January 19, 2025: Who Goes First, Gamers' Choice!

[RoboAdmin]

January 19, 2025: Who Goes First, Gamers' Choice!

Read this article on the Illuminator.

[elv]

If we are all familiar with the game, we seem to have no trouble with the simplest method of all: "who wants to go first?" If nobody cares, we'll pick randomly, but usually just suggesting someone rather than rolling dice or whatever.

If there are differing levels of familiarity, those who know it best go first and explain what they are doing and why. If we are playing multiple times, those who went last for this reason get priority choice next time.

[thrash]

... each player puts a finger (presumably one of their own) on the device's screen ...

Fourteen-word horror story.

[Chuk]

I like games that offer other suggestions for who goes first like "player who has most recently seen a cat" or "player who most recently went on a date" (although the latter doesn't help much if you have players who are dating each other as presumably they went on a date at the exact same time...).

[DeadParrot]

Originally Posted by Chuk

I like games that offer other suggestions for who goes first like "player who has most recently seen a cat" or "player who most recently went on a date" (although the latter doesn't help much if you have players who are dating each other as presumably they went on a date at the exact same time...).

If the date at the same time isn't true, the game session may be about to become very interesting in a sideways fashion.

[Coin Flip 42]

I was gifted a Spin For It thin metal weighted hand with a pointing index finger you can spin, with the index finger pointing to who's first when it stops spinning. It has a hole through it that I use to attach it to my key ring so I always have it with me.

One technique I like was from a game that had people state how far and wide they had traveled in their lives, with the most traveled person going first. You could adapt the question based on the theme of the game.
For instance, the person who has walked the most Roman Roads could be the person to go first in a game of Ave Caesar - or the person who has been the most times to the sight of the Circus Maximus in Rome.
If you have younger people in your gaming group, it could be the last person who'd been to a first grade classroom in school. But that won't necessarily be a youngster because it could be a game day close to parent-teacher meetings.