When does a Turn-Based game begin?

[CB Droege]

When I set-up a turn-based game, I know it starts if it fills up, and I've noticed that if it doesn't fill up by a certain time (about a day, I think) it automatically cancels the game. What I want to know, is if I set the game to a range of players, like 2-5 instead of exactly 5, will it start early when it gets 2 players? Will it wait and see if more people join? If so, how long will it wait? Will it still cancel if it doesn't hit the top of the range? Is this stuff documented somewhere?

Cheers,
CB

[Jest Phulin]

I don't think it's documented on the BGA wiki, but I think this is what I've seen...

Games will move from "waiting" either 24 or 48 (pretty sure 24, but some rarer games are 48, or they're all 48, or they're all 24) hours after they are created and opened to other players.

If, at any time, the maximum number of people join, it moves from "waiting" to "active/play."

If the move is due to the time running out, it checks to see if the minimum number of players have joined. If so, it moves it to "active/play," otherwise it moves it to "cancel."

So, in a scenario where you want a minimum of 3 players and a maximum of 5:
Just you or you and one other join, automatically canceled when time runs out.
3 or 4 players when time runs out -- start game.
5th player joins -- start game.

[CB Droege]

Thanks! It would be nice to know what that wait time actually is, but it's good to know that the min-max player setting works the way it seems (to me) like it would. I feel better now about just setting up a game with the min-max where I want it, and just letting it go, rather than checking back in 24 hours to see if I want to start it. Previously, I didn't want to risk it.

[CB Droege]

Okay, so. This is not how it works...

I just had at least two games canceled after about a day, when I know there were enough players to meet the number I had set for minimum. So... Still looking for an answer, I guess. :/

[sprockitz]

I'm pretty sure it only automatically starts when the maximum number have been reached. But you can go to a game and manually start it once the minimum number has been reached.

[CB Droege]

Right, but how do I know when I have to do that before it's too late?