@ada Bingo. I deal in systems professionally and how they are designed and that sort of stuff. It definitely gives me a leg up in the process.

One big thing is that of the modes of learning (visual/tactile/auditory), I prefer to feel pieces and stuff while I'm learning (and sometimes I'll even go through and do solo rounds multi-handed just to see how things fit together), but I can pick up manuals and just read them now to at least get started. I can't just sit and listen to someone explain the game though, something about just the listening piece does me in.

My spouse laughs at me, everyone knows when I'm learning a new *big* game because I have all of the pieces setup on the board, a tablet with a PDF I can search through, the rulebook in hardcopy, and a notepad where I have both "ooo, this is probably critical to remember" type things, and a second sheet of paper with what will (after a bunch of drafts) become the lesson plan when I teach others (assuming they don't read in advance).