The Virtual Playing Table represents the table on which you play your game. It lets you interact with your opponent as if you were at a real table playing with real cards.
You can learn about:
- Parts of the Virtual Playing Table
- Playing in the Virtual Playing Table
- Instructions specific to your game:
Parts of the Virtual Playing Table
There are two main sections in the Virtual Playing Table:
- The Playmat:
- this is the playing arena, which represents the tabletop, with all the cards (and counters) that are placed on it, and the hands of both players. It is the largest area to your left.
The Playmat is divided into areas that represent the game zones into which you play your cards. There are three types of zones: game areas, decks, and hands:
- Game areas
- These are just areas defined by the rules of your game on which you place your cards while playing. They have a grey background. Cards will adjust their position as to not overlap these areas, but to stay completely inside one or the other.
- Decks
- These are stacks of cards from which you draw cards, or to which you discard cards. Typical decks are your draw deck, and your discard pile. The number and name of decks depend on the game you are playing. Decks are the size of a card, have a reddish frame and display a special pattern when empty.
- Hands
- There are always two hands on your playing area. They represent the cards you and your opponent each hold in your hands. You can not see the cards in your opponent's Hand (just their backs), as he can not see yours. You can not interact with the cards in your opponent's Hand, the same way your opponent can not touch your Hand's cards. The Hand areas have a white background.
- The Additional Tools Area:
- this is located at your right, and includes all the extra tools you may need while playing.
The Additional Tools Area provides the following tools:
- End Game and Help links
- At the top of the Additional Tools Area there are two important links. The one on the right (Help/Instructions) brings you here for all the help on how to play online. The one on the left (End Game) lets you end the game and register its outcome. This link displays a menu with three options that let you indicate how the game is ending: by your opponent winning it, by you both declaring the game a tie, or by aborting it (for example, when your opponent gets accidentally disconnected or just leaves the game).
- Chat and game actions area
- All the actions performed by both players are logged on this area for both to see. A description of each action appears here at the same time the action is performed on the Playmat. Additionally, players may chat using this area: you can enter your message in the text box below and it will show on the area, where you will also see the messages from your opponent.
- Counters area
- There are two score counters here you can use to keep track of any amounts that change during play, like each player's score. You can select any value for each counter by displaying the drop-down list and selecting the desired total, or you can simply click on the buttons to the left and right of the counter to decrease and increase, respectively, the counter by one.
- Tokens area
- There are here three pools of tokens of different colors, from which you can draw as many tokens as you like to use in the game. Just drag them to the Playmat and drop them on a card or on any area. You can not take the tokens back to the pools, so when you don't need them, just take them to an unused spot on the Playmat.
- Coins and dice
- If you need to flip one or more coins, or if you need to throw one or more dice, you can do that here and both you and your opponent will see the result below the area (and it will show too in the game actions area).
Playing in the Virtual Playing Table
There are three types of objects on the table: decks, cards, and tokens. You can interact with all of them.
Things you can do with decks:
- Take the top card from it: just click on the card and drag it to wherever you want to place it.
- Browse the deck: you click on the deck with the secondary button of your mouse (the right button, normally) so you get a menu with four options. On the menu you can see the name of the deck and the number of cards it contains.
Choose the first option, "View", and you will get the complete list of cards in that deck. Your opponent does not see this list, he is only told that you are browsing that deck. You can scroll up and down the list of cards by moving the scroll bar to its right. This option is not available if your opponent is using a private deck. - Take a card from inside the deck and put it on top of it, or at the bottom of it: while browsing the contents of the deck you can click on any given card in the list to select it. Then you press the button at the top of the list which reads 'take to top', and the selected card will move to the top of the list. That card will be the first one in the deck now. You can also press the button at the bottom of the list which reads 'take to bottom', and the selected card will go to the bottom of the list. It will then be the last card in the deck.
- Put down the deck: after you have browsed the cards in the deck, and optionally moved the cards around, you should press the 'close' button to put the deck back on top of the table and continue playing.
- Shuffle the deck: you click on the deck with the secondary button of your mouse (the right button, normally) so you get a menu with four options. Choose the second one, "Shuffle". The cards inside that deck will be instantaneously shuffled so their order is random once again.
- Take top card to bottom, or bottom card to top: this is for the case in which you need to move the top card of the deck to the bottom of it (or to bring the bottom card to the top) without looking at the cards in the deck. You click on the deck with the secondary button of your mouse (the right button, normally) so you get a menu with four options. Choose the third one, "top card to bottom", or the fourth one, "bottom card to top". The corresponding card will move places automatically without your having to open the deck up.
Things you can do with cards:
- Move a card: you just click on it with your mouse, and, without releasing the button, you move your cursor to wherever you want to place the card. The card image will move with your cursor. When you release the mouse button, the card will drop on that spot and stay there (if the card does not stay when you release the button, simply press it again).
- Move a stack of cards: when you stack cards on top of each other you can move them all together by simply moving the bottom card (by clicking on a portion not covered by the cards on top of it). Tokens you place on top of cards also follow the cards as you move them.
- Flip a card: you can turn a face-down card face up, or a face-up card face down, by simply double-clicking on it. You just click on it twice quickly, and it will flip over.
- Turn a card: if you want to turn a card 90 degrees so that it is horizontal, you only need to click on it with your secondary (right hand side) mouse button. To straighten it back, just repeat the operation.
- View a card's details: to see a popup window with the details of a card and a bigger picture of it, you only need to click on it once. In a moment a window will pop up with all the info about the cards in the deck, and it will focus on the card you selected. If the card belongs to your opponent, and this is using a private deck, then the window will show the details page for that specific card and not the complete list for the deck. If you maintain that window open, you will get faster to the info about any card on which you click.
Things you can do with tokens:
- Move a token: you can move tokens around by just clicking on them with your mouse, and, without releasing the button, moving your cursor to wherever you want to place them. Tokens on top of cards stay on top of them as you move the card around.
Other things you can do at the Virtual Playing Table:
- Talk to your opponent: there is a chat window to your right where you can read whatever your opponent wants to tell you. You can also talk to him by typing in the text box just beneath the chat area. There is also a button labeled "I'm done" that is just a quick way to tell your opponent that you have finished your actions and are now waiting for him to do something.
- Keep track of scores: you have two score counters you can use to keep track of any amount needed in your game (for example, your current score, and your opponent's). You can change the total in a counter by displaying the drop-down list and selecting a new value, or you can use the buttons to both sides of it to increase and decrease the value by one.
- Flip a coin or throw dice: below the chat area, you can select the random generation actions of your choice; you can flip one or more coins, or you can throw one of more coins of 6 or 12 sides. The results will display beneath the form, and your opponent will see the same result on his screen.
- End the game: by using the link at the top right corner of the playing area (End Game) you can choose which way the game has finished. There are three options:
- You can indicate that your opponent won the game,
- You can request the game to end in a draw (your opponent will have to confirm that he agrees with this, so you need to wait for their reply),
- You can also choose to abort the game if it can not be ended any other way (for example if your opponent leaves the game unexpectedly). If your opponent has been active during the last five minutes, though, the game will be considered automatically disputed and a judge may review it and assign a final result and penalties.
After a game is finished a link will appear in the chat window that will allow you to return to the game room. You should always leave the table by following this link and never by pressing any other buttons or by closing your browser's window.
All games should be finished by using one of these three options. You SHOULD NEVER LEAVE THE TABLE before confirming the game has been ended properly. A pop-up message will request your confirmation when you try to leave the table. This should prevent your window from being closed without your wanting it.
- Dispute the game: If you have had to abort the game using the third available option to end a game, a link will appear in the chat window that will allow you to dispute the game. You should use this link if you think that you were about to win the game but your opponent did not grant it to you. You should then try and contact a judge and ask them politely to review your game. No points will be granted for this game unless it gets reviewed and resolved.
Instructions specific to Yu-Gi-Oh!
Disposition of the cards at the beginning of a game:
Your cards are at the bottom of the screen, while the cards of your opponent are at the top.
If the deck you chose was correctly built, using the corresponding sections, then your cards are laid out the following way:
- To your right, the Deck contains all the cards in the deck you chose to play with, except those in your Fusion and Side Decks, if any.
- Just to the left of your Hand, the Extra Deck contains the cards that in the chosen deck were assigned to the "Extra Deck" section.
- To the left of the Extra Deck, the Side Deck contains the cards that were assigned to the "Side Deck" section of your deck.
Instructions specific to Fénix, Juego de Cartas de Estrategia
Turning the Phenix:
To indicate the usage of the Phenix power you use tokens in the following way:
.
Ambrosías, Líder y Fénix
When building your deck you must place these special cards in the corresponding deck section (Ambrosías etc.) so that they appear in the Zone of Ambrosías on the gaming table. At the start of each game you need to view this deck, bring the Líder and the Fénix to the top of it, and to then draw them and place them in their correct place in the Concentration Zone.
Instructions specific to Lord of the Rings
Disposition of the cards at the beginning of a game:
Your cards are at the bottom of the screen, while the cards of your opponent are at the top.
They are located in the four decks:
- To your left, the Adventure deck, contains initially the cards for your Adventure path (as long as they were placed in this section when building your deck). They are initially shuffled (because all decks are initiated with their cards shuffled), so you will need to search for each site as you need them. To draw a site from the deck you need to browse it, select the card from the list, bring it to the top, and close the deck. Now the selected card is at the top of the deck and you can simply move it to the Adventure path by drag and drop.
- Just to the right of your Hand, the Draw Deck contains all the cards in your deck that are not in the Adventure Path or Starting Fellowship sections.
- To the right of the Draw Deck, the Discard Pile contains initially your Starting Fellowship. Therefore, at the beginning of a game you should take all the cards here, one by one, place them in the Fellowship area, and turn them face up. Then your Discard Pile will be empty and ready to take all the cards you discard during play.
- At the far right corner, the Dead Pile is initially empty, and is the place where you should drop all your dead Companion cards.
The Twilight Pool:
In order to track the size of the Twilight Pool, it is much faster and more convenient to use the score counters, instead of moving tokens to the Playmat. You just increase counter A for each twilight token you would place in the pool, and decrease it for each token you would remove. If the pool grows beyond 20 tokens (the maximum in the counter), you can continue by using counter B, for a total of 40 possible twilight tokens.
Instructions specific to Pokemon
How to indicate special conditions:
Pokemons may go into five different special conditions: Confused, Asleep, Burned, Paralyzed and Poisoned. You normaly indicate these conditions with a combination of markers and card position. Because in our Virtual Playing Table you can only turn cards sideways to the right, there are two special conditions (Confused and Asleep) that need to be indicated differently, by using colored tokens instead of different card positions. We propose to use a green token over a tapped card to indicate that a Pokemon is Confused, and a red token over a tapped card to indicate that the Pokemon is Asleep. So the five states would be indicated as follows (blue tokens are used to indicate damage):
If a Pokemon suffers two compatible conditions at the same time, for example it is Confused and Burned, then you would place two special counters on it, for example two green tokens on a Pokemon that is both Confused and Burned.
Instructions specific to Battlestar Galactica CCG
Disposition of the cards at the beginning of a game:
Your cards are at to the right of the screen, just on top of your Hand.
They are located in the three existing decks:
- To the left, the Draw Deck contains initially all the cards in your deck, except for your base. You draw cards from this deck as needed.
- On the center, the Discard Pile is where you put all the cards you discard during play.
- To the right, the Removed from game deck contains initially just one card, your Base (as long as it was placed in the Base section of your deck when building it). At the beginning of each game you should take this card and place it on the Resource area. You need then to flip it face-up and then turn it sideways.
Instructions specific to Magic: The Gathering
Disposition of the cards at the beginning of a game:
- Your Library is located at the bottom right corner of the table.
- The cards in your sideboard, if your deck has that section, are initially located over the Cemetery in the "Removed from the game" area.
Instructions specific to Star Trek
Disposition of the cards at the beginning of a game:
- Your Dilemmas are located in your Dilemma Pile, on the left side of the table.
- Your Missions are initially placed in Discard Pile area, on the right border of the table.
Instructions specific to Legend of the Five Rings
Disposition of the cards at the beginning of a game:
- Your Destiny Deck and your Fate Deck should be already placed on their right position at both sides of your Provinces.
- Your Stronghold and initial Holdings are initially placed at the right of your hand. You want to move them to the playmat and flip them face up at the beginning of your game.
Instructions specific to A Game of Thrones
Disposition of the cards at the beginning of a game:
- Your Plot Deck should be already placed at the right margin of the table.
- Your House card and Agenda are initially placed at the left side of the table. You want to move them to the playmat and flip them face up at the beginning of your game.
Instructions specific to Conan CCG
Disposition of the cards at the beginning of a game.
If the deck you chose was correctly built, using the corresponding sections, then your cards are laid out the following way:
- Your Draw deck is placed on the right and your Foes are in the Foe deck on the left.
- Your Conan card is initially placed on the Discard Pile, to the right of you Draw Deck. You want to move it to the playmat and flip it face up at the beginning of your game.
Instructions specific to Naruto
Disposition of the cards at the beginning of a game.
If the deck you chose was correctly built, using the corresponding sections, then your cards are laid out the following way:
- Your Reinforcement deck is placed at the top right corner of your area of the table.
Instructions specific to Bleach TCG
Disposition of the cards at the beginning of a game.
If the deck you chose was correctly built, using the corresponding sections, then your cards are laid out the following way:
- Your Side deck cards are placed at the right of your Draw Deck.
- Your Guardian is placed to the left of your Draw Deck.
Instructions specific to Humankind
Disposition of the cards at the beginning of a game.
If the deck you chose was correctly built, using the corresponding sections, then your cards are laid out the following way:
- Your Sanctuary is located on your Zero Point deck cards are placed at the right of your Draw Deck.
- Your Virtue Cards are placed on their respective piles of number and faction.