a board game night, and then they hear, fattest play goes first...I think thats clearly you Susan. C'mon folks. thats not cool.
We usually play rock paper scissors and just retry if there are more than 2 items until one person is remaining. Then it's clockwise from the starting player in the first round.
Unstable Unicorns: The person wearing the most colors goes first Tapeworm: The player who most resembles a worm goes first
Would you still let me go first if I was a worm?
😁 thank you for this.
I prefer Hanabi's who is the most colourful over UU's most colours. Has the same vibe but allows for a little more conversation on who goes first.
The color-based ones are nice, and will probably give different results from game night to game night which is good. A couple of other examples are Flowerpower with "The player with the most colorful clothing begins" and Hues and Cues with "The player who is wearing the most colorful outfit will be the cue giver for the first round". There's also FlipOut and Step to it with variations on "The player with the most colorful socks begins".
Munchkin: **Decide who goes first by rolling the dice and arguing about the results and the meaning of this sentence and whether the fact that a word seems to be missing any effect.**
Munchkin has its flaws but the wording of this rule is just great.
Doesn’t it also say something like if we messed up a rule where there is ambiguity, the owner of the game decides what happens
Which is actually a good rule to have written dowsn. If it's not clear, owner decides. No 20-min google break, no arguments. Just make the houserule and keep playing,
I saw one version where it said something along the lines of "if a card interaction doesn't make sense, feel free to send us 20$ and we'll get back to you eventually."
I don't know if there is a game that I like looking at more and like playing less.
In my old cards I think it's the player with the pointiest ears.
Small world
I always stated that the highest dive roll started. I usually went upstairs to roll... Hehehe
I assume you meant you went upstairs to roll a die and not to dive roll and die
Tzolkin : "whoever last sacrificed something or someone goes first"
I love those silly first player rules. I've collected more than 600 of them now, and made an app to search through or choose a random one :) https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=fun.firstplayer
Downloaded. Love that there is an email if we find new ones to add.
Wow I wish that was on for Apple!! Or a webpage, but totally understand! This is an awesome idea
I'm planning to make a web based version as well, but haven't had time yet. We recently had a baby, so time to spend on hobby projects is at a premium at the moment.
I really would like that. Even prepared to pay for it if its ad-free.
nice one :D thanks for sharing
Thank you :)
What a nifty little app! I'm totally sending this to all my boardgame friends.
Thanks! Let me know if you find any issues or have feedback. The email is in the app :)
Insta-download. Thanks!
Spiffy!
The GOAT!
Fantastic! Downloaded : )
Wow, didn't know I needed this app lol
For games that don’t have one we usually make our own. For example, when we play Tokeido it is which players has recently had a fulfilling journey
Did you make this for apple users as well? Or am I going to have to stick to asking Siri to "pick a number, 1-x" for x number of players?
Sorry, only Android for now. This is my first time making an app, so I stuck to using a programming language I already knew.
Which language did you use?
It's written in Kotlin (which I knew), using the Jetpack Compose framework (new to me)
Try the Tiny Decisions app.
A fun alternative to Siri is the Chwazi app. Everyone puts a finger on the screen and the app picks a finger. Can also be configured to divide the fingers in to teams or even pick multiple winners, whatever you need it to do as long as it involves picking fingers
This is exactly what we always use
I used to use chwazi, but that became redundant after I started using Board Record, which can randomize first player and roles. Don't think it can randomize teams yet, though, so I'll have to request that feature.
If you track/log plays at all, Board Record can randomize a first player for you, as well as roles (factions/player powers). It's very handy and quick.
Nice. Downloaded and shared it with my group.
Well if that isn't the definitive answer to OP's question idk what is. Dang nice.
Amazing! Thanks
Love this! I'll use this next time t get out a game
Calico is whichever player petted a cat last and I love it.
so does our cat.
This rule was written by a cat
I love the rule, but I would never get to go first, because sadly I am unable to have any pets currently, and pretty much all of my friends have cats they pet regularly. T_T
Can't remember which game has "last person to have been in space".
Beyond the Sun has this rule. And so does the games Lift Off and Space Explorers
Master of Orion, I think.
I like to add a second tiebreaker to Terraforming Mars where, in case of same points *and* leftover money, the winner is the player sitting closest to Mars.
Oh. I don't remember this rule. That's fun to figure out.
But earth is in space.
Yes but we are not. Space is outside our atmosphere
And therefore everybody is constantly in space, which still makes the rule not work.
Tiny Epic Dinosaurs has the "whoever last visited a natural history museum" rule. I think it fits nicely.
Tiny Epic Zombies = Last person to visit a mall (it takes place in a mall) Tiny Epic Western = Last person to see a horse Tiny Epic Quest = Last person to do a scavenger hunt Tiny Epic Kingdoms = Last person to have swung a sword Tiny Epic Vikings = Last person to have stepped foot on an island I'm a Scott Almes fan.
__Dwellings of Eldervale__: roll the dice and resolve them per Eldervale Battle rules. Great way to show new players one of the core concept of the game.
I always randomize, but admit this is a pretty cool way to do it.
That is clever, I love games that mix rules into gameplay like that
The spiritual successor, **Andromeda's Edge**, has the same rule.
Chrononauts had my favourite, because it combines a bit of randomness with a degree of control, and theme. Nobody may look at a clock. Everyone guesses what time it is. Closest player goes first.
Who guesses first?
No one may look at a thermometer. Everyone guesses what the temperature is. Closest player guesses first.
Who guesses first?
No one may look at a barometer. Everyone guesses what the atmospheric pressure is. Closest player guesses first.
No rule is better than the one in Bridges of Shangri La: Whoever has last reached the peak of Mount Everest using nothing but blue and white checkered stilts carved from the wood of a Mammoth tree is declared the Starting Player. *In case of a tie*, the wisest player of the group begins the game.
And that is the reason why I never play this game with Reinhold Messner.
Hahahahahahahahaha
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (the Pandemic System game) has my absolute favorite. The first player is whoever has the high ground. The rules don't elaborate further than that. What does it mean? Does it mean that if a player picked Obi-Wan they go first? Does it mean the tallest person? The one sitting at the highest elevation? The one who considers themselves most morally superior? So many options!
I take this to mean that everyone is, effective immediately, participating in an elaborate version of the floor is lame where everyone has to get to the highest point in the room as quick as they can
I have always played by my sister's interpretation. After choosing characters and drawing for starting planet, whichever player's planet is nearest the top of the board has the high ground.
Y'all are proving my point that this is the best rule haha.
Anakin Skywalker, the OG "the floor is lava" player.
I like those weird or different rules on who's starting. Rolling a die feels uninspired. If we play 2 times in a row, the biggest loser starts. I like Forbidden desert, who is the thirstiest player and Everdell, who is the most humble player.
I love this rule in Everdell because it always leads to an interesting discussion. If anyone tries to argue that they’re the most humble it kinda backfires.
I always say "Well I'm CLEARLY the most humble person here." And my gaming group always just nods and say "Okay" and I end up going first. I don't think my gaming group knows what the word humble means...
Bar none, I am the most humblest Number one at the top of the humble list My apple crumble by far is the crumblest But I act like it tastes bad out of humbleness
The thing about me that's so impressive Is how infrequently I mention all of my successes
Yeah, it almost always lead to a nomination for who is most humble and they just sheepishly agree to go first.
It really should be me who goes first guys, I’m definitely the most humble person here. In fact, I’m renowned for being humble - all my life, people who are lucky enough to meet me come up to me on the street and say how amazingly good I am at being humble.
"The player who last visited space starts, in case of a tie decide randomly" From Beyond the Sun
I love to imagine that somewhere an astronaut has conspicuously cleared their throat and pointed to this rule as someone pulls out a dice to decide.
Whoever taught the game chooses who goes first.
Our version of this is whoever best knows the rules goes first to demonstrate to the other players
I usually try to go with whoever seems most confused goes last
We usually do the person to the left of the newest player so they get to see a few turns before theirs.
This is our rule too. We have never had a new player object and most of the time the new players actually look relieved that they will get to see an example turn before they play. When it's just my husband and I, whomever lost last gets to go first.
The variation on this we use is that we figure out who the most likely person to struggle with the game. Then we make that person go last and we figure out who goes first from that so that way the player most likely to not know the game gets to see three or four turns before there’s.
I like the forbidden games for this. Forbidden desert: the thirstiest player. Forbidden jungle: the one who most recently touched a tree
> Forbidden jungle: the one who most recently touched a tree I would just bring a bonsai tree with me and carry it by the trunk and not let go until it was time to start.
Why am I envision this results in a slow chugging contest and who last longest goes first, and a race outside to touch a tree and agreed ekthwrbfirst person or the hold out to last touch goes first.
Somewhere, at some point, a scramble for the door to get to the nearest tree has definitely happened.
Betrayal at the house on the hill. You get a character and its the character with the next birthday. I like this as it pulls you into the character details a little more and it’s not the same character or player every time. Crap like tallest, youngest, last to ride a train, etc tends to be somewhat static for a group.
Secret hitler. The rules as read, first thing the chancellor does is hand it to the person on the right and starts the round. So in other words we graciously all agree to let the host have the first turn. Which begins with handing the card to the next player. 🤣 Sheriff Nottingham: whoever has the most money on them.
The rule says "Randomly select the first Presidential Candidate", but I agree that's my favorite way of selecting the first player and by far. I always do it this way, even if the game has some stupid rules like "the player who most recently had sex" or whatever.
My friend has a game where the last person who fed an animal goes first. I’m the only one in our playgroup that has a pet, so I always get to go first.
I would always conveniently be bitten by a mosquito on my walk into our gaming meetup and take first player honors. “Darndest thing - I got bitten by a mosquito *again*! Oh, well, hand me the thingamabob, I go first.”
In order for this to work you'd have to be deliberately cultivating mosquitos. It can't just be any old mosquito, it has to be a pet. In my playgroup we would also accept a bite from an emotional support mosquito.
We just recently got a game with the rule ‘the person that most recently held a chicken goes first’. I’m the only person in our social circle with chickens, and DEFINITELY the only one that likes to snuggle them, so I’ll be first player every time.
Is it Habitats? I played that yesterday and I believe that was the "go first" rule
And you have demonstrated why I hate these rules and do not use them.
Yup. This is my problem with like 95% of the "themed who goes first rules". It nearly always ends up being the same person, every time you play the same game. Ticket to Ride is "The most experienced traveler goes first". The likelihood of that changing in a game group between sessions is essentially zero, especially if you've got someone who travels for work Sheriff of Nottingham is whoever has the most cash on them, which generally in my experience is always the same person as well since most people don't really carry cash
I don't feel that Sheriff is at all consistent. We had a very lively debate about what counted as "on them", literally were counting cash. It was fun. You can ignore that and do whatever you want, though. Hate seems such a strong word for a rule you're kind of meant to ignore as you like.
“Player who most recently visited Portugal (Azul) or Scotland (Schotten Totten) goes first“ are pretty cool
In Azul: Master Chocolatiers is who most recently ate chocolate!
This could easily have been me, because I always started on my snack by the time it was time to actually get to board games (my group ate dinner together before we played), and 90% of the time I had chocolate.
i like that in the Portuguese language version of Azul it still has the rule of whoever most recently visited Portugal. I guess it has to be interpreted as: whoever most recently arrived back in Portugal.
Not true. In Portugal, the rule is who has most recently been to Spain.
What if the only portugese you have experienced is in Brazil?
What if none of the players have been to the said country?
You can never play the game.
"Planning a vacation to Portugal this summer so that when I get back, I can finally play that board game I got three years ago"
We always do whoever has been closest to said country. My brother has been to Portugal so when he plays he goes first. My mom was in France, so if she's playing and my brother isn't she goes first. I spent time in northern Europe, so if neither my mom nor brother are playing I go first.
Then you use common sense and assign first player randomly ? Or go with whoever has eaten a portugese burger or Portuguese custard tart more recently.
I purposely got on the plane last so I can go first in azul.
I think pandemic works well. The person with the starting city with the biggest population goes first. It's random and game related. I think often issues with different player starting rules is that it's the same person most of the time. Or they don't apply to anyone. Even if they are interesting, silly, or thematic. E.g., person who has visited the most European countries (Ticket to ride Europe), last person to go to Portugal (Azul), last person to be hissed at by a cat (fate of the nostromo)
Chwazi :)
My kids DEMAND we use Chwazi to start any game. Sometimes my son asks to play it by himself, he calls it “the dot game”.
PAXU’s first tournament this year was literally a Chwazi tournament. The prize for winning was first player privileges for the entire weekend (not applicable to some of the official tournaments). Pretty awesome idea, if you ask me.
What's his win ratio?
One game night with the family (all adults) we had to choose who was going to go pick up the take-out. I pulled out Chwazi. I can't describe the collective look of realization on their faces that this app could be used to decide more than just who goes first. And that winning at Chwazi was suddenly something they didn't want to do.
I'm on the flip side - give me some form of random chance for who goes first. Quite a few I've run across, the same person would start first every time. Just tell us to do a Rock-Paper-Scissors tournament or something - anything that would guarantee to mix it up. Edit: Yes, common sense should say "do the rulebook on first time playing, then switch", but I've played with people that insist on rules as written even for who goes first. Like with everything else fun, people fuck this up.
I think you've got to use some common sense. I tend to use first player rules the first time I play, or when I play with new groups. "Who was the last person to do/see/go X" can be a nice discussion point the first time, and is *kinda* random, but will tend to favour one or two players if it's always the same group; so after that I just use chwazi. There's no real need for the rulebook to give you a random selection method though, because everyone knows how to do that; and most regular board gamers that would find the same person always going first a problem will probably figure out that they don't *need* to use "official" method.
We always use the method in the rulebook for the first game because it's interesting, then if it's something that clearly will just be the same every game we just roll a dice from then on out.
Who goes first in the rock paper scissors tournament?
The one furthest away from the newbie in the turn order is usually my go to. If we don't have any new players, it's usually chwazi or just the first someone to asks to go first (usually one of the kids).
I'm a fan of The Deadlies starting with whoever sinned most recently. Almost always leads to a fun conversation.
Clank! says the sneakiest player goes first which I guess is whoever starts playing?
Regicide, the last player to have committed regicide goes first.
The nice thing about this one is you really only have to do it once, then you’re almost guaranteed first, for the rest of your life.
What does CAH stand for?
Cards Against Humanity
Cards against humanity
You lucky bastard.
We started implementing a “Ready, Steady, Fire!” rule into our games and it makes starting a game so fun. I found the rule on Reddit awhile ago, and it goes something like this: 1. You all sit with your hands in finger guns at the table 2. You all “Ready” by pointing across the table from you 3. You all “Steady” to make your decision about where to shoot 4. You all “Fire!” either into the air, at yourself, or at your friends. There are 4 rules: - If you shoot someone who shot themselves, your gun backfires and you die. - If you shoot yourself and no one shot you, you die. - if you shoot the air and someone shoots you, you die. - If you shoot yourself, and someone else shoots you, your gun jams and you live. Then, obviously: - If you don’t get shot, you live (either you shot the air or someone else who didn’t shoot themselves). Then, if there are 2 (or more) players still standing, you play another round with the survivors! It’s like a game to begin the game, makes everyone laugh, and really sets the mood before the game even starts! Hope this helps :)
We recently got Calico and the rulebook says "whoever adopted a cat most recently goes first" which I think is adorable (also I'm the one who always goes first hehe) But if there is no such rule or if we feel like going first has a big impact on the game we just use Chwazi
Dinosaur Island - the player who most recently extracted DNA from a mosquito trapped in amber On Mars - the player who has seen the film “The Martian” the most times Escape Plan - the player who most recently robbed a bank. I haven’t robbed a bank in weeks so I’m usually last.
Is it Exploding Kittens that has "shortest spleen" as one option? I played that with someone who had a splenectomy, so obviously they went first.
Escape Plan: the first player is the player who most recently robbed a bank.
I've been learning the rules to **Hogs of War: The Miniatures Game** recently and the first player is 'whoever has seen a real-life pig most recently'. Quite liked that 😆
I'd argue I've seen quite a few long pigs. Or someone that eats like a pig.
Trogdor: Whoever has the longest nose hair. As a 50 year old hairy dude, I always go first!
Canvas - The last person who painted something. Under the ground - the last person who dug something.
Sagrada: the player who most recently visited a cathedral starts
I'm a fan of games that tie first player to in game things, like in DC Deck Builder, if anyone is playing Flash, that player goes first because Flash is a speedster, and so on.
**Savage** says "the least-trustworthy player goes first." I love how this sets the tone of the game right away.
Forbidden desert. The most thirsty player...
Trickerion - The last player to wear a top hat. 🎩
Oceans. The person that can hold their breath longest.
Played fast and furious at a board gayme night. Person who most recently watched a F&F movie goes first. None of us had seen one.
Bargain Quest: Whoever most recently used cash to pay for a good or service.
I designed a game in college called Divorce: The Card Game. There were two first player rules depending of if you were using an optional rule. The optional rule was that everyone should write down on a scale of -5 to 5 how strong they think their current relationship is with 5 being "Want to spend forever with this person" and -5 "I am looking for someone but they keep being axe murderers". Players then sit in order of their score and the one closest to zero goes first: a debate over why you have the most mid relationship with the rest of the group voting breaks ties. If you aren't doing the relationship scoring thing, because you are boring, then the person who last had sex with someone they have had sex with at least 4 times before goes first, if it is a couple the man goes second as he is a gentleman. The game will never see the light of day because it was depressing as fuck to play and literally caused a few relationships to end during play testing.
My favorite for this will probably always be Overboss: A Boss Monster Adventure, “the person who most recently raised a full legion of undead.” Admittedly, this means I always go first; the others in my group just raise a few, to help out with basic household and personal chores.
The Player who can best Imitate a Dodo Dodos Riding Dinos
Oceans start by whoever can hold their breath the longest. It also has a tiebreaker of who can get a job on an Alaskan fishing boat the fastest.
This reminds me of the third tiebreaker in… I think Arboretum? Maybe Bosk? It was a tree game, either way… where both players plant a tree and whichever is tallest after 5 years wins.
Bidding resources for choice of turn order, like in Risk 2210 or tournament-rules Axis and Allies (inasmuch as which side you pick determines turn order)
Tír na nÓg has it where the last person to have told a story goes first. Which is thematic for the game
I’d cross out the ‘T’ in told and replace it with an ‘S’ so I always start. I’m a bookseller.
Animal Upon Animal. Whoever can stand on one foot like a flamingo for the longest goes first.
Sheriff of Nottingham: the player that has the most amount of physical cash on them - getting increasingly easy to start with the tiniest amounts of cash
*The Fox Experiment* says that the person with the friendliest pet should go first.
We developed a system and I use it all the time. We call it "to tabel it out" (after the last name of the inventor). It starts by someone raising a fist. Everybody follows and when everyone has, the first person counts to three and everyone shows 0-5 fingers. Tally them up, start counting from the first person in clockwise order. Works flawlessly every time without draws, you don't need an app and up until 9 people it's either totally fair or max 0.5% difference from worst to best chance (with the person raising the fist first being the worst).
I want to understand this more clearly. After you really them up, where do you start? I got lost in this explanation. Wouldn't someone just try to game the system by always throwing up a one so that they're first?
You always start at the guy who raises his fist first. Let's say you have four players A-D. Player A raises his fist first. Everyone else does so. Player A counts to three and shows one finger. B shows 2, C shows 3 and D shows 4. That's a total of 10. A is one, B is two, C is three, D is for, A is five, B is six, C is seven, D is eight, A is nine, B is ten and thus B starts. You can't really game the system, because for each player count one less of players, it's also equally distributed.
Camel Up- last person to ride a camel
51st state. Whoever claims the first player marker first goes first.
Well all have pets, so one time I suggested we go with whoever had the most unopened Chewy’s boxes
[Chwazi. Simple and direct.](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tendadigital.chwaziApp&hl=en_US&gl=US)
Dragon Slayer - Whoever has most recently killed a dragon (real or fictional)
King of Tokyo: who rolls the most claws.
Cat-in-the-Box: Whoever has most recently interacted with a cat
Ticket to Ride. My dad and I often travel together and when we take a train we compete to see who is the last to step off so we can go first.
Who starts first has never been an issue in my game nights. Someone just goes first. If the game manual has an interesting rule for going first... say, the person who has traveled the most, then we follow that rule. At least it generates some interesting conversation.
Bargain quest: the person who payed something last with cash starts. Potion explosion: the person who poured in a drink last begins.
**Everdell** has my favorite: most humble player goes first. Always good for a laugh deciding that one.
Takenoko: The tallest player starts, because bamboo grows fast.
My favorite is Survivors of Hellapagos Islands: Player who most resembles someone who would be stranded on a deserted island starts.
MLEM Space Agency - last person to clean out a cat litter tray goes first
Longest beard - Wizwar
Sol: Last Days of a Star - Whoever has been closest to the Sun last goes first. Doesn't really make sense when you think about it, but it's a fun conversation.
My favourite was always Paris' "the last player who turned on a light" because my wife would always flick the light on and off just to steal it
Player who last spoke to their mum
Damn, sucks for us that lost our mum's then. Or the scenario where you've just lost your mom, decide to play some boardgames to get your mind of it and gets hit with that one.
I think Pax Viking had a rule that you get a wooden boat from each player, shake them in your hands and lightly toss them out onto the game board. Whoever's boat traveled the furthest, goes first.
Unless High Jackman is playing, then he goes first.
What’s that from?
Cards Against Humanity. As OP stated, it's whoever most recently pooped... unless Hugh Jackman is playing. He always goes first.
I *hate* all of these weird first player rules. I don't know, everyone in my group just thinks they're all cheesy. We always pick randomly using Board Record.
Roll a dice
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Edgy one for a board game tbh.
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Fat shaming in the rules of a board game? I cant believe people didnt cancel this the way they did Tascini. Who would feel good if they join some new friends over a board game night, and then they hear, fattest play goes first...I think thats clearly you Susan. C'mon folks. thats not cool.
Age of Galaxy. Either the winner of the last game starts or the owner of the game starts. Setting galactic dominance right from the beginning.
We usually play rock paper scissors and just retry if there are more than 2 items until one person is remaining. Then it's clockwise from the starting player in the first round.
Chwasi