It was unfortunate that the other experienced players were the ones that cancelled. It made it very difficult to play a 4 player game with two new people, and two two player games with 3 new people. If the two new people on the big table didn't want to play on a team (they're a couple) it would have been easier as well. I could have focused on one until they knew what they were doing in the phase, then helped another table get their phase down. As it stood, it was kind of a cluster^$#$, but at least everyone had fun. The couple learned it decently, but we didn't get far as some people started leaving early