Last night I had to teach a complicated boardgame I'd never played to a group, not all of whom I knew well, while setting it up for the first time, in a public space. In all, it took an hour, I felt incredibly anxious the whole time, I got some rules wrong & I spent the rest of the game so anxious I found it hard to speak or concentrate.

Is it possible to get over the stress & anxiety of teaching games? I'm autistic so there are additional challenges for me.

What are your favourite civilisation-style tabletop games? I have THROUGH THE AGES & I do like it, though it's a bit mean & I'd love something with an actual map. I played MOSAIC at the weekend & enjoyed it well enough, though maybe I'd love something with more in-depth tech progression. I found TAPESTRY a bit too abstracted for my liking.

Any thoughts? SF/space/Fantasy equivalents totally acceptable.