https://forum.boardgamearena.com/
Some games are popular. Some less so. If you like Ark Nova or Azul or Ticket to Ride, you won't be waiting long. If you like a little niche game called Donuts, even with over 38,000 players currently connected to BGA, there are zero real time tables of this game being played. I've literally waited half an hour (I just left the table waiting in an open browser window) for some games just to see how long it would take.MysteryGuy1 wrote: ↑24 September 2025, 19:56 I'm not a premium member, so I understand it can take longer for a game to find players. However, with some games it varies to the extreme how long it takes. I'm trying to play a game now that usually finds players for me in minutes, but today it's not happening at all. I've tried several times. Anybody know why?
It also depends on the time of day and which options you have selected for the game (but if you always choose the same options then that won't determine the difference).MysteryGuy1 wrote: ↑24 September 2025, 20:27 I figured popularity was a factor, but as I said sometimes the same games get me in really fast and other times I can't get in at all.
There used to be a page that had live stats on how many real time and turn-based games were running. Unfortunately they took it away because of the server load it causes. The closest thing we have now is to go to the landing page for a game and click the "Watch a game in progress" link. But you'd have to do that game-by-game.MysteryGuy1 wrote: ↑24 September 2025, 20:27 How are you able to tell how many people are playing a specific game?