Most people quit learning Python within the first week — not because it's too hard, but because they're stuck watching tutorials instead of building something they actually care about.

Here's the pattern I noticed: courses that teach Python through abstract exercises (print 'hello world', calculate a Fibonacci sequence) lose beginners fast because there's no payoff. But courses that teach the exact same fundamentals — variables, loops, functions, conditionals — through building a game keep people engaged, because every lesson ends with something visibly working on screen.

Same CS fundamentals. Completely different retention. If you're trying to learn to code (or teaching someone who is), anchor every concept to a tiny project with visible output. Loops aren't 'for i in range(10): print(i)' — they're 'make the enemy move across the screen.' Conditionals aren't abstract booleans — they're 'did the player hit the wall?'

Building a beginner Python course around this exact idea right now (learn by building small games from lesson one). Happy to share the curriculum structure if anyone's building something similar or wants to get their kids/team into coding this way.