Board Game Arena

hi all...i'm brand new...

With hotseat mode, and premium membership...

is there a way to play on here, with 2 people on one computer, and 2 other people on another single computer in another house?

my wife and I are looking to play with another couple from each of our homes.

There is no convenient way to do this.

Two people (the host and the hotseat) playing on one computer in one location is not a problem. Adding another player from a different location is not a problem. It's adding the other player at the other location that gets a bit tricky.

If the second computer supports running two different browsers at the same time (Firefox and Chrome, for example), one person can be logged in with each browser to imitate a hotseat at their end. They would each need an account.

that's a helpful answer.... My wife and I can use hotseat, and then the other couple will each need an account and their own laptop or PC at there home, thanks!!

I have a suggestion for a "party premium". An amount, like $10-12 CAD, for 24 hours unlimited hotseats. I don't have an issue with the cost, but if you are playing with 2 other couples that are noobs and non-tech saavy, it can be difficult to get them to sign up for even a 1 month membership. If I could sign up for a party premium that let all my guests have hotseats, it would simplify my new year's eve party. If you are concerned about cheating, multiple accounts for a single person, one of the conditions could be that you could only use the party premium for friends and that any wins would not increase your standing.

kayak4ever wrote: ↑28 December 2020, 03:16 I have a suggestion for a "party premium". An amount, like $10-12 CAD, for 24 hours unlimited hotseats.
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If I could sign up for a party premium that let all my guests have hotseats, it would simplify my new year's eve party.

Premium memberships are already offered for one-month purchases, at significantly less than $10CAD. With only one membership, a table can be created with as many hotseats as the game supports.

So, basically, everything that you asked for already exists.

When we tried our first party game, we had 3 couples and 2 singles.
Each couple lived in the same house so that 2 people from the same ip address wanted to play in each of 3 houses. 2 of the couples had premium memberships but the 3rd couple did not. One half of the third couple was unable to join the game started by a premium member because the other half of that couple had already joined. They were using separate computers but I don't know if they were using the same browser. The spouses of the 2 premium members were able to play.

I reread the hotseat rules that says " Create a simple game table on BGA, click on 'Invite a friend' button, and select 'Hotseat' for each of your opponents."

I think this means that the party host (in the case described above), the host starts the game and invites 6 of the 7 players already listed as friends and then adds the hotseat player, the one half of the couple that couldn't play in my example?

Also to add the hotseat player that is not living in a house with a premium member, I think you need to add that friend by clicking on add a friend (even if they are already listed as a friend) and then answer yes to the question "Will both you and your friend share the same screen?" even though you will be using separate screens but using the same ip address.

Can someone confirm these 2 points, ideally before New year's eve?

thank you

Hotseats are always for the same computer as the host is using, for a player who does not have their own account. Your example is unclear if you were trying to have someone at a different location use a hotseat or not.

[issue resolved] I confused the issue by using the word hotseat. in the FAQs it says, "If a Premium member is playing at a table, all restrictions based on location are removed for all other participants at this table." that suggests that in my example above, all players should have been able to play but that was not the case. The two couples who had a premium player in their house were able to play but the two players who were in one house separate from the house in which the premium member lived could not both play.

In my example, two of the players living in a different house/ip address from the premium members were using different computers but the same ip address (but different from the premium member). One of those two could not play and the stated reason was that two players could not play from the same ip address unless one of them had a premium membership. The person hosting the game had a premium membership but not either of the two living in the house with the player who couldn't play.

If one premium member hosting a game should be sufficient for multiple couples playing in different houses to all play, then I don't know what steps to take to make that happen. If we need one premium member for each ip address that has multiple players, then my original suggestion still holds. It would be nice to have a party premium membership, which could cost more, but would allow multiple players at multiple ip addresses to play as long as the host was a premium (party) member.

As another example, I am hosting a new years event in which I have invited 4 couples (each set of couples living in a separate house from each other couple) and I will have a premium membership. I can and will buy each of the 4 couples a single month membership to make this happen. However none of them are very tech savvy and it will be a bit difficult to get the to enter the gift code in the right spot. That's why a single one day use for multiple ip addresses would be so useful, especially during the pandemic when each set of couples must stay in the the same house/ip address

Answer: I had it all wrong. Depending on the browser, one player in the house must have set up an "remember me" option so that they wouldn't need to sign in again. When both players accessed the boardgamearena.com site from separate computers, they didn't make sure it was their login in the top right. Thus, while they both had separate accounts and separate computers, they were both trying to play from the same account (because the same player was automatically logged in on both computers)

kayak4ever wrote: ↑29 December 2020, 15:27 In my example, two of the players living in a different house/ip address from the premium members were using different computers but the same ip address (but different from the premium member). One of those two could not play and the stated reason was that two players could not play from the same ip address unless one of them had a premium membership. The person hosting the game had a premium membership but not either of the two living in the house with the player who couldn't play.

As far as I know, this should not have happened. Everything I have ever seen has stated that once a premium member is at a table, the "can't play from the same IP" restriction should be removed. I can't help any more, sorry.

thanks for your help