the biggest issue with Play & Go...

[Scythian]

... is getting the damn thing started.

the whole point of play and go is that it's asynchronous; you should be able to have a ton of them going at the same time, taking turns when you can without time pressure.

as long as P&G games use the P&S system (require all players present at inception) *they aren't going to happen*.

spawn the game, and allow players to check "interested / not interested" to register a slot without being in the game / lobby, and then start it when the desired player count is reached.

[Warduke]

Agreed, this is beyond silly and is hurting the player count. Hard enough to talk people into buying a game and then hitting a stumbling block like this just makes guys bounce off of it.

[Jerosa]

Totally agree.
Warduke. After playing the solo online, I convinced two of the players in my game group to buy the game. Then, I found out about this issue.
I had to schedule conference calls to start the games. Once started, we found out that under certain circumstances it was your turn, but you didn't know it. We ended the last batch of games in April - and no one spoke to me for a month about playing any more.
It is one thing spend your money on a less than pleasant experience.
It is quite another to convince your friends to do the same.

I have made several entries about this in the discussions and even contacted the company.
Another Epic Fail.

[mike.ibeji]

Agree absolutely.
My gaming buddies and I are avid Scythe players, but we simply can't get everyone together at the same time to get an online game started - so we simply don't play online any more.

By contrast, I have lost count of the number of Lords of Waterdeep games we have played, because it's so simple to get an asynchronous game started. So it's clearly possible, but the devs don't seem to care enough to make it happen.

[VanHlebar]

Originally posted by mike.ibeji:

Agree absolutely.
My gaming buddies and I are avid Scythe players, but we simply can't get everyone together at the same time to get an online game started - so we simply don't play online any more.

By contrast, I have lost count of the number of Lords of Waterdeep games we have played, because it's so simple to get an asynchronous game started. So it's clearly possible, but the devs don't seem to care enough to make it happen.

This ^^^^^^ I haven't played a single Play and Go game of Scythe, but I have played 100s of both Lords of Waterdeep and Through the Ages which I feel are two of the BEST examples of starting games online.

This would appear to be a really simple fix, but I have also read that Asmodee specifically doesn't like to see implemenations that way because they rather "hope" to encourage folks to get online and play together. That seems to be working perfectly here. :)

[Edgar Grolles]

TOTALLY AGREE !!!!!

[rleduc123]

We hardly ever play this game because trying to start a four or five player game has been nearly impossible due to this restriction. It's getting to the point where I'd tell people this game is a waste of money unless you all plan to set a time to play synchronously.

[VanHlebar]

Sadly I have to say that after 3 yrs I have given up on this. I don't see this ever changing and I agree with you. I rarely play this game due to this. I do enjoy a single player game every so often but it's frankly been a waste of money.

Oh well live and learn.