Board Game Arena

Something must be changed urgently! Recently i got several very unpleasant experiences like this, which ruin a lot of the fun of BGA:

A turn-based game with 4 players starts. Even though everone makes moves regularly several times a day, after 60% of the game one player exceeds his time limit. The person who created the game/tournament has probably underestimated how many turns this game takes and set the time limit unrealisticly and too low.
After 80% of the games another player goes overtime. But no one complains and the game is progressing quick&fluidly.
Then when 90% of the game is finished, 1 of the 2 Ps not overtime, let's call him Skippy, sees, that he is surely loosing this game and decides to skip another P's just a few turns before the natural end. Thus he destroys the game and makes hours of playtime by the other player obsolete. 3 player have invested time and thought over weeks and were looking forward to how the game will turn out, and then 1 * is making it all obsolete.

And what's even worse: BGA rewards such anti-social behaviour by declaring Skippy the winner and give him extra points, while one of the sincere players gets a penalty! This is so injust! Thsi must stop! BGA must change the rules, ! It cannot be that anti-social bevaiour, which is supe rfrustrating for all other playwers, even gets rewarded by the BGA system!
Something similar to this has hapenned severalt times to me recently, especially in multiplayer tournament games. it`s not a rare exception.
It's even fun to play a tournament game anymore, if you know there is a 30% chance, that some * will be destryoing the whole game shortly before the end when he sees he will be loosing.

The option of skipping s.o.s turn and thus end the game prematurely should be removed completely, or only be allowed if the majority of players agree, or if s.o. excedes his time more than 2 the timed budget.

*Moderator edit: please refrain from swearing on BGA, this is a family-friendly platform.

There are at least two related suggestions:

• https://boardgamearena.com/bug?id=35289
• https://boardgamearena.com/bug?id=35289

IMHO, the real issue starts with tournament admins having no moderation power at all. So there is no way to remove/kick players breaking "informal" rules at all …

There is a 100% sure way to prevent that: do not run out of time. Once everyone does this, no one will be able to skip anyone.

GhoulofGSG9 wrote: ↑13 April 2025, 18:03 So there is no way to remove/kick players breaking "informal" rules at all …

If it's "informal" then it's not a rule, and the tournament host should not be able to do anything.

Removing the ability to skip in a tournament resolves the OP's issue and this request is already in the Bugs/Suggestions queue. But I'm willing to wager a year of premium that it won't be implemented in the next 5 years because BGA is practically indifferent to how tournaments operate.

Meeplelowda wrote: ↑13 April 2025, 18:27

GhoulofGSG9 wrote: ↑13 April 2025, 18:03 So there is no way to remove/kick players breaking "informal" rules at all …

If it's "informal", then it's not a rule, and the tournament host should not be able to do anything.

Removing the ability to skip in a tournament resolves the OP's issue, and this request is already in the Bugs/Suggestions queue. But I'm willing to wager a year of premium that it won't be implemented in the next 5 years because BGA is practically indifferent to how tournaments operate.

There are many tournaments that specify certain code of conduct rules on the tournament page. However, indeed there is no way to enforce these.

Also, many tournaments are set up with a buffer of 2–4 days for each match (beside the allotted time for each player). So players don't have to use their time jokers while BGA has technical issues every Sunday and Monday.

But well, we can't have nice things if ppl don't follow common sportsmanship. And yeah, since the takeover, I also don't hold my breath for any significant changes happening, sadly.

Jellby wrote: ↑13 April 2025, 18:09 There is a 100% sure way to prevent that: do not run out of time. Once everyone does this, no one will be able to skip anyone.

*moderators removed insult

In my opinion, keep 3+ player games to casual play tables with a time increment. Skipping in 3+ player tournament games is always an issue and the fixed time for each player makes it hard to balance time versus tournament flow anyways.

Tournaments work much better for 2 players for many reasons.

actaion wrote: ↑13 April 2025, 20:30

Jellby wrote: ↑13 April 2025, 18:09 There is a 100% sure way to prevent that: do not run out of time. Once everyone does this, no one will be able to skip anyone.

most * comment

I get that takes effort to respond in an intelligent manner instead of just saying something is stupid.

A proper response to Jellby would have been that you aren't the player being skipped who is complaining in this case, so their response was not addressing the problem you raised because you have no control over whether other players run out of time.

So, this is a rather brutal situation. Brutally unfair, I mean.

I was playing a game of hearts, Arena. I was playing against 3 high rated players, and I was way ahead. It was going to be my biggest win, and in a 4-player game against high rated players, that's huge for Elo (And maybe for Arena points too?).

The game was over. We were on the final hand and the losing player had taken enough points to go below zero. That player simply "quit", allowing the timer to run out. Of course, immediately, whoever was in first place or second place kicked that player, and all three of us are declared "equal winners".

That's just a terrible way of handling it. There has to be a better way. There's nothing fair in that scenario.

Jellby wrote: ↑13 April 2025, 18:09 There is a 100% sure way to prevent that: do not run out of time. Once everyone does this, no one will be able to skip anyone.

I agree with you, generally speaking.

But in a game of

player A
player B
player C
player D

What is to stop player C, who is assured of a defeat, from allowing his clock tun out so that player D (Also losing), can kick player C, this stealing a win from player A or player B? They could even do this intentionally if they are friendly for friends with each other.
In that situation, player A did everything right and still got screwed.

Side note - Jellby, I would like to play you in Aquatica, if you're up for a game. I see that you are a strong player. Message me or send a friend invite if interested.