Board Game Arena

I've really enjoyed getting to know Distilled over the last few months, so I decided to try my hand at Arena. I play mostly turn-based, and have enjoyed all of my matches so far.

I have realized, however, that little old me (rating in the 100s, bronze league) gets primarily matched with people in the top5 of the rankings. They've all been great and have given me a lot to learn from, but it just seems like a waste of their time and mine to play games with such a big disparity. This doesn't usually happen in the other games I play Arena (Ark Nova, TM, etc.)

Is there a way to adjust my setting so I get only matches in the Bronze league? Or should I just play some non-arena while I get better before I take on the big guns?

I'm not surprised you noticed that. I think there is something strange about the arena matching system because there are some people I almost never get matched with and others I get matched with very frequently (and I have everything set as flexible as possible for matching).

You can't adjust the arena settings to only play people within your league, as far as I know.

I don't know if it really matters whether you play non-arena for awhile first or stick to arena. I think you'll get better quicker if you're playing higher rated players on average though.

Wouldn’t it mostly have to do with how many people are queuing for the game?

There aren’t that many people who have even played Arena Distilled, and probably fewer than twenty who queue up regularly. If only ten people are actively playing in a given evening, chances are pretty good you’ll be seeing the same folks.

ThoonHulk wrote: ↑07 November 2025, 18:23 Wouldn’t it mostly have to do with how many people are queuing for the game?

There aren’t that many people who have even played Arena Distilled, and probably fewer than twenty who queue up regularly. If only ten people are actively playing in a given evening, chances are pretty good you’ll be seeing the same folks.

This was my thought exactly. Despite it being at or near the top of a lot of lists on BGA, the player base is relatively small. As much as I enjoy Arena and have learned from my games with the top 10, I've moved back to regular matchmaking for exactly this reason.

...so if anyone's looking for an easy win, that's where you'll find me

ThoonHulk wrote: ↑07 November 2025, 18:23 Wouldn’t it mostly have to do with how many people are queuing for the game?

There aren’t that many people who have even played Arena Distilled, and probably fewer than twenty who queue up regularly. If only ten people are actively playing in a given evening, chances are pretty good you’ll be seeing the same folks.

The thing is there are people I know are playing in arena turn based regularly, but despite having my settings as flexible as possible I never seem to match with them. It could be a time zone thing.