[deleted]

[pickledchips]

[deleted]

[Jellby]

Something like https://boardgamearena.com/lobby ?

[Meeplelowda]

Love the site, but the current method for finding open live tables leaves a lot to be desired. General chat is often used for this, but it's flooded, and most of what gets posted there is for games I haven't played. So even when I want to play something live, I end up waiting a long time just to fill a lobby.

Most of the time I don't care about playing one specific game as I'd be happy with any of several, but I can't open multiple lobbies at once just to see which one gets bites. What I actually need is visibility into what's already looking for players right now, across all the games I'd be willing to play.

Proposal: a dedicated page showing live lobbies currently looking for players, with a simple, scannable list interface.

Key requirements:

• Filtered to games I've played. Most hosts don't want inexperienced players joining games, so lobbies should only show up for games in the viewer's play history.
  Favorites-only toggle. Let players narrow the list down to just their favorite games when they want to be pickier.
  Open-seat count, speed, and game name front and center, so it's a quick scan rather than a click-through. Maybe with a hover option to see more details on specific game settings like if they're using DLC.
  Sortable by "waiting longest" or "fewest seats needed to start," so players can prioritize helping lobbies that are close to full or that have been sitting the longest.

This would turn "I want to play something live" from a multi-lobby guessing game into something closer to a matchmaking queue, and I think it'd meaningfully boost live-table player counts site-wide. It would help hosts get their games filled, players play more games, and generally make the live game experience measurably better.

This already exists. You can see which of your favorite games have tables waiting if you go to the Play Now page (see the link in my signature). If the blue button says "Play Now!" there are no tables currently waiting for players. Otherwise the button will say "[x] {table icon} available" where x is the number of tables with at least one player waiting and at least one seat still open. See here. That is a view on a mobile device, but there is a similar view on a computer.

If you can't see this, it because you are on mobile and have your Display Options (found to the right of the words "Favorite Games") set to Tiny Icons instead of Small Icons. Same for desktop. If Display Options are set to Tiny you can't see the table icon indicating tables waiting for players.

[BarnardsStar]

I can't open multiple lobbies at once just to see which one gets bites.

Others have addressed other points, but I just want to add that if you use the "Play Now" link (which takes you to Meeplelowda's favorite place, https://boardgamearena.com/lobby), you can use the Automatic mode, configure the gears for each game you want to play, and then click "Play Now!" for each game you are willing to play, and you will in fact get into the first game that "gets bites".