FAQ: Arena mode

[Dislexsick]

I have an example of Arena Season 5 tables being created with different configurations.
i.e. not respecting "Competition Configuration" of all being the same, and having a significantly different variant option for just one of my tables.

What is the "competition configuration"?

All players who are playing a game with Arena mode for a given season are playing with exactly the same configuration.

Game: Cinco; Variant: Joker vs. No Joker being inconsistent in multiple Arena Season 5 tables.

I also do not know how we are expected to find the source of truth for what a table config is for a given season. I expected it to be on the "Hall of fame" page under the link "See season rules" but this does not work. This has lead to me observing the config of Arena tables created at the start of the season as source of truth on this, which when combined with the inconsistent config has completely set my expectations wrongly.

Through doing this I observed on one of the earliest Season 5 Cinco tables I played that Joker was on. I mentally noted the config was exactly the same as last season.
This resulted in a game loss for me when I didn't observe the an early table was different; at the time mistakenly blaming myself, thinking I must have looked at a table from last season or otherwise been mistake and obviously Joker is OFF for this season. (See: Cinco #163515708 -- https://boardgamearena.com/table?table=163515708 )

I've then ALSO got stung by this multiple times over when I started playing differently on OTHER tables because of this thinking that this season there is No Joker as the option and altering gameplay for this... Only to then learn today joker is/was on for other tables!

This is beyond frustrating, I'm not saying I would have won any or all of those games already concluded, but my moves at many points in each game would have been significantly different in response to this; this puts me at a HUGE tactical disadvantage as I've now played almost all of my games this season as though a rule is different to what it was .

On the table I lost I attempted to play a card thinking it was a wild card/the most powerful possibility in the game, only for it to be a dead care that literally wasted my turn at an absolutely critical juncture (I needed to defend a cell that if taken would, and did, result in the opponent winning)
On future tables I've been throwing out hands with cards I thought were dead when they're in fact THE MOST POWERFUL POSSIBILITY IN THE GAME.

The response to this could be "You should be checking each table" to which I would say I was at 100 tables, that is not a feasible thing to do; I have a tournament table for 6 Nimmt that's in tactical variant... so I put notes on that table to remind me. Arena Comp. Config. means I should NOT have to do this, I should be able to observe one table of a given game in Season 5 and KNOW all my other tables are the same config.


Three bugs have been filed in regards to this:
One for not being able to check the current season's rules/configuration (https://boardgamearena.com/bug?id=39245)

The other for tables being created in different configs, as two bugs -- one game specific, the other a platform bug
Game: https://boardgamearena.com/bug?id=39246
Platform: https://boardgamearena.com/bug?id=39248

[Tulivuori]

Game: Cinco; Variant: Joker vs. No Joker being inconsistent in multiple Arena Season 5 tables.

That is indeed very stupid. However, I have solved it by not playing games without joker.

[Een]

I have an example of Arena Season 5 tables being created with different configurations.
i.e. not respecting "Competition Configuration" of all being the same, and having a significantly different variant option for just one of my tables.

What is the "competition configuration"?

All players who are playing a game with Arena mode for a given season are playing with exactly the same configuration.

This is the general principle.
In some case though, an option may be left to the choice of the players, for example:
- if a new option has been added by the game developer and the developer forgot to ask an admin to set it for the arena;
- if the admins did not know which configuration would be the best for the game (we have a lot of games now) and thus, left it open until a consensus emerged from the community (the recommended method to reach such a consensus at the moment is to create a poll in the forum dedicated to this game).

I also do not know how we are expected to find the source of truth for what a table config is for a given season.

On each game in the arena lobby, you have a little "gear" icon for options. It displays the options for the arena, and if an option is fixed you'll get an error if you try to change it. If you can change an option, then it's not been fixed. This is indeed the case for Cinco. If you want to only play with a specific option value, you can set other values to "never".

Hope it helps!

[Salamike]

If I buy premium, will I be able to invite to my friends (who have no premium) to play premium games?

[Manassès I]

If I buy premium, will I be able to invite to my friends (who have no premium) to play premium games?

yes

[MikeIsHere]

1stTausendsassaTausendsassa
121
+4 ->
1
+12 ->
140



2ndMikeIsHereMikeIsHere
113
-5 ->
0

Losing all 5 points and maybe more over one game should not happen. Is there a way to take final scoring into account

[Philomorph]

Total Arena newb question - how does the "fixed time limit" work for turn-based Arena games? When the rules say "Time allotted to each player -
24 hours" does this mean each player has 24 hours *total* time for the whole game? And is the clock running any time it's your move? Or is that 24 hours per move?

[sprockitz]

Total Arena newb question - how does the "fixed time limit" work for turn-based Arena games? When the rules say "Time allotted to each player -
24 hours" does this mean each player has 24 hours *total* time for the whole game? And is the clock running any time it's your move? Or is that 24 hours per move?

time gets added at the start of each turn, so for example if you are 3 moves per day you get 8 hours added before your turn each time (up to a maximum of 24 hours).

Different speeds have different maximums, 2 moves per day has a 36 hour maximum and 1 move per day has a 72 hour maximum.

[Philomorph]

time gets added at the start of each turn, so for example if you are 3 moves per day you get 8 hours added before your turn each time (up to a maximum of 24 hours).

Different speeds have different maximums, 2 moves per day has a 36 hour maximum and 1 move per day has a 72 hour maximum.

Yes that's how it works for regular turn-based play, but the arena mode rules don't say anything about "turns per day". It says something like:

Game maximum duration - 2 days
Game mode - Normal mode
Game speed - Turn-based • Fixed time limit
Time allotted to each player - 24h00
Playing hours - 24 hours a day (no playing hours)

[sprockitz]

time gets added at the start of each turn, so for example if you are 3 moves per day you get 8 hours added before your turn each time (up to a maximum of 24 hours).

Different speeds have different maximums, 2 moves per day has a 36 hour maximum and 1 move per day has a 72 hour maximum.

Yes that's how it works for regular turn-based play, but the arena mode rules don't say anything about "turns per day". It says something like:

Game maximum duration - 2 days
Game mode - Normal mode
Game speed - Turn-based • Fixed time limit
Time allotted to each player - 24h00
Playing hours - 24 hours a day (no playing hours)

arena mode never says that. Tournament mode says that, and yes for tournament mode it is a fixed total time.