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.
After two days buried in board game rule books, you might think you’ve seen everything the industry has to offer, especially when it comes to starting prompts.
But I assure you, friend, I’ve saved the best for last. Please enjoy the most elaborate, the most cartoonish, and the flat-out craziest suggestions for Who Goes First, as well as a countdown of my personal favorites.
Without further ado, let’s get into it!
Board games often have an off-the-wall premise, whether you’re dealing with aliens abducting ducks (Abducktion), using mad cows to detonate leftover war-time munitions (Unexploded Cow), or slowly going insane whilst spelling words (Unspeakable Words).
But even games with more down-to-earth concepts can still have mind-bendingly silly or crazy prompts to decide Who Goes First.
Time Masters asks for the player who last spoke with a wizard, while Star Wars Villainous: Power of the Dark Side suggests the last player to use The Force. Time Bomb Evolution lets the player who most recently evolved start the game.
1001 Karawane prefers the player who has ridden on a flying carpet most recently. In Big Monster, it’s the last player to have been to the moon who begins.
Were you the player most recently abducted by the CIA or the KGB (Secrets)? Or the player who most recently killed a monarch (Regicide)? Or the person who last destroyed an entire civilization (Gentes)?
Viking-themed games go pretty hard right out of the gate. Walhalla wants to know who most recently drank mead from a cow’s horn. Vikings, meanwhile, opts for the player who has pillaged and razed the most defenseless villages.
If you can perform miracles, I have a few recommendations for you. In Dead Man’s Cabal, the player who last raised the dead goes first. In Kazaam, the player who has most recently turned lead into gold begins. (This is also the case in Trismegistus: The Ultimate Formula, though that game accepts any alchemical transmutation.)
Some games raise the bar even higher, asking for insanity AND specificity.
How specific? Well, a game of Colorado starts with the player who last visited an abandoned mine in a rusty wagon oozing coal residue.
Fantastiqa: The Rucksack Edition asks just one thing of the starting player. They want the person who most recently conducted a successful short symphony for the Mountain Moles of Mu. Simple, right?
At least Smash Up! gets specific by offering lots of options. The player who most recently experienced ANY of these scenarios can go first…
- abducted by an alien
- shanghaied by a pirate
- bitten by a vampire
- burned by a dragon
- kissed by a princess
- driven insane by Cthulhu
- attacked by a teddy bear
- eaten by an orc
Along the same lines, Cleopatra and the Society of Architects prefers the player with the best Egyptian credentials. This could be a nose as famous as Cleopatra’s, a mummified Crocodile pet, or an extensive hieroglyphic library, for instance.
Some of those starting rules listed above are pretty unusual. Thankfully, some games have a ridiculous starting request, but a more reasonable back-up suggestion all lined up. And these “In case of” scenarios can be just as entertaining as the totally bonkers starting prompts.
In Simurgh, the player who last rode a dragon goes first. But if no one has ridden a dragon, they’ll take a horse, a pony, or an extremely large dog instead. Reasonable!
Which player has most recently been to space? You get to go first in Space Explorers. And if no one has, then it’s the player who most recently watched or read something about space.
In the same vein, the player most recently abducted by aliens goes first in Pasture 51: They Came for our Angus. (Whomever has most recently been to a farm is the back-up in this case.)
Dinosaur Island suggests that the player who most recently extracted DNA from a mosquito trapped in amber begins. I mean, sure, we’ve all been there. But, if for some reason, no one at the table has successfully completed that task, you can go with the player who most recently visited a theme park.
And if that feels unlikely, consider this one.
Are you the player who last reached the peak of Mount Everest using nothing but blue-and-white-checkered stilts carved from the wood of a Mammoth tree? Then you start this particular game of The Bridges of Shangri-La. (In case of a tie, choose the wisest player of the group. I imagine that might be the person who didn’t try to climb Everest on stilts in the first place.)
The Great Heartland Hauling Co. is almost contractual in their starting prompt. The player with either (A) the best mustache or (B) the longest hair goes first. If one player has a very nice mustache and another other player has the longest hair, settle the issue with an arm-wrestling match.
This combination of physical qualities, debate, and physical challenge manages to encompass so many different Who Starts ideas that it’s genuinely impressive.
Before I conclude this three-day journey through the world of board game starting gimmicks with my personal favorites, I would like to highlight one delightful subset of starting rules: the “player to the left” option.
Dominion is perhaps the most famous game to use this mechanic, suggesting that the player sitting to the left of whomever won the previous game should start. Since play passes to the left, this means the person who won the previous game goes last. It’s an elegant equalizer for all involved.
Flock Together has a nice variation on this, opting for the player to the left of the player who most recently ate chicken to begin the game.
And Galaktico is absolutely ruthless in this regard, suggesting that play starts with the player to the left of the most impatient player (meaning the most impatient person must go last). That’s brutal!
I’ll conclude today’s post with my favorite Who Goes First prompts. After reading through hundreds and hundreds of board game rule sets, these are the ten I liked the most. They’re an eclectic mix of creative, sincere, silly, and thematic hooks.
#10: Tzolk’in: The Mayan Calendar
Give the Starting Player Marker to the player who most recently sacrificed something. This can be as silly or as serious as you choose, offering a whole range of potential debate opponents.
#9: T-Rex’s Holiday
The player with the most scars from animal scratches begins. This is clearly someone who deserves a little reward.
#8: Terror Below
The player who most recently defeated a worm in combat begins. The door is wide open on this one, and the debate never fails to make everyone at the table laugh.
#7: Tempus
The player who most recently had a great idea begins. As you can tell, I love a passionate debate, and this one has led to some genuinely fascinating pre-game discussions.
#6: A Thief’s Fortune
The player who most recently borrowed something and never returned it begins. Confession time, you light-fingered fiends!
#5: Fog of Love
The player who last blew a kiss begins. I just think this suggestion is so lovely.
#4: Surfosaurus MAX
The most experienced paleontologist/surfer begins. While you could interpret this as the most experienced paleontologist OR surfer, I prefer to debate who best embodies the qualities of both a paleontologist AND a surfer.
#3: Potemkin Empire
The player who most recently had to deal with government bureaucracy. Again, this is someone who absolutely deserves a little kindness.
#2: Trogdor!!: The Board Game
The player with the coolest consonant cluster in their name begins. This one is so unique that I had to put it high on my list. Reward those people whose names are constantly getting mispronounced!
#1: Fairy Tails
The player who most recently took a walk in the forest while contemplating the existence of hidden peoples begins. Plenty of games ask who went hiking or walking in the forest last, but the contemplation aspect makes this one so cute and considerate.
Thank you for taking this deep dive with me into the world of board games. It’s been an absolute blast to dig through not only my own extensive board game collection, but the brilliant archive of Who Goes First rules compiled at First Player Fun. Please check them out!
Did I (somehow) manage to miss your favorite starting prompt across these three days, fellow tabletopper? Let me know in the comments section below! I’d love to hear from you.
PuzzCulture 