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Dized Hits IndieGoGo To Make Learning Board Games Easy
August 30, 2017 by brennon
Dized is now on IndieGoGo looking to fund a new way to learn your board games AS you play them rather than relying on one person to obsessively read the rulebook and get everything right.
The idea behind this app is that it will be able to show you and your friends how to play the game, walking you through the set-up...
...and the more complicated rules one step at a time. The emphasis is on making sure that when you use this app it makes it as painless for you as possible and reacts on the fly if a particular variable comes up.
The example given to us at Gen Con was that if you're playing Carcassone (pictured above) then it won;t tell you about the Farmer rule until it needs to, or won't tell you about how to use a Monastery tile until it comes up in the game and you need information on it.
What Games Are Covered?
So far the Dized App has already got some smaller and larger games included within its library for launch so it can handle some of the heavier games out there as well as the simple ones.
I am particularly interested in how the game teaches Scythe as that is a VERY big one to bring to the tabletop. For me, this is a great idea as I'm terrible with rulebooks and I'm not great at teaching games unless I've played them a lot, so this helps solve the problem and could be great for dropping into board game cafes alongside tables on tablets for example.
What's The Subscription Model?
One of the best things about this app is that if you want the tutorials then they are all free.
As you can see the standard tutorial and set-up sections are free as well as the rule lookup tool on the app. However, beyond that, they are offering digital incentives for those who subscribe to the service so that you can not only support the development of new tutorials but even have a hand in it and what comes next!
It will be nice to see how these all flesh out over the coming months and years but I like the idea of digital expansion content and game add-ons which can enhance your experience.
From a personal point of view, I REALLY hope this works as a product because this would be invaluable to my group.
Will you be checking this out?
"...it can handle some of the heavier games out there as well as the simple ones"
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Great idea, anything that can cut out the monotomy of learning the rules and make it fast, simple and enjoyable is a winner.
Nice concept, but … /cue captain Obvious : If more companies focused on making the rules easy to teach then we wouldn’t need these things. Starter sets like the ‘kick off’ set for Guild ball show that it can be done. It also makes me wonder why the boardgame manufacturers aren’t considering using a digital app to help people learn how to get started. There are games that show what a good app can do (Mansions of Madness being one of them). Although I do have to say that some publishers and distributors are making efforts by publishing tutorial videos… Read more »
The problem isn’t that rules aren’t easy to learn – Carcassonne is fine. The problem is interpretation of rules and this is what this solves.
Instead of you missing a rule, or seeing it in a weird way, this teaches you properly and in time with you playing/learning the game.
It also avoids the big rule bomb at the start of the game where someone feels you need to know everything.
FFG have made their ‘get started’ books but even they have problems when it comes to learning a game.
This is for sure going to replace the jerk who hasn’t read the rulebook but thinks “this is how it plays” and needs to tell everyone. Difference is, this will be correct.
The idea sounds nice but I think it’s quiet expensive. I would never subscribe to it. There are already nice tutorials and how-tos by publishers and gamers for many games. Maybe they should try another business model.
I’d sub whenever I get a new game and it’s on there, but not something I’d have a running subscription on I think.
I think it might be hard to grow, it needs more games to get more people, but might need more people to get more games in?
I also like this idea!!