Board Game Arena

I’m frequently getting the scenario where I’m inviting, say, three friends, and I think they’ve joined me, but then when I click ‘start game’, one of those people has become a spectator rather than a player. Firstly, why does this happen? Secondly, there doesn’t seem to be any way to change their status and ‘upgrade’ them to a player - we have to abandon the game and start again. Or am I missing something?

Any help appreciated!

I really don't know but I have 2 similar questions.

1. I have accidentally invited 6 people to play a 5 person game, Caracassone. It is most people's first time so I would like one person to be a spectator. I assume that I can do that by inviting all 6 to play and the last one to accept will be a spectator. Is this correct and is it the easiest way to add spectators?

2. {solved} I am confused about starting games with friends. Let's say I only have 3 players for my 5 person game. Once I have ensured that they have all accepted, there is no "start" button, just a "open table to other players" button. While I don't mind other players necessarily, when playing with people you know there is a social element that will tend to exclude random strangers. So far, I just have to press open table to other players and hope. However, I just found a button that lets me adjust my preferred number of players to 3, such that when I open table to other players, there is no room and we can play as a group of social friends. Is this the way that most people arrange games with their personal friends? answer: Once you invite your 3 players and press play on the game, there is a button on the top right that says "table restrictions". If you click on that, you will have the choice to play only with your friends that you have added as friends. If you are a very popular person (i.e., have different gaming groups or have added people you don't know but have enjoyed playing with as friends, you can create a group (elsewhere on the site). Once you have done that, you can also restrict the table to the members of that group.

My best stab at answering the initial question is to check the number of players for the game. If I am right, you may have had 5 people playing a 4 person game so one was a spectator. The other 2 possibilities are that a) the spectator is playing from the same ip address (house) as another player and no one in the entire group of players is a premium member or b) the administrator (person starting the game) started the game before the spectator accepted the game. The latter possibility can happen when the player is new and isn't quite sure what to do.

Thanks, those are some feasible suggestions so I will check them out!