Board Game Arena

I have not had this problem, which suggests it’s account-specific, which means it’s a matter for Support. These forums are not Support; you should not count on anyone from BGA reading these posts.

There is a link for that at the bottom of the page. I personally would suggest Games & Players ➸ Competition ➼ I didn’t get Elo points after my game ➼ My problem has not been solved ➼ explain your situation in the form.

You have to at least consider they may not be aware of this, and they can’t be aware if nobody files a support ticket or a bug or anything.

I was not waiting any answer from DBA here, I just wanted to share with other players in this topic here
In the first place, I have already created a support request

It seems to work now

Same problem here, can only play friendly, turning it off in preferences does not work. Seems like a bug.

On the Play Now page, if you click the gear for the settings and search for Game Mode (you might have to click Advanced Options to find it), you'll see the options Normal Mode and Friendly Mode. If you can't turn Friendly Mode off by saying you never want to play it, you might still be able to turn Normal Mode on and then turn Friendly Mode to Reluctant.

BarnardsStar wrote: ↑18 April 2026, 15:37 I have not had this problem, which suggests it’s account-specific, which means it’s a matter for Support. These forums are not Support; you should not count on anyone from BGA reading these posts.

There is a link for that at the bottom of the page. I personally would suggest Games & Players ➸ Competition ➼ I didn’t get Elo points after my game ➼ My problem has not been solved ➼ explain your situation in the form.

You have to at least consider they may not be aware of this, and they can’t be aware if nobody files a support ticket or a bug or anything.

Its not account-specific.
The OP was asking to see if any other users had experienced it and found a way around it. Youve spoken quite poorly to the OP here.
I've found that starting a game under the GAMES tab are now all friendly. I agree that BGA could have let us know this if it was deliberate or that it should be reported if they are unaware. Starting games under PLAY NOW can match ELO games, although the option to NEVER play Friendly games has been removed for some reason.
I prefer starting games under GAMES as the settings tab is more user friendly. But may now have to switch to PLAY NOW.

Malum Necessarium wrote: ↑19 April 2026, 04:51 Its not account-specific.

Sure it is. It affects some accounts—like yours—and not others—like mine. Before making my earlier posts I started a real-t7me game from the Games page, and I have verify that the option to NEVER play Friendly games is still present in my Play Now lobby. It is not global, it appears to vary by account.

Malum Necessarium wrote: ↑19 April 2026, 04:51 The OP was asking to see if any other users had experienced it and found a way around it. Youve spoken quite poorly to the OP here.

In what way was anything I said “speaking quite poorly”? That’s nonsense.

Malum Necessarium wrote: ↑19 April 2026, 04:51 I agree that BGA could have let us know this if it was deliberate

This circles back to my final point of my post—you are assuming BGA knows. And they can’t know unless people let them know, which was my whole point. I even very carefully figured appropriate steps so as to make it easier. But apparently that’s speaking poorly so what do I know?

ArnoldT1 wrote: ↑18 April 2026, 21:11 Same problem here, can only play friendly, turning it off in preferences does not work. Seems like a bug.

I reported the bug and they told it functions as designed The fact that only friendly game is functioning is the problem.

Something has definitely changed the last two days or so. I've noticed a dramatic uptick in the number of friendly games on offer from players.

BarnardsStar wrote: ↑19 April 2026, 07:40

Malum Necessarium wrote: ↑19 April 2026, 04:51 Its not account-specific.

Sure it is. It affects some accounts—like yours—and not others—like mine. Before making my earlier posts I started a real-t7me game from the Games page, and I have verify that the option to NEVER play Friendly games is still present in my Play Now lobby. It is not global, it appears to vary by account.

I'll throw some chaos into that. I've had it apply to Wingspan, but not to Azul.