Board Game Arena

Hey,

A similar topic was opened 6 years ago but: is there any chance spectator could see other players cards? Even if only in "training mode" if you're concerned about cheating or from another player's point of you (so all cards visible but the ones from one player). Right now it is quite frustrating to watch a group of friends playing.
Besides that, this game is super nice playing and very well adapted, thanks!

Probably not unless the ELO scoring was switched off - it would be too easy for someone wanting to boost their ranking to use a phone to view the game as a spectator, while playing it on another device. I don't know if training mode disables the ELO thing, and I also suspect that it would not be something that would be popular enough to take the time to implement.

I quite like watching it blind anyway - part of the fun is trying to work out why a particular clue was given, whereas when you can see all the cards you're more inclined to think about what players should do

Training mode does switch elo off.

If someone wants to cheat, they would do it anyway... Actually this kind of behavior you described would make the cheat pretty obvious in Hanabi* - non-friend coplayers can notice that a player acts like he knows his cards more than he can figure by the game. What happens with the game is up to them, then. And friends can just chat in or outside BGA about cards. You won't stop abusers of the system and I don't think the site should provide restrictions that target the innocent mainly. There is low risk of trolling spectators though.

Personally I don't need function of seeing cards as a spectator. If it was implemented, its impact should be carefully considered, but in terms of malicious spectators rather than the cheating ones. And I am afraid @ViolentSilence is right that there are more pressing matters in terms of implementation.

* I realized I speak from an experienced player point of view, I wonder if it is as obvious in beginner tables.