Every tabletop game starts somewhere. Once the box is opened, the pieces distributed, and the board set up, all that’s left is figuring out who goes first.
As you could tell from yesterday’s post, there are literally hundreds of ways to choose Who Starts. But yesterday’s options were centered mostly around the players on that given day of play. Their age, physical characteristics, recent travels, personal experiences, and so on.
In today’s exploration of board game rules, we’re looking at starting prompts where you have a fighting chance to earn the right to go first.
Sometimes, a game poses a small competition to decide who goes first.
It can be a physical challenge, like who can jump the highest (Dancing Eggs), or who can balance on one foot like a flamingo for the longest (Animal Upon Animal), or who can dance the Flamenco the best (Citrus).
In Bardwood Grove, it’s the player who can hold a note the longest. In Mega Mouth, it’s whoever can say “mmmmmmm” the longest without taking a breath. In Gheos, it’s the player who can refrain the longest from laughing.
It can also be based on the quickest person to respond to a prompt:
- The first player who chants “ego sum primus ludio” 3 times (Don’t Go In There)
- The first player to compliment another (I’m Right You’re Wrong)
- The first player to make a trumpet sound and announce themselves as the starting player (For Crown and Kingdom)
Sometimes, it’s not being first, but being loudest, like in Stratelite, where the player who shouts “I will crush you all!” the loudest gets to start, or in Dungeonology: Rigor Mortis, where the player who yells “Yes, Dark Lord!” loudest in goblin language begins.
Naturally, some games have a performance aspect to their starting prompt.
These can run the gamut from making the weirdest shape with your tongue (Foramina!) or saying “I am a super secret super spy” in Sean Connery’s voice the best (Covert) to the most impressive imitation of Godzilla’s scream (Godzilla Total War) or making the best Chupacabra noise (Chupacabra: Survive the Night).
In Genji, the player who can tell the most romantic or moving love story begins. In Lift Off! Get me off this Planet!, it’s the player with the best story about being stranded by their own accord. (Obviously, a few of these may require some debate among the players.)
Some board games prefer a mental challenge to a physical one, testing your wittiness, trivia knowledge, or other examples of cerebral acuity.
Can you be…
- The first player to come up with a punny dinosaur joke (Dinosaur Island: Rawr ‘n Write)
- The player who can name the most of Jupiter’s moons (Exoplanets)
- The player who comes closest when guessing the current time (Chrononauts)
- The player who can recall the earliest positive memory begins (Vivid Memories)
Speaking of debate, it’s one of my favorite options when it comes to determining Who Goes First. And there is no shortage of weird, wacky, and wonderful suggestions in board games for this one.
In Oath of the Brotherhood, you must debate which player looks the most like a pirate. In Hellapagos, it’s the one who most resembles a castaway. In Tudor, the one who looks the most like Henry VIII, or one of his wives.
In Obama Llama, it’s the person who most resembles either Obama or a llama. And continuing the thread of silly game names, Bunny Bunny Moose Moose asks for the player who looks the most like a moose. (Don’t worry. If there’s a tie, you can choose the player who looks most like a rabbit instead.)
Which player struck the most chivalrous pose? (Medieval Academy)
Which player most recently did something Scottish? (Glascow)
Which player has held the strangest job? (Funny Business)
Which player has the most hipster cred? (Streets)
Which player has the best taste in music? (On Tour)
Which player has had the worst day? (Gloom)
Who has befriended the most unusual animal? (Wondrous Creatures)
Which player can best make the claim of being a rocket scientist? (Launchpad 23)
Who has the shadiest laugh (Swindler)? The most diabolical laugh (Spare Parts: The Game of Undead Army Building)? Who cackles the most like a vile and greedy medieval pardoner (The Road to Canterbury)?
And some of these are sure to spark a spirited debate.
I mean, how do you decide which player is the most alien (Space Beans)? What about the one who has most recently gone insane (Cthulhu Realms)? The player with the most authentic name (Burgen Land)? Or the one most likely to be from a parallel universe (Trouble: Across the Spider-Verse Part One)?
The weirdest? (Play Me: Alice in Wonderdice)
The most angelic? (The Deadlies)
The most daring? (Carnegie)
The smartest? (That’s Pretty Clever aka Ganz schön clever)
The most evolved? (On the Origin of Species)
I mentioned in yesterday’s post that Hot Tin Roof‘s starting prompt could ruffle some feathers. But it’s hardly alone amongst board games whose starting rules could cause fireworks.
Do you want be considered the most evil (Dark Minions) or the most sinister (Complots)? Would you be cool with being named the most malicious (Doodle Dungeon) or the blood-thirstiest (Dungeonville)?
The most suspicious-looking (Spyfall)? The one with the sneakiest eyes (Shifty Eyed Spies)? The sneakiest in general (Clank!)? The most cunning (Volto)?
I mean, it’s not exactly a compliment to be told you look the most stressed, which would let you go first in Chakra. Or that you’re the player who most desperately needs a vacation, which makes you first to act in Kahuna.
Bears vs. Babies asks who had the most recent tantrum. Aristocracy asks who most recently made an unreasonable demand. In Awkward Guests: The Walton Case, it’s the player who the host considers to be the most awkward guest. Oof. That’s a rough one.
But not as rough as debating which player LOOKS the oldest. I can’t remember which game I saw this prompt in, but man, that’s guaranteed to start a fight.
I’ll conclude today’s deep drive into board game Who Goes First options with a short list of games that ask you to confess to crimes in order to earn that coveted starting spot.
Yup. How bad do you want that first move or die roll?
It’s the player who last committed a crime who starts in La Cosa Nostra. The player who most recently robbed a bank gets to go first in Escape Plan.
In Trial by Trolley, the player who last thought about murdering someone begins. In The Brigade, it’s the player who most recently set something on fire.
Do the crimes do get more specific? You bet they do.
In Prohibitionists, it’s the player who most recently smashed open a cask of bootleg whiskey with an axe. (Naturally, this wasn’t a crime at the time, but it sure would be now! That’s MY cask of bootleg whiskey!)
And finally, in 10′ to Kill, the last player to have killed someone begins. They do add the caveat that it could be a noisy neighbor, an annoying mother-in-law, or a really hard boss in a video game, but still.
You know, in some of these cases, I think I’d be fine going second.
How apropos, since this is the second entry in a three-part series. I simply could not narrow down the list of bonkers, clever, hilarious, and sinister possibilities.
I’ll be concluding the series tomorrow with the most elaborate prompts, the most insane ones, and my list of all-time favorites. So be sure to come back tomorrow for even more board game-specific fun!
Do you have any favorite Who Starts rules for board games? Let us know in the comments section below! We’d love to hear from you.
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