Board Game Arena

Probably a stupid question but why does the 'play now' or 'play again' interface require a start search? You have already said you want to play now so I often forget to actually start it. It then takes ages for me to realise I don't have an open version of that game in play. I expect it is just me but at least the older interface I warns you if you don't open for others and just try to leave.

The Play Now button doesn't actually mean what it says. That's something that took me a while to realize and as a result I used to be confused about how I'm supposed to reach a game's page (like after spectating a game for example).

In reality the Play Now button is just something that links you to the page of the game in question. It's not meant to actually start a game or anything.

Jonhinch wrote: ↑05 July 2026, 18:04 Probably a stupid question but why does the 'play now' or 'play again' interface require a start search? You have already said you want to play now so I often forget to actually start it. It then takes ages for me to realise I don't have an open version of that game in play. I expect it is just me but at least the older interface I warns you if you don't open for others and just try to leave.

Where specifically do you mean? If you're using the old lobby (Play Now) and automatic searching, clicking Play Now for a particular game launches a search. I can't see a Play Now button in the new lobby, just a start button which you click after you've defined the options you want for your game (and/or invited any specific players).

While the old lobby does warn you if you haven't "opened" your table, it's actually not necessary anymore to do that. Games opened via the new lobby (game pages) are "unopened" according to that distinction, but are still visible in open tables and find other players who match the settings.

I assume Play Again is coming from a finished game, where it again gives you a moment to choose your settings before you open the table. Because once another player joins the table, you can't change settings. I've been caught this way many times because I typically invite first and then look at game options and my friends are sometimes too quick to join and we get stuck with settings we didn't want. If I'm paying attention, I set game options first, but obviously if you're not inviting specific players, then it's just giving you a chance to put your settings how you want and then say, yep, I'm ready for people to join my table.

Jonhinch wrote: ↑05 July 2026, 18:04 Probably a stupid question but why does the 'play now' or 'play again' interface require a start search?

I think you need this to tell the system that you're done setting your desired parameters. The system can't know whether you might want to change something from the previous game.

Thanks for the replies. I guess I just need a warning if I am moving off a game I haven't actually started like in the old lobby