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If you’ve ever turned to the internet in a fit of frustrating rules tangle whilst learning how to play a new board game, the chances are you’ve probably digitally stumbled upon a Youtube channel called Watch It Played fronted by perhaps the happiest man on the internet – Mr Rodney Smith (or Rodders to his friends).
digestible game mechanics
This super exuberant Canadian makes even the most complicated game mechanics a digestible breeze. Swiftly transforming 30 pages of rules muddle into clear, concise, episodic chunks of audiovisual know-how peppered with welcome periodic rules summaries and helpful tips on how best to arrange your counters or draw piles. All book-ended with his reassuring warm smile.
lid flipping good
Often opening with a cordial headshot intro talking to camera, background shelving overladen with hundreds of board games his videos nearly always conclude with a now signature board game box lid flip, before he gets down to the business of (board game) explainin’.
For me, nothing radiates “You will learn how to play this game” more than Rodney’s assertive box lid flips, as I dab my tears of despair and settle in with a fresh cuppa to be educated by Rodney’s warm, instructive monologue on the merits of the pottery phase, the pitfalls of the danger dice, or the importance of the redeployment end-phase.
Rodney’s humble Watch It Played career began in 2011 with a series of no-frills instructional videos and playthroughs with his teenage daughter that broke down the complexities of playing the newly released (heavy-going/heavy weight) Mansion of Madness – an epic Lovecraftian story-led horror board game.
a flourishing experiment
The response from an internet (then) starved of “how to play” videos was super favourable, and Rodney’s Watch It Played experiment flourished.
Over the years the spartan, occasionally green-screened backdrop has become a slick, super polished production with professional lighting and sound recording but the same thoroughly researched, word efficient, helpful instructionals remain.
format defining
Watch It Played has defined the tutorial format with its consistent, friendly informative tone, and has become a much-needed lifeline to many weekend hobby gamers. Indeed, my family and I are always so disappointed when we discover there is no Rodney Smith help video for the present board game de jour, before we regrettably seek out an inferior video copycat.
Much of the content Rodney films and edits in the basement studio of his home in rural Monatgue, Prince Edward Island (PEI), Canada where he may while away 30+ hours lovingly researching, playtesting, scripting, shooting and editing his videos, and his 13 years of hard work have certainly paid off.
The boy Smith has successfully transformed his hobby into a lucrative full-time job that now encompasses a whole host of other presenters, production staff and collaborators.
you’re hired!
Having created nearly 2000 videos and racked up over 81 million views he now finds himself frequently hired by board game publishers to make tutorial videos in advance of new board game launches.
board game poster boy?
Comparing his early videos with the recent output I’m struck by just how little Rodney seems to have aged. If the hobby ever needed a poster boy on the unexpected health benefits of board gaming Rodney’s your man.
One Reddit poster described Rodney as the “human embodiment of a golden retriever” which I think perfectly encapsulates his infectious warmth and enthusiasm, and with each new video Rodney still seems to be having the time of his life, playing board games he loves, and crafting informative, high quality tutorial videos so us mere mortals don’t have to struggle over dryly written play manuals.
Thank you for your patient services to the hobby Rodney. May all your rolls be double sixes and your redeployment phase always be plentiful.