Start game at underful table with friends

[tasuki]

Hi, I only want to play with my friends. I want to create a table, share the link with some friends, have some of them join, and start the game.

I've attempted several things with surprisingly different results:

1. Play > Turn based > Limit to friends > Start ... This is the worst, I don't get a link and there's only a big "Cancel" button available.

2. Play > Turn based > Limit to friends > Available > Invitation link ... This is better, I get an invitation link to share, but once someone joins I can't start the game with just 4 friends when the table was initially created for 7.

3. Play > Turn based > Limit to friends > Available > Invite for all the slots ... Now I had to choose the friends who will play (which I don't know beforehand, I have a big group and not everyone wants to play all the time). But! Now if the table is not full I can kick someone who hasn't joined and start the game with fewer players.

I heard perhaps 2 can be fixed by inviting another player and kicking them. Is this some kind of a cruel joke? I just want to create games that any number of my friends can join! Is that so unusual a request? Does it have to be this hard?

Also, when a table stays open for too long, it just disappears. It would be useful to see a countdown for when that's going to happen. Is it some fixed time?

[JimBut]

#2 works for me. I create a table, limit to friends and invite via the link. Once ready you can start a search for players and then start straight away. I forget the language used for these buttons

[tasuki]

I should have noted that I wanted to play turn-based. The error message I get in #2 says "You cannot change the game configuration of a turn-based table after opponents have joined the table".

[nik592]

Don't start your games via the game page. Start them (and continue to access them) via Play Now. When you View a table waiting for additional players from this page you have the option to Start the game without waiting for it to fill. This option seems to have been abandoned from the new lobby style (game pages), which is one (among many) reasons people are arguing that the old lobby cannot be removed.

[JimBut]

I should have noted that I wanted to play turn-based. The error message I get in #2 says "You cannot change the game configuration of a turn-based table after opponents have joined the table".

I do this for turn based. You don't change the number of players, you just start a search and then get an option to start immediately, at least for me.

[tasuki]

I think it might depend on the game. For some games I can start even when the table has empty slots, for others I can't...

[Jellby]

Which games? Of course you can't start with fewer than the minimum number of player for a game.