Board Game Arena

Congratulations to all participants and winners from the previous season. Season 7 surpassed all previous participation records! Thanks to all of you for such a success.

But wait, what exactly is "the Arena?"

The Arena is the competitive mode on BGA. If you master a game and want to play it competitively, this is THE mode to use, so you can challenge the best players and get the most experience points.

The Arena is organized in seasons of 3 months each. Achievements are awarded to the best players at the end of each season.

To play in the Arena: select "Play" and then choose "Arena" instead of "Simple game."

Read more about Arena mode


Arena format and Gurus

Since last season, this is you (more exactly the gurus) who are choosing the game formats for the Arena: players number, options used, ...

We are very happy to see that this way of doing things contributed to making Arena more popular: thank you to all gurus for their smart suggestions and their votes!


Rules updates

No Arena rules are changing this season. It does not mean we are 100% satisfied about how the Arena is running, but you seem to appreciate the current rules so we want to keep them as they are for now.


Cheating

Some (rare) case of cheating have been spotted in the previous season. You have to keep in mind that a player cheating the Arena is quite easy to spot, by admins, moderators, and even by simple players. Thus, it is impossible to heavily abuse the system without triggering warnings.

Our advise: please do not lose time trying to cheat the system: it will consume an incredible amount of your time, and at the end all your efforts will be ruined and your account will be removed.


Season 8 is NOW Launched.

The new Arena is going to be opened in a few hours.


Some Explanation About: Relegations

At the end of each season, after winners have been awarded, you are relegated.

Some custom relegation rules may have been applied to a game for some reason (ex: we decided to reduce the number of leagues), but in general here is what happens:

• For games with 6 or 5 different leagues, all players are decreased by 3 leagues.
• For games with 4 different leagues, all players are decreased by 2 leagues.
• For games with 2 or 3 different leagues, all players are decreased by 1 league.
• For all games and all leagues, your number of Arena points is reset to 1, and your AES ("Arena Elo") is reset to 1500.

It's up to you to find the way to the elite!


May the odds be ever in your favor!

Option changes:

Race for the Galaxy:

• New Worlds: "Enabled" (prev: "Disabled")

Stone Age:

• Number of players: "4" (prev: "2")

Puerto Rico:

• Number of players: "3" (prev: "2")

Uncle Chestnut's Table Gype:

• Number of players: "2" (prev: "4")
• Variant: "Rule of Chaos" (prev: "Random Start & Rule of Chaos")

Takenoko:

• Game version: "Original edition" (prev: "Second edition (BETA)")

Libertalia:

• Number of players: "3" (prev: "2")

Koi-Koi:

• Game length: "Half a year (6 hands)" (prev: "Full year (12 hands)")
• Viewing yaku: "Rain ruins the party" (prev: "Viewing yaku enabled")

Spyrium:

• Number of players: "3" (prev: "2")

Tokaido:

• Crossroads: "On" (prev: "Off")

Kalah:

• Number of stones in hole: "6" (prev: "5")

Quantum:

• Number of players: "3" (prev: "2")

Assyria:

• Number of players: "4" (prev: "2")

The Palaces of Carrara:

• Number of players: "2" (prev: "4")

Florenza: The Card Game:

• Number of players: "3" (prev: "2")

Love Letter:

• Number of players: "5" (prev: "4")

Jump Gate:

• Number of players: "3" (prev: "2")

KQJ:

• Game mode: "2 vs 2 vs 2" (prev: "3 vs 3")

Remember When:

• Number of players: "5" (prev: "6")

Takara Island:

• Number of players: "2" (prev: "3")

Battleships Pencil & Paper:

Ice Cold Ice Hockey:

• Match type: "1983-84 to 2004-05 (5-minute overtime)" (prev: "1982-83 and prior (ends in a tie)")

Terra Mystica:

• Landscapes expansion: "Off" (prev: "On")
• Game board: "Random" (prev: "Fjords")

Krosmaster Arena:

• Format: " BGA Season 8" (prev: " BGA Season 7")

Dice Forge:

• Remove 6 gold die face: "Yes" (prev: "No")

French Tarot:

• Number of players: "5" (prev: "4")
• Bonuses: "Poignées + Misères" (prev: "Poignées only")
• Minimal bid: "Guard" (prev: "Small")

7 Wonders:

• Number of players: "4" (prev: "5")

The Werewolves of Miller's Hollow:

• Cupido: "On" (prev: "Off")

Skat:

• Ramsch: "No Ramsch" (prev: "Schiebe-Ramsch")
• Contra and Re: "Off" (prev: "On")

Sapiens:

• Number of players: "2" (prev: "3")
• Promo: Double Tiles: "Off" (prev: "On")

Red7:

• Victory condition: "Points" (prev: "Win 2 hands")

Veletas:

• Board Size: "9 x 9" (prev: "10 x 10")

Papayoo:

• Number of players: "5" (prev: "4")

Rallyman: GT:

• Number of lanes: "Random" (prev: "3")

City of the Big Shoulders:

• Public Goals: "Yes" (prev: "No")

Downforce:

• Powers: "Use base powers + powers from danger circuit" (prev: "Use base powers")
• Betting variants: "Odds betting variant" (prev: "Standard rules")

Small Islands:

• Number of players: "3" (prev: "4")

Unconditional Surrender! World War 2 in Europe:

• Scenarios: "USSR 1941" (prev: "Main Event 1939-1940")

Kingdom Builder:

• Number of players: "2" (prev: "3")

Saint Petersburg:

• Number of players: "2" (prev: "4")

Thurn and Taxis:

• Number of players: "2" (prev: "3")

Martian Dice:

• Number of players: "2" (prev: "3")

Spades:

• Bag Limit: "Standard" (prev: "150% Limit")

Fleet:

• Number of players: "2" (prev: "4")

Piraten kapern:

• Include Promocards: "Yes" (prev: "No")

Hand and Foot:

• End of game: "After 3 rounds" (prev: "After 2 rounds")

Via Magica:

• Display drawn tokens?: "Yes" (prev: "No")

Automobiles:

• Number of players: "3" (prev: "4")
• Laps: "5" (prev: "4")
• Drivers [Season Campaign Only]: "Choose from all Drivers (online variant)" (prev: "Choose from a Limited Pool (official expansion rules)")
• Drivers [Single Race Only]: "Choose from all Drivers (online variant)" (prev: "Choose from a Limited Pool (official expansion rules)")

Phat:

• Match Length: "Single game" (prev: "Best of 3")

Carnegie:

• Number of players: "4" (prev: "2")

Schrödinger's Cats:

• Number of players: "5" (prev: "4")

Res Arcana:

• Extension 1: Lux & Tenebrae: "Enabled" (prev: "Disabled")

Bids:

• Number of players: "3" (prev: "4")

13 Clues:

• Advanced Variant : Top Secret Token: "No" (prev: "Yes")

Homesteaders:

• Number of players: "3" (prev: "4")

Dice Hospital:

• Number of players: "3" (prev: "2")

Vulture Culture:

• Number of players: "3" (prev: "4")

Nidavellir:

• Expansion: "Thingvellir" (prev: "None")

Beyond the Sun:

• Number of players: "3" (prev: "2")

Pingimus:

• Colors: "Colors" (prev: "Monochrome")

Lost Ruins of Arnak:

• Board side: "The Bird Temple (standard)" (prev: "The Snake Temple (advanced)")

Mattock:

• Board size: "7 hexagons per edge" (prev: "5 hexagons per edge")

That's Life!:

• Number of players: "3" (prev: "4")

Splendor:

• Number of players: "2" (prev: "3")

Bug:

• Board size: "Big board (4x4x4)" (prev: "Standard board (3x3x3)")

Trek 12:

• Number of players: "2" (prev: "3")

Gold West:

• Number of players: "2" (prev: "3")

New Frontiers:

• Number of players: "4" (prev: "3")

Cardiceo:

• Number of players: "3" (prev: "2")

Agricola:

• Draft mode: "Draft 7 out of 8 cards, Occupations with Minors" (prev: "Draft 7 cards, Occupations with Minors")
• C&D cards: "Included" (prev: "Excluded")

King of Tokyo:

• Number of players: "5" (prev: "4")

Railways of the World:

• Bidding Style: "First to pass" (prev: "Traditional")

Number Drop:

• Number of players: "3" (prev: "2")

Deus:

• Number of players: "2" (prev: "3")

This is it!

Is there any plan to address this movement towards making every single arena game two player? I love playing both St. Petersburg and Fleet, two games that are infinitely more enjoyable as 4 player games, but both have switched to 2 player for arena. Players who play tons of two player games are over-represented in the Gurus group for each game so have a disproportionate impact on the votes to change the arena format. I understand the desire to make matchmaking faster, but both of those games have had no problems filling up four player games in turn-based. Alternatively, could there be more than one arena format that you can choose between? If we leave it up to voting, eventually every game will end up being two player and those of us who enjoy 3, 4, or 5 player games will be left out in the cold.

Enable turn based arena actions for ALL arena eligible games. (unless really specific exceptions are required).

So, after the not-so recent update, a year or so ago, that made non-finished arena games only wipe away points from the longest thinking/waiting player and not award others with any points, leaving turn-based mode turned off doesn't make any sense any more, as all players are incentivized to reach the finish of the game. Thus, unless a very long game has hundreds of moves or there are legal reasons for the option not being available, all games with the option turned off should be rewatched for possible enablement.

As an example, last season there were a total of 0 games of Coup played the whole season, as the turn-based play hasn't been available. This would change as there were players opening and keeping open tables, and it also signaled a need to reduce the number of players, which gurus failed to do... I also saw a really unpleasant example of a BGA game group organizing to make an entire batch of live games between (majorly) the group members, where there wasn't anything immoral or illegal, but a bias to have the group members as the winners in this non-individual-player determined game was clearly impactful as a result. When all or a majority of the members of the group reached elite statuses, there were a total of 0 arena games for the remaining months of the season. It wasn't their fault, though, making an active group that was the only force capable of organizing the many players needed to start a live game. Only with turn-based play enabled, casual players can also challenge for positions.

Two additional things: 1) Maybe you could publish the list of most-to-least played arena games with the numbers? 2)I preemptively apologize for any grammatical errors in this text.

I have a small anecdotal datapoint: of the 4 Papayoo Arena games I've played this season thus far, none of us has enjoyed the 5-player format. I'd like to go back and review the votes for deciding the player count, but I don't remember where the post went. I'm rather surprised, since I remember that the vote was strongly in favor of 5-player.

i dont know why you change dice hpital but that's REALY disapointing.... longer time to wait really longer.... player would just dont play the arena dice hospital anymore.... i really dont know why this change but what i big big mistake.. i luv this game but not gonna play arena anymore knowing its 3 players yikes.

jonob wrote: ↑11 January 2022, 18:20 Is there any plan to address this movement towards making every single arena game two player? I love playing both St. Petersburg and Fleet, two games that are infinitely more enjoyable as 4 player games, but both have switched to 2 player for arena. Players who play tons of two player games are over-represented in the Gurus group for each game so have a disproportionate impact on the votes to change the arena format. I understand the desire to make matchmaking faster, but both of those games have had no problems filling up four player games in turn-based. Alternatively, could there be more than one arena format that you can choose between? If we leave it up to voting, eventually every game will end up being two player and those of us who enjoy 3, 4, or 5 player games will be left out in the cold.

I fully agree. I'm happy "Puerto Rico" is back to 3 players, but now "Splendor" is made 2 players... much less fun and worse experience. I've never needed to wait for more than 1 minute to complete 3 players for "Splendor".

I don't know if anything was changed post the top zone update, but the way Arena waiting list numbers get perma frozen on a non-representative number these days even when someone quits is one additional so annoying thing.

darknngel wrote: ↑14 January 2022, 11:24 i dont know why you change dice hpital but that's REALY disapointing.... longer time to wait really longer.... player would just dont play the arena dice hospital anymore.... i really dont know why this change but what i big big mistake.. i luv this game but not gonna play arena anymore knowing its 3 players yikes.

Oh god - this is an extremely surprising comment
As with many draft games, 2 player just doesn’t play well. They tried to make up for it with the rule change for 2 but it just doesn’t quite capture enough of the interest there.

I gave up on arena for that game last season (and thus mostly gave up on the game) due to it being 2 player.

I very much welcome the change back!

Respublik wrote: ↑16 January 2022, 10:19 I don't know if anything was changed post the top zone update, but the way Arena waiting list numbers get perma frozen on a non-representative number these days even when someone quits is one additional so annoying thing.

Yes i wish this was addressed …
And i don’t need a chat notification when someone drops out of waiting for an arena game

I think both started the same time