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Table of contents

Board Game Arena basics

What is Board Game Arena?

What, you don't know yet? Let's bring you up to speed! Board Game Arena (BGA) is an online board games platform.

With BGA, you can play online, either in real time or turn based, against players from around the whole world. A selection of various board games and card games are available. In order to play, the only thing you need is your browser!

For a quick overview, please check our 'BGA introduction' page.

What does "real-time play" mean?

When playing a real-time game, your opponents are connected to the game platform during the entire game. They can see your moves and react to them immediately - as is the case in the real world.

What does "turn-based play"? mean

When playing a turn-based game, players do not need to be connected all the time. They leave and come back when it's their turn to play. Once all your opponents have completed their moves you are notified that it is your turn (by email or on your next visit to the site). Then you can access this game, take your turn, and the process repeats for the next player.

What do I need to play?

Just a modern web browser, that's it! Board Game Arena works directly in your browser, no downloads or installations required. Play on almost any device, anywhere, anytime!

Make sure to keep your browser up to date for the best experience (most update automatically). And for optimal features and games support, use Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge. Tablets and mobile phones are also supported.

See the detailed list of minimum required browser versions

Board Game Arena remains commited to supporting older browsers, even if with a limited experience. So, if your browser versions falls below the minimum requirements, don't panic! You may still be able to enjoy most of Board Game Arena games and features.

Can I play for free?

You can play board games and enjoy most of the functionnalities on Board Game Arena for free. Some extra features are available only to our Premium members.

For more information on the benefits of becoming a Premium user, please refer to our 'Premium membership' page.

I love BGA! How can I help?

Thank you! Board Game Arena is indeed a community website that exists and has grown through the contributions of many passionate players.

You can contribute in several ways, such as:
  • If you are a native speaker in another language than English, you can help us translate Board Game Arena in your language.
  • If you are a web developer, you can help us implementing new games on our BGA Studio development platform.
  • If you have the means to support us financially, please consider becoming a Premium member to keep the website running and expanding!

For more information about the different possibilities to help BGA, please check our 'Contribute to BGA' page.

Playing

How can I start a new game?

Go on the 'Play now' section, select your prefered game mode (ex: 'Real-time'), find the game you want to play, and then click on the 'Play' button.
  • If you've selected the 'Automatic opponents' mode, you just have to wait for opponents.
  • Otherwise, you will be displayed a list of table you can join. Choose a game table, join it, wait for players to join, and once you have the players, click 'Start game'. Have fun!

What if nobody is joining my table?

For the most popular games, you can find players at any time of the day. For other games, if you can't find opponents at the moment, we advise you to come back at peak hour (around 22:00 CEST).

Tip: check the number of online/available players for a game before launching the table.
Tip: if nobody is available for a real-time game, you can turn your table into a turn-based table, so that another player can join even hours/days after you created it.

Can I join multiple realtime tables at the same time?

Yes, you can join or create multiple realtime tables at the same time, using Manual lobby.

This is even recommended to be in several tables, to maximize your chance to find opponents, instead of waiting at a single table.

When one of your realtime table starts, you are automatically removed from the other tables and you can focus on your game.

For example, if you want to play Carcassonne, Keyflower and 7 Wonders, we suggest you to join or create a table for these 3 games, so all the other players can see you are ready to play these games.

Another example: if you want to play Saboteur, we recommend you to join all open tables.

I joined a game. When does the game start?

For realtime games, each table has an administrator who is the table creator. It is the responsibility of the table administrator to start the game when he or she is satisfied with the number of players who have joined the table. If you are the table administrator and can't launch the game, most of the time it's because not enough players have joined the table at the moment.

For turnbased games, the game starts as soon as the maximum number of players has been reached. The table administrator can also decide to start the game manually anytime after the minimum number of players required to play this game have joined.

How can I play a solo game?

There are an increasing number of games available for solo play on BGA. To find these games, you can go to the Games page and filter by "Number of players: Solo."

To start a game for solo play with the "Manual" lobby:
  • Create a new table
  • Select "Training mode" for the "Game mode" option
  • Reduce the number of players to 1
  • Open the table to other players (none in this case, but this is still a necessary step)
  • Start the game.

To start a game for solo play with the "Automatic" lobby:
  • Click the gear icon to change the options
  • Click "Show advanced options"
  • Set "Training mode" to green then "Normal mode" to red for the "Game mode" option
  • Set "1 player" to green then all other options to red for the "Player number" option
  • Click "Play now."

What does the colored circle next to a player's name mean?

online_.png : This player is active. He or she completed an action very recently.
inactive_.png : This player is inactive. He or she is connected to the website but has not performed any action recently.
offline_.png : This player is offline.

What does the icons next to a player's name mean?

active_player.gif : This player must make a move now.
active_player_clockalert.gif : This player must make a move now, and has used up all his/her available thinking time. Can someone wake them up? ;)
active_player_nonack.gif : This player must make a move now, but is probably not aware of this fact. If the situation doesn't change, it might mean that this player has a connection issue.
: When the 'normal' avatar of a player is displayed, it means that this player is waiting for their turn to play.

A player is not playing. What can I do?

First, please remember that other players have the right to think as long as they need to about their next move... Well, as long as there is still some time left on their game clock, that is. After that, you can use the chat to ask this player to confirm that he or she is still thinking about how to play.

If the player seems to be away, we advise you to wait a few minutes: this player may be experiencing some network problems or have left temporarily. If the player is not coming back, and his/her clock has become negative, then you can kick this player out of the game. The effects of kicking a player out are the following:
  • This player will get a 'leave' reputation penalty (see 'Reputation/Karma' for more details).
  • This player will lose the same ELO points as if he/she was the loser (last place) of this game, minus an additional -10 ELO.
  • Whatever happens in the game afterwards, all the other players will be considered tied at the first place for ELO, and will receive a % of the ELO corresponding to the % of progression of the game at the moment the player was kicked out. Ex: if 80% of the game has been played, the remaining players will receive 80% of the ELO they would have won.
  • All following turns from this player will be skipped.

With this system, we ensure that even if you are in a losing position, it is NEVER a good choice for you to quit a game in progress. This system is a little bit harsh, but unlike many other services, about 99% of games played on BGA are not abandoned, and we are proud of that :)

How does the game clock work exactly?

Before playing each game, depending on the 'Speed' settings, you can see two values: the initial time amount and the additional time per turn.

When it's your turn to think, we decrease the time available on your clock.

Regularly (usually on each 'turn'), your time is increased with the additional time.

If your timer reaches zero (or gets negative), any other player can kick you out from the game: you should be careful NEVER to be in this situation.

Some details and specific cases:
  • There is a maximum amount of time for each player. In general, this maximum matches the initial time amount (ie: you can never have more than the initial time).
  • If you get a negative clock at some point during a game, even if you are not expelled, you will get a 'clock' red spot on your reputation.
  • When you play a game for the first time, all your time values are doubled.
  • Tournaments are using a completely different system ('fixed time limit'): you get an amount of time at the beginning, and there is no additional time during the game.
  • For turn-based games, 'X turns / day' means '24 / X' hours of additional time per move. For example, '2 turns / day' means '+12 hours per move'.

How do you manage random events (dice throws, card shuffling, ...)?

For dice and equivalent 'pick a number' actions, we are using the PHP function 'random_int'. This function has a cryptographically secure randomness, which means that it may be even better than real dice :)

For card shuffling, we are using the PHP method 'shuffle', based on the 'Mersenne Twister' algorithm which is used by most online Poker websites.

Please note that there are thousands of games played each day on BGA, so a rare event whose probability is really low may still happen dozens of times per day on BGA.

Finally, for those asking themselves "But is that random number generator truly random?", please check this page from random.org which is a great ressource to understand the complexity of this question.

What if a player does something wrong?

The Board Game Arena platform has been designed to encourage players to maintain good behavior. The reputation system allows you to distinguish between good and bad players. Then, it is up to you to decide whether to start a game with them or not.

If you think a player behaved badly during a game, you can give them a 'red thumb' at the end of the game. The effect of a red thumb is:
  • This player won't be able to play with you anymore (except if you meet in a tournament).
  • This player won't be able to send you private messages, or to watch your game as a spectator.

If you think a player committed a serious wrongdoing during a game (for example insulting another player in the chat), please report this player to us, using the 'report this player' link from their profile or by clicking on the 'red thumb' at the end of the game, so that we can take appropriate measures.

Using the `Automatic Mode` lobby: how do the game preferences work?

When using the lobby with `Automatic Mode` on, for each game you can specify your preferences for any value of the available options.
  • `I'm okay to play with...` means that you are willing to play with this option value.
  • `I prefer not to play with...` means that we won't make you join a game with this option value... Except if this is the only available possibility after searching an alternative during a few minutes.
  • `I'm reluctant to play with...` means that we won't make you join a game with this option value... Except if this is the only available possibility after searching an alternative during a long time.
  • `I never want to play with...` means that we won't make you join a game with this option value at all.

How long does a game table stay open if nobody plays anymore?

When nobody has been playing at a game table for a while, it is closed automatically to free up server resources:
  • A real-time table is closed automatically if more than 4 hours have elapsed since its creation and if all players at this table are now offline.
  • A turn-based table is closed automatically if no move has been played during the last 40 days.

What are alpha and beta games and why are we warned about them?

Alpha and beta games on Board Game Arena are works in progress. Alpha games are in the very early stages of development, so they might be unfinished, and you're asked not to share anything about them. It's also expected that you'll provide feedback to help improve the game. Beta games are a bit more polished but can still have bugs or issues. The warnings are there to remind you about potential problems (like bugs or instability) and to encourage you to report anything you encounter to help the developers refine the game.

Your account, reputation and ranking

How does my reputation score (Karma) work?

The Karma score (☯) is a quick way to check if a player has a good reputation on BGA (does not quit games, is friendly and fair play, ...).

Depending on your Karma score, you may also be allowed or disallowed to use some features on BGA or to join a given table.

Your initial Karma score is 75☯ (on a maximum of 100☯). Then:
  • Each time you finish a game, if your clock has never been negative during this game, you get +1☯.
  • If you quit, or get kicked out of a game in progress, you lose 10☯ or even 20☯ if you already quit another game recently.
  • If you miss out on a planned tournament game: -4☯.

What is the code of conduct?

On Board Game Arena, you should not:
  • Run out of time on the game clock.
  • Leave a game in progress on purpose.
  • Take an unnecessary and unreasonable amount of time at the end of game in an obvious losing situation.
  • Engage in Kingmaking: enabling another player to win on purpose while there is a better move to make for yourself.
  • Give some piece of information about the current game situation that disturbs the normal game flow.
  • Communicate with another player about the game privately (for example with an instant messenging app).
  • Engage in provocation / triumphalism / defeatism... anything which is not fair play.
  • Use an avatar that may be shocking or offensive to other players (no advertisement, no politics, ...)
Going against these rules will affect your reputation.

Why did I receive a an IP address notice when joining a table?

When you join a table, you may receive a message informing you that a player is playing from the same IP address as another player. This means they could potentially be sharing information. We've decided to display this warning to let you know. You are free to decide whether or not you wish to participate in this game. For more details please check out our 'Multi account policy'.

What is absolutely forbidden?

On Board Game Arena, it is absolutely forbidden to:
  • Insult other players in any manner.
  • Create multiple accounts and play against oneself to boost one's ranking.
  • Trolling, admin-bashing, moderator-bashing, empty critics or diffamation.
Going against these rules can lead to the removal of your account and/or a ban from the website.

What guidelines should I follow when communicating?

The general rule you should follow is to talk to people (in the forum, in the chat, ...) as if they were friends that you invited to play at your home: then you'll naturally give them your attention and be kind to them so that everyone feels welcome and at ease. And it's always great to play with friends!

You should also be aware that in an international communication context, not everyone has the same mastery of the language being used, and that cultural differences can sometimes lead to misundernstandings. When in doubt, please consider the most kind and well intentioned meaning as it will be the good one most of the time!

And finally, do not use Board Game Arena communication resources to advertise other gaming websites. If you want to talk about your experience elsewhere, please just say something like 'on another gaming website'.

Tournaments and karma: how does this works?

There is a minimum reputation to reach to play each tournaments (default is 65☯).

If your reputation decrease below the minimum requirement of a tournament for which you registered, you may not be able to participate.

If your reputation decrease below the minimum requirement of a tournament in progress, you may be expelled from the tournament (but not from your games in progress).

What is ELO?

ELO is a rating that measures a player's skill level, with a separate rating kept for each game played. This rating starts at 0 and is updated after every non-friendly game. It is inspired by the original Elo Rating System, widely used across various platforms, games, and real-life tournaments to determine competitor rankings.

ELO classifies players into 7 distinct classes:

  • Beginner (0 ELO)
  • Apprentice (1-99 ELO)
  • Average (100-199 ELO)
  • Good (200-299 ELO)
  • Strong (300-499 ELO)
  • Expert (500-699 ELO)
  • Master (700+ ELO)

This classification has the primary use of aiding the matchmaking system in finding balanced opponents for fairer games.

How is my ELO updated?

At the end of each game, the ELO rating of all players at the table is updated. The amount of ELO a player can gain or lose primarily depends on three factors:

  • The player's finishing position.
  • The player's current ELO rating.
  • The opponents' current ELO ratings.

A player's ELO change is determined by comparing their finishing position against each of their opponents'. For example, finishing second means a loss against the player in first place but a win against the player in third.

Based on these individual outcomes and considering the current ELO ratings of the compared players, a single ELO change is calculated for each comparison. Finally, all these individual ELO changes are summed to determine the player's total ELO adjustment for that game.

How does the ELO change calculation work?

The ELO calculation is based on the concept of high risk, high reward: defeating a stronger player (high risk) significantly boosts your rating (high reward). Conversely, losing to a weaker player substantially decreases it.

While you can find general information about the Elo formula online, be aware that Board Game Arena incorporates its own modifications. Primarily these are reflected in modifiers that together determine the magnitude of the ELO change (called the K-factor in the standard Elo formula):

  • Game Experience: players with fewer games played on BGA have a higher ELO adjustment to facilitate reaching the appropriate level within the ranking system.
  • Consecutive wins: beating the same player repeatedly makes the outcome less outstanding.
  • Teammates: for some team games, teammates are ignored.
  • Game abandonment: when a player quits or is expelled, the ELO gain for the opponent(s) is proportional to the game's progress at that point.
  • Player count

Additionally, in exceptional cases, other balances are applied after the ELO update calculation:

  • The first time finishing each game in Normal Mode, at least 1 ELO point is awarded.
  • ELO can never be lost before reaching a score of 100 and can never drop below this threshold once it has been reached.

Why is the ELO rating hidden for some games?

Some games are simply not suitable for online competition on Board Game Arena, because of this, the Arena Mode is disabled, achievements are not awarded, and the ELO rating value is replaced with the title of the corresponding ELO class instead.

This is due to various reasons:

  • Cooperative games
  • The game revolves around mechanics that are known to be "solved" (riddle/detective deduction, legacy, ...).
  • AIs specialized in the game are easily accessible and have been used to cheat.

Regardless, and even if it is no longer displayed, the ELO rating continues to be updated after every game, as it remains a reliable metric to use for matchmaking.

Top

Why did I not receive the “top-ranked” achievement for this game?

To be awarded a rank achievement for a game, both of the following conditions needs to be satisfied:

  • Have at least 300 ELO
  • The game must have a minimum population of ranked players

    • 1000 players for Top 20 ELO achievements
    • 300 players for Top 10 ELO achievements
    • 100 players for Top 20 Arena achievements
    • 50 players for Top 10 Arena achievements

How can I delete my account?

Take a breath... Why would you want to do that? We'll miss you!
Anyway, if you are resolved, you will find what you need under 'Preferences -> Account -> Delete my BGA account'. So long, cowboy!

Why have some of my friends disappeared?

A recent change to the way friends are managed on Board Game Arena has meant that some old friends have had to be removed. Namely, any non-mutual friendships are now no longer permitted.

From now on, to make a new friend, you must first send a friend request to a user. If that user accepts your friend request, you will become friends. This allows you to see when each other is online, as well as seeing relevant information on each other's feeds.

Any non-mutual friendships which existed before this change have been removed, and converted into "expired friend requests".

You can find these expired friend requests by clicking "See more..." on the friends tab. If you still want to be friends with any of those players, you can still send them friend requests!

Premium

How are Premium games working?

Only Premium members can create new tables for Premium games.
Once the table is created, anyone can join (even non-Premium members).

This way, you only have to buy 1 Premium membership to play Premium games with your friends (or anyone else).

Why are some games Premium and some others not?

Each game publisher decides if their games on BGA should be Premium or not.

Please keep in mind that the vast majority of games on BGA are free for everyone :)

I want to play with someone from the same place: should I buy 2 Premium memberships?

No: you only need one Premium membership.
If a Premium member is playing at a table, all restrictions based on location are removed for all other participants at this table.

Why is playing from the same location available only with 1 Premium member?

Playing on BGA from the same location is not something common since if you are at the same place you can play with the real physical board game. It makes sense to make it a Premium feature, so that using BGA stays a way to discover and enjoy board games with the whole world and does not become just a way to avoid buying the real physical game.

With this restriction, we also mean to limit the possibilities for cheaters to play against themselves to boost their rankings.

What is Hotseat mode and how does it work?

Using Hotseat mode (Premium feature), you can play with your friends from the same computer or other device.

Create a simple game table on BGA, click on 'Invite a friend' button, and select 'Hotseat' for each of your opponents.

How is a Premium membership billed?

Premium membership is a subscription: it is billed periodically.

The monthly membership is billed every month: if you subscribe on March 13th, you will be billed on April 13th, May 13th, and so on.

The yearly membership is billed once every year. Since you are commited for one year, there is an important discount on this membership.

If you prefer to pay manually for each membership period, we advise you to use the Paypal payment option as we do not renew automatically memberships payed using Paypal.

How do I cancel my membership? Can I cancel my membership anytime?

You can cancel your Premium membership anytime from the 'Preferences' / 'My account' section.

Whenever you cancel your membership, you always remain Premium for the period you have already paid for.

How can I update my payment information? How can I update my Credit card number?

The best way to do it is the following:

  • Go to the Premium page: https://boardgamearena.com/premium
  • Cancel your current subscription (it won't cancel your membership)
  • Choose monthly or yearly membership and enter your new payment information.

Note: the payment on the new Credit Card will not occur before the end of your current active membership period.

What happens if I'm already Premium and gain a free membership?

If you get one free Premium month by helping BGA, your current membership period is extended by one month.

For example, if you should have been billed on April 13th, you will be billed one month later instead.

Please note that if you get your free month just before the renewal of your membership, it may be impossible to cancel the next billing so we may have to delay the subsequent bill instead.

Available Board games

What are the available games?

Board Game Arena offers a wide selection of board and card games, with a strong focus on modern ('European style') board games.

For the full list, please refer to our 'Games' page.

How do you choose the games you make available online?

In order to publish a game on BGA we need 2 things:
  • The authorization of the digital rights owner for the game (most of the time, the original publisher).
  • A software developer volunteering the time and skills needed to build an online version of the game.

So if you are asking yourself why one of your favourite games is not yet available on BGA, it could be for various reasons:
  • We never asked an authorization for this game in the first place (of course if the game is popular, there is a good chance that we asked).
  • The publisher didn't reply or refused to grant his authorization, temporarily or definitively.
  • The publisher accepted, but we haven't found a volunteer developer yet for this game, or the development is currently ongoing.
  • The game adaptation is ready, but we are waiting for a specific time or event to release it.

If you just want to suggest a new game for BGA: the best way to help us to have this game on BGA is not to write to us, but to write to this game's publisher, and tell them how cool BGA is, so they can give us an authorization to have this game here :)

It really helps, so please do it! You can send them the following link that explain everything they need to know:
https://boardgamearena.com/gamepublishers

How about game expansions?

Game expansions follow the same selection and development process than games. There can be various reasons why a game publisher doesn't want the expansion online, and sometimes we don't find a developer who has the time to develop it.

I am a publisher: why and how should I get my game on Board Game Arena?

The main goal of Board Game Arena is to make it easy for players to discover new games, learn to play them and love them. We think that there are only two kinds of players on Board Game Arena: those who already bought the games they are playing online, and those who plan to buy them soon!

For a more detailed presentation or to contact us about licensing, please check out our 'Game publishers' page.

The Arena (competitive mode)

What is Arena game mode?

Arena is the competitive mode of Board Game Arena. It consists of a structured competitive environment where:

  • All tables of a given game are played under the same set of rules (the Arena Format)
  • Players are strictly matched using BGA's Matchmaking system
  • Ranking is based on a seasonal rating, structured in leagues

Each Arena season lasts 3 months.

At the end of an Arena season the top players of each game are crowned the new BGA world champions! To keep your World Champion status, you need to fight to defend it from season to season.

Arena is the perfect battleground to test your skills against motivated opponents.

What if I do not care about competitive play?

Arena Mode is 100% optional. You can still enjoy BGA by playing in Normal Mode or Friendly ∞ Mode.

How does Arena work?

To access and play Arena Mode for a specific game, a player must first reach an ELO rating of 100 for that game.

At the beginning of each season, players are placed in the lowest Arena league, Bronze, with 1 League Point (LP).

League Points indicate a player's progress within their league. A player is promoted to the next league upon reaching 10 LPs. Once a player reaches a higher league, they cannot be demoted during that season.

League Points are updated based on the game's outcome. Similar to ELO, the number of LPs a player gains or loses is determined by comparing their final position against each opponent's:

  • Winning against a player from a higher league grants more LPs than winning against a player from a lower league. Conversely, losing to a player from a higher league costs fewer LPs than losing to a player from a lower league.
  • Finishing in first position always grants at least 1 LP, even if there is a significant league difference with opponents.
  • Tying with a player does not reward any LPs, regardless of the league difference.
  • The total LP adjustment for a player is the average of the resulting values from the comparisons with each opponent.

How many leagues are there?

The number of Arena leagues depends on the popularity of the game: the more players choose to play the game in Arena Mode, the more leagues there are. The number of leagues for a particular game is adjusted accordingly for every Arena season.

The possible leagues are:

  • Bronze
  • Silver
  • Gold
  • Platinum
  • Diamond
  • Elite

The leagues are always from Bronze to Elite, with other levels between. (e.g. a game with 3 leagues will have leagues: Bronze, Silver and Elite.)

What is the 'Elite league'?

The Elite League is the highest and most prestigious league. To determine the players ranking within this league with precision, the Elite Arena Score (EAS) is considered.

The EAS works just like ELO. It is updated after every arena game end but it is revealed only once you reach Elite. Every player starts with an initial rating of 1500.

How do I start an Arena table?

From the specific Game Page:

  • In the drop-down menu on the left, select “Arena” and in the drop-down menu in the middle select whether you are looking for a Real-time or Turn-based table.
  • Adjust the game speed you prefer using the slider and either lock the selection to this speed, or mark that you are flexible on the speed setting using the toggle.
    Please be aware that in this mode the flexible setting is very flexible, and you will be matched at the first available table.
  • If you opted for a fast Turn-based table, please be sure to set your preferred playing hours as well and choose whether to lock these.
  • In Arena Mode you cannot choose any other settings, all players will play with the same player count and variants.
  • Click Start when you are ready to play

From the Play Now lobby:

  • In the drop-down menu on the left, select “Arena” and in the drop-down menu in the middle select whether you are looking for a Real-time or Turn-based table.
  • Use the cog icon next to each game to set your preferences for opponents' level, game speed and playing hours. These can be set according to preference as: “I’m OK playing with,” “I prefer not to play with,” “I’m reluctant to play with,” or “I never want to play with.”
    These preferences need to be set for each game and will only apply when starting your Arena table search from the Play Now page. However, they will be respected by the matchmaking algorithm.
  • Click Play Now! To start your table search.

Please note that Real-Time Arena tables, unlike for other play modes, do not ask for confirmation before starting. For this reason, if you have selected Real-Time and joined the queue for an Arena table, but need to step away from your computer momentarily, you should first cancel your game request. This avoids entering a game unknowingly and risk incurring in a Clock Penalty. Similarily, you should also avoid switching browser tab or suspending your mobile device, as that could cause you to miss the game start notification.

What is the "Arena Format"?

The Arena Format defines the set of game options and the player count for the season. This configuration dictates how every Arena table for a specific game will be set up, ensuring uniform base conditions for all participants in the Arena competition.

The Arena Format may change between seasons to achieve a more balanced configuration and to incorporate requests from the community. The "Game Gurus" are responsible for determining any changes to the Arena Format for a particular game.

What is a Game Guru?

BGA's 'Gurus' are the most dedicated and active members of the game community. They are considered amongst the most knowledgeable users on the platform for a particular game, and for this reason are granted special status and a dedicated group. In this group, they can discuss and vote on the Arena Format for the next Arena Season as well as review Tutorials for the game before they are published.

How are the Game Guru chosen?

Gurus are promoted and demoted continuously. They must satisfy these conditions:

  • Be an experienced Board Game Arena user with at least 1 year of seniority on the platform.
  • Have a stellar reputation, corresponding to a Karma level of at least 90.
  • Play a lot! Be among the 100 most active players of ranked tables for the game in the last thirty days.

The Guru Groups are displayed on the Community page of the platform if relevant.

What happens to the Arena rating after the season ends?

Between seasons, all players are relegated to a lower league. For the new season, all players begin with 1 League Point and an EAS value of 1500.

League relegation is determined by the number of Arena leagues available for each game:

  • For games with 6 leagues: Elite players are demoted to Gold, Diamond players to Silver, and everyone else to Bronze.
  • For games with 5 or 4 leagues: Elite players are demoted to Silver, and everyone else to Bronze.
  • For games with 3 or 2 leagues: Everyone is demoted to Bronze.

Note that if the number of leagues for a game is adjusted, you may find yourself in a lower league than you expected.

Example: A player finishing the season in the Elite League for a game with 4 total leagues should be relegated to the Silver League. However, if the number of leagues for the game is reduced from 4 to 2, removing the silver league, they will be relegated to the Bronze League instead.

What happens to ongoing turn-based games when the season ends?

If an Arena table cannot be completed before the end of the season, the player who consumed the most thinking time during the game will lose League Points as if the game ended with that player being considered the absolute loser. All other players will neither lose or win any points, regardless of the current state of the game.

The game will then continue in Friendly ∞ Mode, allowing the participants to continue playing or quit, without incurring penalties.

This rule is in place to prevent dishonest players from stalling a game to avoid losing League Points just before the season concludes, particularly when they anticipate a loss.

To further prevent such scenarios, it is not possible to start new Turn-Based Arena games within 5 days of the season's end.

Technical issues

What can I do if I have an issue with the website?

Most issues on this website should be solved with a simple web page refresh (or 'F5').

If you experience a persistent issue, the first thing to do is to use our troubleshooting tool to check if everything is fine with your configuration.

If you are not correctly logged in for a game (spectator instead of player), please come back to the main site and log out then log in again to refresh your authentication cookies.

Then, you can browse our bug tracker: check to see if someone has already reported this issue and upvote it, or create a new report if that's not the case. Please take the time needed to describe the problem in a clear and precise manner so that we can quickly reproduce and fix it.

Why hasn't this bug been fixed yet?

We fix a lot of bugs, all the time. But of course we need to set priorities:
  • We give the highest priority to recent features and recent games, because the most important bugs are reported fast.
  • We give the highest priority to the bugs that gathered the highest number of upvotes (green thumbs) in our bug tracking tool.
  • We usually fix bugs in batches for better efficiency. So if we decide to fix an important bug on a game, there is a good chance that we will fix some other minor bugs at the same time.

BGA is known for the quality of its adaptations, and if you look at the bug tracker, you will see that - considering the number of games and the size of the community - there are not so many really important bugs open with a lot of upvotes.

Please also remember that a lot of BGA adaptations are realized and maintained by volunteers on their free time. Finding and fixing bugs is neither easy nor really fun, so the best way you can help is by being nice and giving precise information in bug reports.

It can also happen that the original developer stops maintaining the game after a while for some personal reason. In that case, remaining bugs can stay open a long time, until another developer interested in the game volunteers to take over, or for more popular games, until the number of votes attracts the attention of an admin on this bug's relevance to the community.

I am playing on a mobile device and I have some difficulties: what can I do?

BGA was designed with desktop and laptop computers in mind. Then we updated the layout to accomodate mobile users, but while some BGA adaptations run perfectly on mobile, some others are not designed well for small screens or touch screens. This can come from the complexity of the game itself (big board, lots of elements) or from the choices made by the developer.

Thus, when you play from a mobile device, we advise you to choose games that won't be too difficult to play on a small screen, and to pay extra attention to each of your moves to be sure to trigger the correct action: zooming a lot really helps!

Why do I have a slow connection or performance troubles on BGA?

We are constantly monitoring our servers responsiveness. Sometimes incidents occur, but most of the time BGA is responsive. Usually, less than 2% of game moves takes more than 200 milliseconds to process, and less than 0.2% takes more than 1 second.

The main BGA servers are located in Europe (France), but we rent relay servers all across the world (in 30+ locations) so that big files (essentially images) are loaded quickly even if you are far from us.

Please be aware that very often, performances problems can come from your internet connection or from your computer system. We advise you to try to connect with a different browser / computer / internet connection to troubleshoot the issues.

As a rule of thumb, if you are finding out that BGA is not responsive enough for you on a given day, you shouldn't start or join a game since there is a risk for you to get clock penalties.

Translations guidelines

What can be translated?

The collaborative translation system is meant to make it possible to translate Board Game Arena into any language, in order to enable more people to discover and play board games.

For example, if you want to play 'Dragonheart' with your 10-year-old nephew and he doesn't speak English yet, no problem! Just help us translate Board Game Arena into your language!

Every string of text for the main site and for the games interfaces are 'internationalized' and can be translated by the player community. News announcements displayed on the BGA 'Home' and 'News' pages are computer translated first, then the translation can be improved by the community.

Who should translate?

This is important: only translate text into a given language if you are a native speaker of that language. When translating a game, the translator should know the game thoroughly and if possible have a box and rulebook of the game in the destination language to check for consistency. Translators should take into account the level of language and the formal/informal pronominal rules usual for the gaming audience of their country.

The source/reference language for translation is English, since the site and games development is made in English.

English is not necessarily the mother tongue of all developers, so fluent (and preferably native) English speakers can submit requests for change to be validated by developers or adminstrators. It is necessary to be very careful when modifying the English texts as this affects the translations in all languages!

What should I aim for when translating?

When translating, please always stay as close as possible to the original English text in meaning and style. Translating a software interface is not a literary exercise: please do not try to transform Board Game Arena into a book. Practicality, clarity and homogeneity are the most important.

In particular, you should respect the final punctuation (or lack thereof), the specific words capitalization choices and the use of digits instead of words.

I fixed some translations, but they don't appear to have changed on the site?

Translation files are updated nightly, so you just have to wait until tomorrow for your changes to appear on the site.

How long is it possible to change translations?

The first translations may not be perfect. So they can be modified until they are 'validated'. Validation occurs when a translation has not been modified for 30 days straight. It is then considered stable and valid (golden icon) and can only be changed by 'seasoned' players.

Computer translated text is never validated until it has been proofread by a member of the community and either "confirmed" or "modified". Afterwards it is considered to have a "human" level of trustability like other translations, and will follow the same rules for validation.

Is there some reward for translating?

Yes! Each validated translation will get its translator 1 gift point. To learn more about gift points, please check our 'Contribute to BGA' page.

Game tutorials

Are there tutorials to learn game rules?

Yes! Some games have tutorials.

See list of games with a tutorial

How can I create a tutorial for a game?

Anyone can propose a new tutorial for a game.

This page explains how to build a tutorial

What is the Alpha/Beta status for tutorials?

When you propose a new tutorial for a game, it has the ALPHA status.
Everyone with the tutorial link can review it, give feedback and rate it.

The game developer (or BGA admin) may select your tutorial and move it to BETA
A tutorial in BETA is proposed to English speaking players on the Game Page, so it can be tested on real conditions.

If the tutorial has good stats, the game developer (or BGA admin) can make it OFFICIAL.
The OFFICIAL tutorial is displayed on the Game Page and is available for all players.
There is only one OFFICIAL tutorial for a given game.
The OFFICIAL tutorial is also available for translation.

How are tutorials evaluated?

Tutorials are evaluated by game developers and BGA admins based on statistics (ex: ratings, ...).

They may compare several tutorials statistics by making them available at the same time: if several BETA tutorials (with/without an OFFICIAL one) are available, players are redirected randomly to one of them.

How can I translate a tutorial?

Tutorials are available for translation ~24 hours after they reach OFFICIAL status.

Afterwards, they may be translated like any other part of the game.

How are gift points awarded for tutorial makers?

When your tutorial becomes OFFICIAL you get 100 gift points.
Afterwards, each month, you get 100 additional gift points as long as your tutorial remains the OFFICIAL one.
There is a maximum of 600 points to be awarded for each game.

Where can I see my tutorial statistics?

What can I do if the game adaptation does not allow me to create the right tutorial steps?

Because of bugs or specific choices made by a game adaptation developer, it may be difficult or impossible to:
  • replay a game without errors
  • ask the tutorial viewer to play a move instead of using the "Continue" button
  • set a tutorial comment at the exact place you would like to.

In that case, it should be reported as a bug for the game in our bug reporting tool so that the developer can fix it. When reporting the bug, please indicate to the developer to check the tutorials checklist page where the most frequent errors and problematic cases are described.

After the issue has been fixed, you should be able to create a tutorial without problem, by using the replay of a game played after the new game version has been deployed.

People behind Board Game Area

Who are you guys?

This website has been created on their free time by two IT professionals passionate about board games: Grégory Isabelli and Emmanuel Colin.

BGA is a community website that exists in its current state thanks to the wonderful contributions of passionate players throughout the world.

For a full list of contributors, please check our 'Team' page.

In 2021, BGA joined the Asmodee Group (read full announcement).

How do you guys make a living?

After more than 7 years building and managing BGA on their free time, both founders have been working on the website with a full-time salaried position since early 2018. This was really required by the growing audience playing on this website, and has finally been made possible by the continued support of our Premium members through the years (thank you again!).

But actually, there is so much work to do to run BGA that two people working full-time is clearly not enough! This is why we intend to preserve and expand our "community based" approach to give to every interested player the possibility to contribute in order to keep this service running as good and smooth as possible.

How can I contact you?

For general questions concerning the website, games or the community, the best way to reach out is by posting a message in our forum. This way, anyone from the community can answer, and everyone benefits from the answer.

To report issues or suggest new features, please use our bugs & suggestions tracker. Please make sure to check if there is already a report dealing with the subject before creating a new report: upvoting existing reports allows us to identify the subjects that are considered as the most important by the community.

For any other subject or specific request, you can reach out to us through our contact page.
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