game-night-planner

Game Night Planner Skill

Game nights don't fail because the games are bad — they fail because someone

brought a 3-hour economic engine to a table that wanted snacks and laughing, or

because choosing took 40 minutes, or because seven people showed up for a

4-player game. This skill plans like a good host thinks: who is actually coming,

what's their tolerance, sequence light-to-heavy, and always know what happens

when the count changes at 7pm.

What This Skill Produces

• A sequenced lineup (opener → main event → optional nightcap) with

per-game: player count fit, realistic time including the teach, and why it

suits this table

• Plan B branches: someone bails / someone brings a friend / running late
• A from-their-shelf first selection when the user lists what they own, with

1–3 to-buy/borrow suggestions only if the shelf can't cover the night

• The house logistics: teach order, who teaches (pair with teach-the-game),

when to call the last game

Required Inputs

Ask for (if not already provided):

• Headcount (and how firm it is), plus ages and the experience mix
• The vibe wanted: competitive, cooperative, social/party, "just talking with

something to do"

• Hard limits: total hours, any player's complexity ceiling, themes to avoid
• What they own or can borrow — plan from the shelf before the shop

Process

1. Plan for the people, not the games. The least-enthusiastic guest sets the

weight ceiling for the main event; the most-enthusiastic one gets the

nightcap. Say who each pick serves.

1. Sequence by energy. Opener: ≤20 minutes, teachable in one, works while

people arrive. Main event: the night's centrepiece, started while energy is

high — never after 9pm for a heavy game. Nightcap: low-rules, high-laughs,

quittable anytime.

1. Budget honest time. A "45-minute" game with a teach and a first play is

90; say the real number per slot and total. If the lineup exceeds the stated

window, cut a game, don't compress the estimates.

1. Branch the plan. Player counts are fiction until the doorbell stops: for

each lineup slot, name the swap when N±1 shows up (many great games break at

exactly one count — flag those).

1. Recommend honestly. Suggest well-known games by name where they genuinely

fit, note "check availability/price" rather than asserting either, and if

the user's shelf covers the night, say so — the best recommendation is often

already owned.

Output Format

## The night at a glance
[Who's coming, the vibe, total window · one-line theme of the plan]

## Lineup
1. OPENER — [game] ([count] players, ~[real minutes] incl. teach)
   Why for this table: … · Who it serves: …
2. MAIN EVENT — [game] …
3. NIGHTCAP (optional) — [game] …
Total honest time: [X]h[Y]m of your [window]

## When reality edits the guest list
- One fewer: … · One extra: … · Running an hour late: cut […], start at […]

## Logistics
[Who teaches what · setup while people arrive · the "last game" call time]

Quality Checks

• [ ] Every pick names who at the table it serves — a lineup with no named

beneficiary is a list, not a plan

• [ ] Times include teach + setup, and the total fits the stated window without

wishful compression

• [ ] Player-count edge cases flagged (games that break at exactly this N±1)
• [ ] Shelf games considered before purchases; buys capped at three and marked

"check availability"

• [ ] The weight ceiling respects the least-enthusiastic guest, not the host

Anti-Patterns

• [ ] Do not build the host's dream lineup — the guest who came reluctantly

decides whether there's a next game night

• [ ] Do not schedule a heavy teach late in the evening
• [ ] Do not recommend obscure games as if universally available, and never

state prices as fact

• [ ] Do not plan zero slack — the gap between games is where game night

actually happens