Question about teaching a game I know too well

I tried to teach Root to my group last weekend and it went sideways fast. They got confused about the vagabond's turn order and I kept skipping rules because I know them by heart. It ended with two people checking their phones and one person saying they'd rather play Catan next time. I learned that explaining a game you've played 30 times is way different than playing it. The problem is I assume stuff is obvious when it really isn't. Does anyone have a trick for slowing down and teaching a complex game without boring the table?

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the_elizabeth1mo ago

My brother once tried to teach his friends Dune for the first time and spent 20 minutes on the rules before anyone even touched a piece. He ended up just saying "screw it, let's start playing and I'll explain as we go," which actually worked better because people learned by doing instead of zoning out. Sometimes you gotta let them make mistakes first and correct as you play, especially with games that have a million moving parts.