# Tutorial: how to play a game Ten minutes with the player: pick a game, play it against the computer, read the rules while you play, then play the same game with friends by link. Nothing to install; everything runs in the browser. ## 1. Pick a game Open the [games page](https://tabletwin.com/games/) (or the player itself: without a game chosen it starts with a picker). Every card shows a picture of the game's table, who it is for and two buttons: **Play** opens the game straight away, **How to play** opens its page with the rules in plain words, the course of a game as a track and a flowchart. Not sure where to start? **Tic-tac-toe** is three taps; **Seedbed** (tiles) and **Yahtzee** (dice) are quick; **Ashmoor Delve** and **Bellwake** are our own campaigns with cards and a board. ## 2. The play screen Press **Play**. The computer takes the other seats; the screen has three parts: | Part | What it shows | |---|---| | The question | Where you are in the game (*Round 2 › Your turn*), a tip the first time something new happens, and **Your turn** with one line that says what to do. On a wide screen it sits beside the table, so the table never moves; on a phone it is a sheet at the bottom. While the others move it is one steady line: who moved and what they did | | The table | The board, piles, your hand and the other players as cards, tiles, dice and dials. Only what your seat may see: other players' hands are card backs | | **All options as buttons** | Fold it open when you would rather read the options as a list; the same choices as on the table | **Choosing** happens on the table: whatever you may choose lights up. - A card: drag it onto the table, or tap it. When one card can be used in several ways (its top half or a basic attack), a small menu opens next to the card. - Several cards in one turn (Ashmoor Delve: two cards a round): each card you pick lifts out of your hand with its number. Tap a lifted card to put it back; the last one waits for **Ready** (the ✓ on the card, or the button beside your picks), so the set can still change. - A square or cell: tap it. - A piece with several moves: tap it first (its targets light up), then the target, or drag it there. - Hold a card to see it large; on a computer, hovering is enough. When it is not your turn, the computer's moves are played back one at a time: cards glide from the deck to a hand or onto the table, pieces walk across the map, dice tumble. **Skip** (or Escape) jumps to your turn. **What happened since your last move** lists it all in words, so you never miss a move made while you looked away. The table makes sounds: a card sliding, dice rattling, a piece set down, a chime when it is your turn. The 🔊 button turns sound (and vibration on phones) off and on; the browser remembers it. Some games tell a story while you play (Ashmoor Delve does): a passage opens like a page of a book at the start, when a scenario begins or something big happens, and at the end. **Read aloud** reads it with your browser's own voices, by itself if you like; and such a game may have music. In those games 🔊 opens a small menu: table sounds, music and its volume, reading aloud, the voice and the speed. **📖 Story** above your turn shows the last passage again. On a phone the table comes first and the question sits in a sheet at the bottom of the screen; **☰** with the game's name opens the game, players and New game. ## 3. Rules while you play Three buttons sit next to the game's name: - **Rules** opens the rules in plain words, with two more tabs: **Flowchart** (every step, loop and branch of the game as a chart) and **Track** (the same as a rail track, with your current position marked). The track in the left column follows the game live. - **Flow** jumps to the track. - **Details** switches to the details view: every zone and value, also hidden ones, and the full history with a slider to step back and forth. That is for studying a game or a model; while you play for real, leave it on **Play view**, where hidden things stay hidden. **3D** shows the same table in three dimensions, with the controls of Tabletop Simulator: the left button plays (tap a card, drag it onto the table, drag a piece to its square) and, on the empty table, grabs the table to move it; the right button turns the camera, the wheel zooms, the arrow keys or WASD move and Q/E turn, and hovering a card shows it large. On a phone, one finger plays or moves the table and two fingers turn and zoom. Counters look like they would on a table: a score track with a cube that hops along it, hearts or pips, stacks of coins, a dial. A game's view chooses the kind ([views](https://tabletwin.com/docs/views/)). ## 4. New game, other players, other games - **New game** restarts with fresh seats; the **Players** box chooses who plays which seat: you, or a computer player (*random moves* for a quick game, the game's *tactic* for a real opponent). - The **Game** box switches to another game; **Watch** lets the computer play both sides so you can see the game go before you play it yourself. - **Leave the game** ends your game; then start a new one or choose another game. The **Game** box can be changed at any time. - **Undo** (next to *Your turn*) takes back your last move, with whatever the computer did after it. A game is the same every time from the same start and the same answers, so nothing else changes. - Close the page in the middle of a game and it **continues** where you were the next time you open that game in this browser. - When a game is over, **Copy replay link** gives a link that replays your whole game, move by move, for whoever opens it. ## 5. Playing with friends Press **Play online** (on the game's page or in the player). Choose for every seat: **Me**, **Someone else** or a computer player, and open the table. Every seat gets its own link: send it to the person who plays that seat. The game then runs on our server, so hidden cards stay hidden from the other browsers; everyone sees only what their seat may see, and the page updates as soon as someone moves. A seat's link also works for an AI agent through the MCP connector `https://tabletwin.com/mcp`, see [playing online](https://tabletwin.com/docs/online/). When the game is over, **Play again** starts a new game with the same party: everyone keeps their link and is taken to the new table. Tables are removed 30 days after the last move. ## 6. Your own game A game you build in the [workshop](https://tabletwin.com/docs/workshop/) shows up in the player's **Game** box as an extra game, with everything above: play against the computer, 3D, rules in words, the track. Playing online works for the games on the games page. Next: [build a game](https://tabletwin.com/docs/tutorial-build/).