Your game instructions will be the first thing new players read, so it’s important to make them easy to understand and comprehensive. If the turns lead to combat, you will next explain combat and the components of that. For example, if you have a turned based game, next explain how the turns work. Following, you will have a style of play. When the players finish reading about the setup, the next section should explain how to start playing.

Explain the setup before you explain the start of play so that players can set up the board.

You'll also want to include a brief section early on that details how many players can play, and the age range.

It should follow a beginning, middle, and end. When explaining the rules and different parts of the game’s flow, do it in the order that it will happen. After that you may have a preface or forward, something that outlines your game.

Your instructions should work like a book or story.

After explaining how you win, you may include more sections that deeper explains objects, moves, or player types you touched on earlier. Then move on to the objective, the setup, how the play operates, and what each piece or character does. Then include up at the top which pieces are included.

You may want to start with a brief summary of the game.

Writing in order means that you follow a logical path of explaining the mechanics of the game. When actually writing your game instructions in whichever format you have chosen, do it in order. Write your instructions in order and in context. Players now know the objective and winning methods of the game.

With simple descriptions and an active voice you can easily get a good amount of information out.

The goal of the game is to work together to defeat the enemy country in one of three ways: You can win by destroying the country through war, assassinating the country’s leader, or being the first country to go into space.” You are assigned a role to aid your country.

For example, if you have a board game about two countries at war, you might explain the objective like: “You are a member of one of the two countries at war.

Whether you’re explaining the game that you created for the first time, or someone else is explaining it with your rulebook, you want to make the text quick and easy to understand.

This means that your tense and tone should default to present tense, active voice, and be pithy, or quick.

Have the tense reflect someone reading out loud during the play of the game.

One person usually reads the instructions to the group. When you write the instructions and information of your game, assume that people will be reading aloud.

Write your instructions to be read aloud.

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