Board Game Arena

Just finished an arena game with someone in Ark Nova. Got my clock cleaned (which isn't uncommon in arena). But something is just fishy with the player I just played against. Every single turn I finished, they started their turn immediately. Looking at their history, they have only played Ark Nova arena. And I'm not their only victim. They have a 91% win rate. They joined 5 days ago, and don't just win. They obliterate people. In 10 of their 20 games, their opponent hasn't cracked 67 points.

I know how to take a loss, but this doesn't feel like a fair fight.

Anyone with experience with what feels like bot/AI agents playing on BGA?

Seems more likely it's just someone who has played a lot on a different site or account. Once they get higher in arena their win rate should settle down.

While they play fast it's certainly not suspicious, in a few of the games I checked they were slower than their opponent

This game has a very high Elo ceiling. If they are at the level of the best players, is it not expected that they'd get those kinds of results? Or is anything suggesting that they are significantly better than even the best players of the game?

MouseRat23 wrote: ↑29 May 2026, 19:02 Every single turn I finished, they started their turn immediately. Looking at their history, they have only played Ark Nova arena. And I'm not their only victim. They have a 91% win rate. They joined 5 days ago, and don't just win. They obliterate people. In 10 of their 20 games, their opponent hasn't cracked 67 points.

Maybe a smurf or some offline master that jumped on BGA to chase their Ark Nova high.

Only time I have suspected that players used computer help (not bot), maybe testing out a computer program, has been in Quarto. I watched a replay, the only one, between the two highest rated at that time...and they both played 100% perfect.

I doubt anyone has managed to create a program/script/bot to handle something as complex as Ark Nova. And to do it well. They'd also have to be somehow ingesting the game state reliably with the images and data that are downloaded to the browser.

Some players are just on all the time and might be ready for their next move the instant a notification hits. I've seen it, and sometimes done it, though not for an entire game.

Also, there are some players who are just crazy good at certain games. Like someone said, they probably just have experience with the game outside of BGA.

If in doubt, try to strike up a friendly conversation during the game. Not everyone will reply, but they might. I would not ask if they are a bot...

Now if all they say is "gg", well then... kidding