Who was last in the factory?

Some time ago Christian from Spielstil.net drew my attention to the #BG2GETHER campaign and asked if I would like to participate. At #BG2GETHER different bloggers, podcasters, vloggers etc. create a post about a topic from the world of board games once a month and link each other. To me, this is a great way for all participants to benefit by networking. The reader gets a diverse access to a specific topic. After last month was all about the knots in the brain with many a board game, today continues in no less strenuous fashion. We go in search of the starting player.

Games offer many ways to determine who gets to start. Do you have a particularly funny/awesome/stupid one in mind?

Yawn. Really boring was the first thing I thought when I started researching this post. Of course, the instructions are primarily about internalizing the game and the rules, but there should be a little more than the starting player is randomly determined or the youngest player starts in there. At second glance, however, you will find some anecdotes that really amused me. In the family game Carcassonne, for example, the youngest player decides who starts. Appropriately, the instructions for Drecksau say: the smallest Drecksau starts.

If you want to stimulate a lively discussion before the game starts, you can use Everdell. Here the most frugal player starts and draws the fewest cards at the beginning. Whoever has worked hard last may start with Oh my Gods. If you don't feel like a lively discussion and want to argue right away, I can recommend Unpleasant Guests. There it says in the instructions: 'The starting player of the first round is the one who is considered by the host as the most unpleasant guest'. Of course, this fits the game perfectly, but it can backfire in the corresponding player round.

So what are your thoughts on these suggestions in general?

As I said, I would generally like to see a little more creativity in finding the:the starting player:in. Personally, I like it when the game randomly determines who starts. In The Crew, for example, a card determines that. In Viticulture the rooster in player color, drawn randomly. It works similar with Glenn More II Chronicles. A nice alternative to this is determination by geographic occurrences:

• Le Havre - Who built closest to the water.
• Azul - Who was last in Portugal
• Furnace - Who was last in a factory
• In the footsteps of Marco Polo - Who last took a trip around the world
• The Lost Ruins of Arnak* - Who last traveled to a place he had never visited before

Or do you have a ritual all your own?

Most of the time we randomly draw a colored player character. In our rounds, however, it's usually not important who starts. At least I haven't experienced a game where the advantage of opening the game would have been decisive. On the contrary: when a new game comes on the table in our round, the question about the starting player is met with embarrassed silence. If someone is found, however, the first question is usually: what do I do now?

Last but not least, I would like to mention a special game that will soon be delivered as a Kickstarter. I can already see the hordes of board players in dungarees standing on the pastures, armed with clippers to give the sheep a magnificent summer haircut - and to be handed the starting player marker with honor in the next round of Wutaki :-)

As already mentioned #BG2GETHER is a format to strengthen networking, so read directly more interesting articles on the topic e.g. at:

• Brettspielpoesie: brettspielpoesie.de
• Spielstil: spielstil.net/bg2gether-juni-2022-wer-faengt-an
• Fjelfras: fjelfras.de/wordpress/blog/brettspiele/lets-get-it-started
• Brett und Pad: brettundpad.de/2022/06/15/wer-wird-startspieler