Read this off the page the first time
The first five minutes
You have never met them, they have never played it, and the clock is already running. This is what you say, in order. Nothing here needs the class to be quiet first, because getting them quiet is what the game is for.
Do not explain the game before you play it. Three sentences, then round one. Round one teaches the rest of it better than you can, and a class that is being talked at for four minutes is a class you have already lost.
Before the bell, 30 seconds
Get to the board and write this, big, before anyone sits down. They will read it on the way in and start asking. That is what you want.
Leave a big gap under each crew name for the tally. If a whiteboard is not available, a sheet of paper on the front desk works, and one student keeps it.
Minute one, the door
Do not wait for silence. Start while they are still coming in, in a normal speaking voice.
That last line matters. The moment you start rearranging a room you do not know, you lose four minutes and you make an enemy of whoever gets separated.
Minute two, crews
Use the seating that already exists. Go along the room and cut it into groups of four or five with your hand.
Take the names as they are shouted, write them on the board, and move on. If a name is a problem, do not argue about it. Say "No. Next one." and keep writing. They are watching whether you stall, so do not stall.
Ten seconds of naming buys you a term of ownership. They defend a name. They do not defend Crew 3. It is also the first thing you will have let them choose. In that room, that is worth more than anything you say about respect.
Minute three, the three sentences
This is the entire explanation. Do not add to it.
Minute four, round one, and you rig it
Pick a 1-pointer they can all do, whatever the subject. The purpose of round one is not the content. It is to get five crews holding fingers in the air within sixty seconds, and to let a crew that never wins anything win something.
Then give each crew only the question at the level they chose, and give them two minutes. Walk while they work. Do not sit down in the first lesson.
Minute five, the first score
Go around in order. Say the answer out loud, mark the board, and move fast. Speed is the whole thing here.
That steal is the moment the room turns. Half the class who had already finished suddenly want the question they were not given, and the crew that got it wrong hears the right answer from another student instead of from you.
The three things that will go wrong the first time
Everyone stakes 5 immediately
Let them. They will lose two rounds in a row and start thinking about it. That is the point of the mechanic. Do not lecture them about strategy. The scoreboard does that job.
One crew shouts every answer
Do not tell them off. Say "That is not your speaker. Minus one, Crew 4." and write it. Their own crew handles the next one, and they will handle it harder than you would.
One student refuses to join a crew
Do not negotiate in front of the room. Say "You are the Bank. Come up the front, you keep the score and you rule on disputes." It is a promotion, not a punishment, and it is the only job in the room with power. See Control.
They will not refuse to play
Betting is the hook, and it works on the students who stopped doing schoolwork years ago, because staking a number costs nothing and reveals nothing. A student who will not write a sentence will still hold up three fingers.
What you say at the end of the lesson
This is the line that makes the next lesson easy. Say it while they are packing up, not after the bell.
Write the final scores on the ladder sheet with the class code and the date. That sheet is the reason they ask for the game before you have got your bag open next time.