But I don't understand any German, that's a problem right?
Wrong! Just about everything has been translated to English also.
And 98% of the German players you meet will understand enough English to game with.
If you click on the on Connect link on our main page you will be connected to the Brettspielwelt game server. This will take a couple of minutes, so please be patient. Once you decide you like Brettspielwelt, you can download the Brettspielwelt client program. That will reduce startup time to just a few seconds.
Once you are connected , you will be asked for a Name and Password. If you have already registered a name on the Brettspielwelt website, type that name and password in. Keep in mind that letters are case sensitive. If you haven't registered yet, you can still play as a guest. Type in any name and password you want. If you pick a registered name, you'll get an error. Just try a different name in that case.
Depending on exactly how you connect to game server, you might see slightly different opening screens. The place you'll want to start is at the Game Manager, which is shown in the picture below. If you don't see the Game Manager screen, just type the following command and press the enter key
/manager
You'll also get a popup window with the title "Newbie help". That's you, you're a newbie. From that screen you can request to speak to a tutor. Tutors are real live people, so please be respectful of their time. They volunteer to help others, so if they help you, a thank you would be nice. You can either minimize or close the Newbie help window if you want.
You may also see various chat windows open with strange titles like ARMfeld and SPV. These are places where players communicate with each other, and much of the communication is in German. You are allowed to participate there in English. Again politeness goes a long way here. Most of the BSW players speak German. Most of those will happy to speak English if you need them to. Learning a few German words such as Danke (Thank you) Bitte (You're Welcome) Hallo (Hello) would be nice. You'll also see a few expression such as VS (Viel Spass) which means have fun and VG (Viel Gluck) which means good luck.
To close these chat windows type:
/exit
at the bottom of the chat window, then you close the window.
If you just close the window it will open again when there is a new message.
In the top right corner of the main window, you will see a blue popup window listing names of players. These are the players that are in the same room as you. For now lets just close that popup window by clicking on the pink button at the top.
In front of you now is the Game Manager. In case you haven't guessed, Spiele is the German word for game. You'll see a series of chests. The games on BSW are divided into categories. Fur Zwei means for two. So that chest would show the 2 player games such as Backgammon. Right now, the chest you want to click on is the one in the top left that is labeled "Alles". You probably figured out that Alles means All. Click on that chest and you'll see the complete list of games.
Again, if this is your first time loading the game list, it may take a minute or two to download the graphics from the server.
On the right side of the screen you'll see an arrow pointing down. Clicking on that arrow will scroll the list of games.
If you click on a game, you will see a list of rooms for that game. BSW is divided into rooms. Each room has one table of a specific game. So to play a game, you must first go to a room that has that game.
You'll also see an arrow pointing to the left, at the top of the screen. That will bring you back to the previous screen.
If you manage to click somewhere by mistake, don't worry, you can get back to the game manager by typing the following command in the text box at the bottom of the screen: /manager
I'll cover more commands a little later.
Right now, just click on the Carcassonne picture, you will see a list of the Carcassonne rooms.
For each room, you will see at table, the players that are in that room and the name of the room. If there is an * in front of the game name, then that means the game has already started. If the players are at the table, it means they have joined the game. If they are standing to the right of the table, they are just watching.
If you click on a room, the server will take you to that room and load that game.
By, now you've probably noticed the bottom of the screen is a text message area. Any messages you type there will be seen by the other players that are in the same room as you. You also type commands there.
We are just about finished, just a few commands to explain. Now,see I told you this wasn't that difficult. All commands begin with a / To join a game you would type /join
Now is a good time for me to talk about etiquette. It's generally considered rude to just go into a room and join a game without asking first. Image if you and a friend were sitting at a table in a bar and playing Carcassone and a total stranger sat down next to you and just picked up a tile and started playing without saying a word. If there are people in the room, its polite to say "Can I join in?"
You should also let them know that you're new to BSW. Most people are very welcoming of newbies but you might have walked in a room where they hoping to play a fast game and might not have the time to explain things. If they turn you down, don't take it personally, tell them "have fun" and find a different room. Remember /manager gets you back to the game manager.
The other method you can use, is to go to an empty room and get people to come to you. So just find an empty room for the game of you choice, and once there type the following command.
/gameyell friendly newbie looking for players
The gameyell command goes out to all players for that game. The command is based on what room you are in. So if you go to a Dvonn room and use that command. Your message goes to all Dvonn players. You can type any message you want, you don't need to name that game, the system does that automatically. Then just sit back and wait for people to come to you.
Now just a few commands and we are done.
/start
this command starts the game
/who
Gives you a list of the people in your room
/ghook username
brings you to the same room as that user. This is a very common command, you'll often hear people say "hook me". They are talking about this command.
/tell username
This opens a private chat window with that user. Any messages in that window will be seen only by the two of you.
Now that you know how to move around BSW, the only thing you need to know are the specific game instructions for the various games. Those can be found on the game instructions menu on this website. If you'd played the board game version of these games, you'll find them very easy to learn. You can also just watch a game or part of it. Remember games in the game manager with an * mean they are in progress. Find one, go there, say hello, ask if they mind a newbie asking some questions. You'll find you'll be up and gaming in no time at all.
VS und VG (Have fun and Good Luck)
TheBoomer
