Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

60%
+1 −0
Q&A A poker game description that does not feel gimmicky

Trying to explain a game that not every reader is knowledgeable about or interested in is rather hard. If you don't want to scare off your readers or bore them, one solution is to completely ignore...

posted 5y ago by Steve Meyer‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T11:40:31Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/44514
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Steve Meyer‭ · 2019-12-08T11:40:31Z (almost 5 years ago)
Trying to explain a game that not every reader is knowledgeable about or interested in is rather hard. If you don't want to scare off your readers or bore them, one solution is to completely ignore the game itself and focus on the reactions.

So I would take [@matildalee23's answer](https://writing.stackexchange.com/a/44490/34214) a step further:

Don't describe that a player had the third royal flush in a row, but describe how after he makes his play every players eyes widen in awe and doubt, how a few of the players close to him are getting nervous and back away and how your main character feels the rage starting to boil in him.

The reader will fill in the gaps and at this point it doesn't really matter which game is played. They may not care for or understand poker but they understand and care for human reactions because that is a pretty universal language. TL;DR: The use of emotion is just as important as the portrayal of the rules of the game.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-04-09T14:25:08Z (over 5 years ago)
Original score: 4