Board Game Arena

Sometimes there are games that have very few active games players so I search for turn based instead and leave the site. When I come back I would be in a game with 3 players while I searched for 2.

I don't want to play turn based with 2 players cause it takes forever and no one plays at similar timea and it's just not fun. I said in the chat I wanted a 2 player game and proposed to abandon the game but the 2 other players kept refusing so evantually I quit. And my reputation tool a dive.

This happened a lot. It keeps adding me to games with 3 players when I always specify 2 and there's no flexibility option for the number of players. Does anyone know if this is a bug or if it's intentional?

Haya Sh wrote: ↑27 July 2026, 13:19 Sometimes there are games that have very few active games players so I search for turn based instead and leave the site. When I come back I would be in a game with 3 players while I searched for 2.

I don't want to play turn based with 2 players cause it takes forever and no one plays at similar timea and it's just not fun. I said in the chat I wanted a 2 player game and proposed to abandon the game but the 2 other players kept refusing so evantually I quit. And my reputation tool a dive.

This happened a lot. It keeps adding me to games with 3 players when I always specify 2 and there's no flexibility option for the number of players. Does anyone know if this is a bug or if it's intentional?

it has to do with your search filters

If youy are NOT okay playing with x amount of players turn that filter off, keep in mind that the more restrictive your search filters are the longer it will take for you to find a game.

OP said "there's no flexibility option for the number of players" so it seems pretty clear they are using the game page (eg https://boardgamearena.com/gamepanel?game=catan ) rather than the Play Now lobby. I don't know why this would happen on the game page where, indeed, there is no flexibility option. I've heard strange things can happen if you choose "Play again" at the end of a game, like the site forgetting various filters you had set up, but I really don't know.

But as Cappa points out, if you use the Play Now lobby (accessible through that link at the top of any page [except when you are in a game]), then there is flexibility. A lot of flexibility.

On that page, there are three drop-downs at the top; set the left and middle one to whatever you like and set the right one to Automatic. Each game will have a gear/cog next to it; clicking on that cog opens the dialog Cappa shows, and you can set all kinds of preferences. And the site will remember these preferences the next time you come back (but they will only apply in Play Now; they do not apply to joining on the game page), so you should only have to set up 2-players-only once.

BarnardsStar wrote: ↑27 July 2026, 17:32. I don't know why this would happen on the game page where, indeed, there is no flexibility option.

There is a flexibility on the the game page. It's on the right hand side of the "game speed" bar and not labeled super well but if you hover over it it should tell you what it is. If it's green it will ignore more if your settings as time goes on, and near as I can tell you can not limit it in any way so personally I wouldn't use it.

Cile wrote: ↑27 July 2026, 17:42 There is a flexibility on the the game page. It's on the right hand side of the "game speed" bar and not labeled super well but if you hover over it it should tell you what it is. If it's green it will ignore more if your settings as time goes on, and near as I can tell you can not limit it in any way so personally I wouldn't use it.

That's "flexible game speed"; we were talking about being flexible (or not) on number of players in the game. Unless you are suggesting that using it causes other options unrelated to game speed to be ignored?

I just checked the "play now" page and yes it does have restrictions for players number. I've never known you could do that.

As for the flexibility next to the game speed, does it affect everything? Cause I thought it was only for speed.

Haya Sh wrote: ↑27 July 2026, 21:38 As for the flexibility next to the game speed, does it affect everything? Cause I thought it was only for speed.

It's not just speed. It will also affect options for expansions. This has surprised people in the wide variety of options for Ticket to Ride, for example.

But I don't think anyone has ever confirmed one way or the other that the flexible switch affects player count.

Meeplelowda wrote: ↑28 July 2026, 00:21

Haya Sh wrote: ↑27 July 2026, 21:38 As for the flexibility next to the game speed, does it affect everything? Cause I thought it was only for speed.

It's not just speed. It will also affect options for expansions. This has surprised people in the wide variety of options for Ticket to Ride, for example.

That's terrible. Definitely one more reason to favor Play Now.

Meeplelowda wrote: ↑28 July 2026, 00:21

Haya Sh wrote: ↑27 July 2026, 21:38 As for the flexibility next to the game speed, does it affect everything? Cause I thought it was only for speed.

It's not just speed. It will also affect options for expansions. This has surprised people in the wide variety of options for Ticket to Ride, for example.

But I don't think anyone has ever confirmed one way or the other that the flexible switch affects player count.

Now that I think about it, yes. It did happen before while playing ticket to ride. I'll turn off the flexibility for speed from now on.

BarnardsStar wrote: ↑28 July 2026, 00:29 That's terrible. Definitely one more reason to favor Play Now.

Preaching to the choir, as my signature confirms.