Board-game subtitles. Teach the rule, keep the exception.

Help viewers follow the rule and the example

A board-game teach often moves between a general rule, a staged example and an exception. “Take two tokens” can mean the normal action, a bonus from one card, or a shortcut used only to demonstrate the next turn. Subtitles need the surrounding explanation so a learner does not mistake one example for an instruction that always applies.

Polyglot can create timed subtitles from your authorized narrated recording, translate reviewed text locally on an Apple Silicon Mac, and export separate SRT or WebVTT files. Work from the finished teaching video. The app does not recognize cards, judge legal moves, read the board or turn a rulebook into a verified tutorial.

Fix the edition and the permission boundary

Record the game edition, relevant printing, included expansions, player count and mode beside the final video filename. Identify any optional rule or house rule before caption review. Keep the actual owner-approved rule references available; a similarly named digital adaptation or later edition may behave differently.

Stonemaier Games’ Wingspan rules page illustrates why scope matters: it separates expansion rules, official variants, a teaching pack and early-printing corrections, and links a rules video. These are examples of information to check for your own game, not permission to reuse that publisher’s footage or artwork. Polyglot is not affiliated with the publisher.

Use your own recording or one you are authorized to process, translate and share. Confirm the permissions needed for visible game material, rulebook extracts, presenter contributions and included music. Public access to another creator’s tutorial does not grant permission to republish it. Keep review copies and private production notes within the agreed audience.

Map each teaching example to its rule scope

Make a short external review map for the parts of the video that could be misunderstood. Note the media time, whether the passage explains a base rule or an exception, the example’s starting state, the audible instruction and the visible result. This is a manual production note, not a map generated by Polyglot.

Watch for resets between demonstrations. A presenter may add pieces or change a hand between shots to show a different situation. Preserve an audible phrase such as “for this example” or “with this expansion”; do not let the next subtitle imply that the staged state arose from the previous move.

The fictional example below is a review aid, not a real game rule or a replacement subtitle. The caption follows the spoken sentence. The note helps the reviewer check that a translation retains the condition and does not turn an optional bonus into a compulsory action.

Fictional teach: lantern-v2
Scope: bonus-card example
Start: one lantern token

03:12 Spoken:
“With this card, you may
take up to two more.”

Shown: player takes one
Review:
Keep “with this card”.
Keep “may” and “up to”.
Do not change to:
“Always take two.”

Next example: board reset
Owner check: pending

Resolve a mismatch before translating it

Review small words that change the action: may or must, any or all, before or after, once per turn or once per round. Follow the explanation through its condition and result. An exception introduced in one cue may govern the next several cues; approve the passage together.

If the narration says one thing while the pieces show another, ask the tutorial owner to resolve it. Do not silently caption the rulebook’s wording over contradictory speech. The owner may need to repair the narration or edit the demonstration in the media editor first. After that repair, regenerate or revise the affected subtitles against the new final cut.

Check point-of-view words such as “this one” and “here.” When essential information is only visible in a silent hand movement or card close-up, speech transcription cannot supply it. W3C treats description of visual information as a separate task. The creator can add clear narration before subtitle preparation or supply an appropriately reviewed alternative.

Translate for the components the viewer will see

Give a language reviewer the accepted rule-scope map and a small terminology list: actions, phases, resources, card names and expansion names. Identify the physical edition shown and whether the intended audience uses translated components. A literal translation of a card name may not match the licensed name printed in that edition.

Agree how viewers will connect the spoken term with the visible component. Keep distinctions between a general resource and a named action consistent. Do not imply that translated subtitles replace the game’s official localized rules or that Polyglot validates publisher terminology.

Translation preserves source timing during processing, and you can explicitly adjust timing for the selected language. Review each track alongside playback, especially where a condition is separated from its action. Preserve uncertainty or owner corrections rather than making the translated instruction sound more certain than the recording.

Accept the final teach in its destination player

Export a reviewed SRT or WebVTT for each language, named with the final video version. YouTube documents a supported-file upload route with timing. Check the receiving player’s accepted format and language label, then load the sidecar through that platform’s own publishing process. Polyglot does not upload captions or burn them into the picture.

Watch the complete track. At each chapter start and example reset, confirm that viewers can tell which setup and rule scope apply. Check that captions clear after the explanation, that hands and relevant card text remain understandable, and that longer translations are readable on a narrow screen. Caption placement depends on the destination player; a successful export alone is not acceptance.

Review meaningful non-speech audio as well as dialogue. W3C warns that automatic captions require accuracy review. If a missing sound description needs a separate new cue, complete it in an editor that supports individual cue creation. Neither a speech track nor this checklist establishes full accessibility compliance.

If you publish a corrected teach, replace and review all affected language files against that exact cut. Keep the earlier version distinguishable in your own records. Polyglot requires Apple Silicon and macOS 14.4 or later. Media and text processing stay local; requested downloads, user-controlled updates, default-on content-free analytics with an opt-out and Pro licensing have separate network boundaries. New AI subtitle jobs use a seven-day trial and require Pro afterward; editing and exports remain free.

Keep exploring.