There's a great Onion headline that just says board game uh rules explanation peppered with reassurances that it will be fun. [laughter] And I I am perpetual fear that I am just living that headline all the time.

I'm Christine Sirette. I'm Kyra Blackwell. I'm Rosie Garin. And you're listening to the Wire Cutter Show.

Hi friends. Hi. I have a question and be careful how you answer this. Do you think I am a person who likes to play games like like tabletop board games, that kind of thing?

You don't give me huge gaming vibes personally. I don't know.

This was a litmus test.

Oh, [laughter] just kidding. I kind of am a nod. Really? I'm aspirational.

Maybe it's just the glasses. I'm like, she likes board games. [laughter]

Where are you all? I would love to be super into board games and be like, "Kids, we're not watching TV anymore. We're just going to play board games at night." But when it comes to like learning the rules and all the things that go into playing games successfully, I feel like I just never want to do it.

That trips me up, too. I like the fun. Yeah. I like when I'm having fun.

Yeah. But you have to get to the part where you can have fun. I don't like that part.

Yeah. I'm kind of more I think on the side that I like board games and you're right like the learning how to play the game is the hardest part but then when you get through that it is really fun.

If you take away one thing from this episode is that none of us likes to learn [laughter] or read instructions.

I think that this time of year in particular when a lot of us are spending time with friends or families for the holiday. It can be a really cozy fun thing to do. And I mean, every parent I know out there is trying to keep their kids off of a phone, off of an iPad, off of a TV, a board game, a tabletop board game can be a pretty fun alternative.

And it can also be a pretty fun thing. I have had fun playing games with a big group of people at the holidays. So,

and it kind of it creates memories and these kind of inside jokes that are really quintessential to the holiday times, right?

Absolutely. So, we actually have someone on staff whose entire job is I feel like I say this a lot. whose entire job is to play tabletop board games and make recommendations. Our staff writer, James Austin, who's going to join us today. I love James so much. He's so fun. We're going to talk to him about the best advice that he has for hosting a game night or just showing people how to get past the hard part of learning how to play a game so you guys can all have fun. And then later in the episode, he will give us his best tips for bringing games for little ones, everyone in between, people who maybe don't all speak the same language. He has an answer for everything because this is his bread and butter and we are so excited to talk to him. He's James Games. We're going to talk to him after the break. Stick around.

Welcome back. This episode we're talking all about how to throw a really fun game night with tabletop games. And we have an absolute expert to talk with. It's James Austin who's a staff writer at Wire Cutter covering games and hobbies. He's played nearly all types of tabletop games and he's going to reveal the secrets to making a game night actually fun. James, welcome to the show.

Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here.