Board Game Arena

I had in mind Unconditional Surrender and Star Empires (I don't remember if they have solo campaigns specifically, but they can be very long). But it looks like they have the same issue, at least I could find a table with the same symptoms (duration reported as 35 days, but it actually lasted 40-41 days): https://boardgamearena.com/table?table=362428244

And this is probably why it rang a bell: https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=205814
It seems the developer added a save/load option as a workaround (or more likely: that as a side effect can be used as workaround).

FrankJones wrote: ↑15 February 2026, 18:50 I'm guessing that maybe BGA just doesn't want too many long-running solo games clogging up the servers, so there is a hard limit of 34 or 35 or 40 days for a solo game to be finished?

I would assume it's just an oversight. Someone asked the question of how do we define if a game has activity on it, and the answer was, check the "player switch" function (or something like that). Not thinking about solo games, because they are fewer in number, and less likely to take longer times (I would normally play a solo game in a single sitting, or maybe over a couple of a days at most). I doubt there's a specific intent to prevent solo games from taking up server space, and if there was I'd want to know why. Why is a solo game any less deserving of server space than a multi-player game? Multi-player games can technically exist forever if players make their moves slowly enough (and in Friendly mode, there is no timer), so why should solo games be different?

Your point makes sense, btu that doesn't mean BGA doesn't have that hard limit for solo games.

Or, as you noted, perhaps it's a bug or glitch.

"Table abandoned. The table has been closed automatically because no move has been completed for a long period of time."

I've had a couple of solo games closed now overnight. They were Real Time (Game Speed slow), so previous threads suggested I should have a month to complete them, but I had only left it for less than 12 hours. Does BGA not like members to sleep?

If a solo game is going to time you out if you don't finish in one sitting, I feel there should be a warning before you start

dwreathall wrote: ↑02 July 2026, 05:25 "Table abandoned. The table has been closed automatically because no move has been completed for a long period of time."

I've had a couple of solo games closed now overnight. They were Real Time (Game Speed slow), so previous threads suggested I should have a month to complete them, but I had only left it for less than 12 hours. Does BGA not like members to sleep?

If a solo game is going to time you out if you don't finish in one sitting, I feel there should be a warning before you start

You have to start your game in turn-based mode if you want to have 40 days to complete your turns. If you start your games in real-time mode, your game will be abandoned if you go 4 hours without a move. Also, you can only play one real-time game at a time.

There is absolutely no reason not to make all friendly games (including all solo games) run in turn-based mode, and this is something BGA really should change.

Another thing BGA should REALLY REALLY REALLY change is to fix the bug where if you start a turn-based friendly game, the message on the page still says "Friendly mode: no rankings, no time limit per turn, no penalties. Real-time game."!

Shivaware wrote: ↑02 July 2026, 05:57

dwreathall wrote: ↑02 July 2026, 05:25 "Table abandoned. The table has been closed automatically because no move has been completed for a long period of time."

I've had a couple of solo games closed now overnight. They were Real Time (Game Speed slow), so previous threads suggested I should have a month to complete them, but I had only left it for less than 12 hours. Does BGA not like members to sleep?

If a solo game is going to time you out if you don't finish in one sitting, I feel there should be a warning before you start

You have to start your game in turn-based mode if you want to have 40 days to complete your turns. If you start your games in real-time mode, your game will be abandoned if you go 4 hours without a move. Also, you can only play one real-time game at a time.

There is absolutely no reason not to make all friendly games (including all solo games) run in turn-based mode, and this is something BGA really should change.

Another thing BGA should REALLY REALLY REALLY change is to fix the bug where if you start a turn-based friendly game, the message on the page still says "Friendly mode: no rankings, no time limit per turn, no penalties. Real-time game."!

I'll say two things that might seem contradictory because I agree with all your points, essentially.

1) All solo or friendly games should be turn-based (40-days) by default.

2) That said, why are people ending up in "real-time" solo/friendly games? This is easily avoidable, even though as references in point number 1, it should be unnecessary in the first place.

Shivaware wrote: ↑02 July 2026, 05:57

dwreathall wrote: ↑02 July 2026, 05:25 "Table abandoned. The table has been closed automatically because no move has been completed for a long period of time."

I've had a couple of solo games closed now overnight. They were Real Time (Game Speed slow), so previous threads suggested I should have a month to complete them, but I had only left it for less than 12 hours. Does BGA not like members to sleep?

If a solo game is going to time you out if you don't finish in one sitting, I feel there should be a warning before you start

You have to start your game in turn-based mode if you want to have 40 days to complete your turns. If you start your games in real-time mode, your game will be abandoned if you go 4 hours without a move. Also, you can only play one real-time game at a time.

There is absolutely no reason not to make all friendly games (including all solo games) run in turn-based mode, and this is something BGA really should change.

Another thing BGA should REALLY REALLY REALLY change is to fix the bug where if you start a turn-based friendly game, the message on the page still says "Friendly mode: no rankings, no time limit per turn, no penalties. Real-time game."!

MANY THANKS! This was driving me nuts