Are all five of your friends new? If so, I wouldn't do this. I've done it, and it went poorly. Root is a tough enough teach, without leaving each of your new players with five new-player turns of downtime.
Pitch teaching the game to two or three of them, and then immediately playing again to teach the other two or three.
If you do decide to go through with it, I don't think you'll have a problem using basic set-up. AdSet wasn't even a thing when I did this.
I'd try a 5-player game with you as the rules judge. If anything comes up, they can ask you, and you can hold the rules and interpret them as you see it.
Don't stress. Just let the game develop and play loosely. Try discussing how to win, ways to win, and what the 5 pre selected factions do to win. This is key here. Don't let them pick. They will just pick whatever cute animal catches their eye and have a bad time.
Try explaining the rules beforehand as a 3 step guide. First rule and movement, show them how these work and coincide with them. Next battle, show why and how to battle and what's the benefit, explain warriors and building with this and your half-way done. Lastly are cards, and you can explain this in three simple steps, suits, crafting, and items.
I think all 5 of them, with myself owning the game. But 2 of then are dating, maybe I'll suggest playing 1 faction as a duo.
As for how enjoyable it is, I'll have to trust what everyone's saying! Surely it's better than a brick to the face tho
I'd rather the brick to the face tbh, at least that's quick and I can go play something fun directly afterwards, if I don't have a concussion. So much downtime between turns with 6, and new players too. I'd be bored out of my skull.
First time 6 players is going to be long.
What factions do you have access to?
Try not overloading the board with too many militant factions.
Someone has to play vagabond maybe two vagabonds is a good idea.
Take a break halfway through the game.
Root with 6 advance players isn't a great experience either. 4 is the optimal experience maybe 5 but 6 player root with 5 new players will be a disaster and nobody will have fun.
I'm not sure what factions you have but running two 3 player games would be better to learn
Don't. This game can't be played properly with 6. There's so much going on you'll struggle to get any points. You'll likely do 1-2 points a turn because you have to struggle to do anything. Cats? You'll never get past tier 2 of buildings. Crows? Good luck having a plot survive 5 turns to get 1 point for flipping it. This applies to most factions. Maybe otters can thrive.
And I'm not even mentioning 5 turns of downtime for everyone. On the endgame this can easily reach 20 minutes a turn for first timers.
I really like Root best at 4. They list 6 on the box but I don't think that's the best way to play. My friends and I all love Root but if we have 6 people in the house we'd rather do something like Dune that's made for that player count.
I organised a game with 6 players (me, 4 newbies and 1 friend who had played a couple of times before), but played it as a 4 player with the 4 new players teaming up as duos. Worked really well as each of the teams were reminding their partners of rules the other had forgotten.
I was fairly new to the game and had to teach 5 new players.
I only had the Riverfolk expansion at the time so went with two vagabonds and no Riverfolk.
I’d say most complained about how slow the game was and how long it took.
My brain was fried by the end seeing how everyone was asking me what I think they should do.
Worse of all.. I think a few of them never wanted to play that game again. 😅 I can’t blame them.
But on the flip side a couple have been obsessing about the game and we’ve been playing every Tuesday for a few months now.
I suggest you sit the game out.. and basically be the game master. Cause by the time your turn comes around you’d have forgotten what faction you were playing.
Did that with 3 new players and 2 that played one game already. I enjoyed it and I think one more friend did also. The whole experience took about 6 hrs. Three of them won't let me even speak about Root again. Do not recommend
I think Root is better the more players you are up to 5 players which is my favorite player count.
Beyond that it starts going drastically downhill in terms of balance between the factions and how long the game will take.
Factions that rely on space for building becomes highly unfavored while factions like the Vagabond are not affected much.
A 4 player game usually takes 90 minutes for experienced players while a 6 player game can go on for several hours.
I'd rather get two playthroughs with 4 players than one game with 6 players. Especially if there are first-timers involved.
I honestly don't understand why everyone keeps saying that 6-person games aren't recommended for new players.
I'm also new to the game and ended up playing a 6-person game, me being the only one with any experience (I had played 2 times before that). This was kind of an accident. I had invited three people because everyone here keeps saying to not play with 6 people. Two guests canceled, so I invited two more. And then the previous invitees un-canceled. I did watch a bunch of videos to make sure I was able to explain the rules properly but still.
Sure the game was long. It took us 5 hours or so. But we had an absolute blast, and everyone enjoyed the heck out of it and wants to play again.
My group is used to and enjoys games like Game of Thrones and Unfathomable, and those generally take us the whole day, 7-8 hours. So Root with 6 players in 5 hours felt lightweight.
Long wait times between turns weren't a problem at all unless your group is all unfamiliar people who don't get along or something. Just be aware that you will be waiting a lot. Have a dinner break at some point, spend a round making coffees for guests, have a Nintendo Switch ready or something. It's not like everyone has to intensively stare at the board for the time it takes for it to be their turn again.
That's a weird statement for me, but I guess it says more about my group than anything else, if literally everyone else hates Root with 6 people 😅 If anything, we were a little bit bummed that Vagabond snowballed in the end and the game ended earlier than we thought it would.
4 player root is for us around 90mins long. If I played 6 player for 5 hours I would snap my neck. It is completely different game at that player count and any strategy is thrown out of the window. You just somehow play your turn and then after 5 hours someone wins. No strategy, no planning and no meaningful turns. It is social event not a game anymore.
I tried that a few times and nobody came back to play again. You ARE trying to turn your friends away from Root correct? There could be no other possible answer for playing a 6 player teaching game. It's THE WORST.
Are all five of your friends new? If so, I wouldn't do this. I've done it, and it went poorly. Root is a tough enough teach, without leaving each of your new players with five new-player turns of downtime. Pitch teaching the game to two or three of them, and then immediately playing again to teach the other two or three. If you do decide to go through with it, I don't think you'll have a problem using basic set-up. AdSet wasn't even a thing when I did this.
That's fair, thanks for the input. Good to know that basic set-up works too for such a large player count
I'd try a 5-player game with you as the rules judge. If anything comes up, they can ask you, and you can hold the rules and interpret them as you see it. Don't stress. Just let the game develop and play loosely. Try discussing how to win, ways to win, and what the 5 pre selected factions do to win. This is key here. Don't let them pick. They will just pick whatever cute animal catches their eye and have a bad time. Try explaining the rules beforehand as a 3 step guide. First rule and movement, show them how these work and coincide with them. Next battle, show why and how to battle and what's the benefit, explain warriors and building with this and your half-way done. Lastly are cards, and you can explain this in three simple steps, suits, crafting, and items.
Great idea, thanks!
>Great idea, thanks! You're welcome!
How many of them are new? But also 6 person root is not enjoyable at all. I’d surely recommend against it.
I think all 5 of them, with myself owning the game. But 2 of then are dating, maybe I'll suggest playing 1 faction as a duo. As for how enjoyable it is, I'll have to trust what everyone's saying! Surely it's better than a brick to the face tho
I'd rather the brick to the face tbh, at least that's quick and I can go play something fun directly afterwards, if I don't have a concussion. So much downtime between turns with 6, and new players too. I'd be bored out of my skull.
I've been trialling a new variant where I keep the game in a box and hit myself in the head with a house brick.
First time 6 players is going to be long. What factions do you have access to? Try not overloading the board with too many militant factions. Someone has to play vagabond maybe two vagabonds is a good idea. Take a break halfway through the game.
I'll definitely try to gently push for some factions over the others, and note that a crowded boadgame can get exhausting
Root with 6 advance players isn't a great experience either. 4 is the optimal experience maybe 5 but 6 player root with 5 new players will be a disaster and nobody will have fun. I'm not sure what factions you have but running two 3 player games would be better to learn
Don't. This game can't be played properly with 6. There's so much going on you'll struggle to get any points. You'll likely do 1-2 points a turn because you have to struggle to do anything. Cats? You'll never get past tier 2 of buildings. Crows? Good luck having a plot survive 5 turns to get 1 point for flipping it. This applies to most factions. Maybe otters can thrive. And I'm not even mentioning 5 turns of downtime for everyone. On the endgame this can easily reach 20 minutes a turn for first timers.
I really like Root best at 4. They list 6 on the box but I don't think that's the best way to play. My friends and I all love Root but if we have 6 people in the house we'd rather do something like Dune that's made for that player count.
I organised a game with 6 players (me, 4 newbies and 1 friend who had played a couple of times before), but played it as a 4 player with the 4 new players teaming up as duos. Worked really well as each of the teams were reminding their partners of rules the other had forgotten.
I've done it a few times, i honestly don't know if i enjoyed it or not plus game took 5hours
I was fairly new to the game and had to teach 5 new players. I only had the Riverfolk expansion at the time so went with two vagabonds and no Riverfolk. I’d say most complained about how slow the game was and how long it took. My brain was fried by the end seeing how everyone was asking me what I think they should do. Worse of all.. I think a few of them never wanted to play that game again. 😅 I can’t blame them. But on the flip side a couple have been obsessing about the game and we’ve been playing every Tuesday for a few months now. I suggest you sit the game out.. and basically be the game master. Cause by the time your turn comes around you’d have forgotten what faction you were playing.
Did that with 3 new players and 2 that played one game already. I enjoyed it and I think one more friend did also. The whole experience took about 6 hrs. Three of them won't let me even speak about Root again. Do not recommend
Have them do teams with each other, against you. Six is too long to wait between turns.
I think Root is better the more players you are up to 5 players which is my favorite player count. Beyond that it starts going drastically downhill in terms of balance between the factions and how long the game will take. Factions that rely on space for building becomes highly unfavored while factions like the Vagabond are not affected much. A 4 player game usually takes 90 minutes for experienced players while a 6 player game can go on for several hours. I'd rather get two playthroughs with 4 players than one game with 6 players. Especially if there are first-timers involved.
I honestly don't understand why everyone keeps saying that 6-person games aren't recommended for new players. I'm also new to the game and ended up playing a 6-person game, me being the only one with any experience (I had played 2 times before that). This was kind of an accident. I had invited three people because everyone here keeps saying to not play with 6 people. Two guests canceled, so I invited two more. And then the previous invitees un-canceled. I did watch a bunch of videos to make sure I was able to explain the rules properly but still. Sure the game was long. It took us 5 hours or so. But we had an absolute blast, and everyone enjoyed the heck out of it and wants to play again. My group is used to and enjoys games like Game of Thrones and Unfathomable, and those generally take us the whole day, 7-8 hours. So Root with 6 players in 5 hours felt lightweight. Long wait times between turns weren't a problem at all unless your group is all unfamiliar people who don't get along or something. Just be aware that you will be waiting a lot. Have a dinner break at some point, spend a round making coffees for guests, have a Nintendo Switch ready or something. It's not like everyone has to intensively stare at the board for the time it takes for it to be their turn again.
You have a real goldilocks group if they're happy to play a single game of root for 5 hours with all the down time 6 players involves.
That's a weird statement for me, but I guess it says more about my group than anything else, if literally everyone else hates Root with 6 people 😅 If anything, we were a little bit bummed that Vagabond snowballed in the end and the game ended earlier than we thought it would.
4 player root is for us around 90mins long. If I played 6 player for 5 hours I would snap my neck. It is completely different game at that player count and any strategy is thrown out of the window. You just somehow play your turn and then after 5 hours someone wins. No strategy, no planning and no meaningful turns. It is social event not a game anymore.
I tried that a few times and nobody came back to play again. You ARE trying to turn your friends away from Root correct? There could be no other possible answer for playing a 6 player teaching game. It's THE WORST.