I find that it often helps to invent my own terms for things if the official ones are either confusing or dry (which is harder to remember than something exciting). So, for example, when I had to explain Tigris and Euphrates to my group I called an external conflict a "war" and an internal conflict a "coup".

Funny Friends is another fine example of this. The little cell phone token is refered to in the english rules as an offer and on the counter sheet as a caller. The translation of the German rules refers to it as a complaint. The only one that fits its purpose in the game is a call, so thats how we refer to it.

I always do a thorough inventory prior to reading the rules. Even a single missing part might throw the game balance off, giving a false impression of the game's true worth.

Well I tend to leave out stuff that i can add in "as it occurs", but I clearly say that this is what I am doing.

Agreed, if I gave a full explanation to my gaming group, I would lose them in a few minutes. I limit my explanations to 1.) turn sequence 2.) Overview of victory conditions 3.) Basic mechanics of movement, combat & scoring 4.) General overall strategies.

This has come back to bite me occasionally. For example when playing History of the World, for those of you who haven’t played History of the World, naval combat occurs in smaller bodies of water (Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, North Sea etc…) but not in large oceans (Atlantic, Pacific, Indian etc…)

A player moved a ship unit into the Atlantic Ocean to attack my ship. When I told him that combat was not allow in oceans, he asked what rule was, I couldn’t remember off hand were it was in the rules. So I said it was the swallow water rule, boy they were all over me. The game immediately stopped and they did a comprehensive search of the rules. I was right, but they never forgot that.

From that day, in any game we play, if a player doesn’t believe me they always say “Is this another swallow water rule.”

My problem is, the guys in my group don't have the patience for a full explanation, but when an unexplained rule comes up on the course of the game, they accuse me of overlooking the rule just to get an advantage. They sometimes even call for a re-start at that point. Since they assume I know the rules best, my friends always gang up on me in every game.

They tried this as well with me - accusing me of leaving things out - but we were younger then. The last time this happened was when we played a poker game and I accidentally won 20% of a newbie's chips

One of the more experienced players started to complain on how I was abusing the situation; after all he was new to the game... What I always say in those situations, whether it be poker or a board game: don't complain; you have internet to look up games yourself; you can call me to get the rules in advance and we are all grown-ups here, do your homework.

This is a great point and very often helps connect the theme with the mechanics in the game for me. It helps me understand the 'why' in a game.

It not only helps people understand what's going on, it also helps keep their attention focused during the usually boring procedure of learning the rules.