Areas

The table is divided into areas: there is one shared area, and every player can have one of their own. This page is about how you switch between them, what you can do with somebody else’s, and how you protect your own.

The three areas

Area	Whose it is	What you can do with it
Shared	nobody’s, everybody’s	you work on it freely
Yours	yours	you work on it freely, and you can protect it from others
An opponent’s	theirs	you look at it; you can only take from it if they left it unprotected

The three rank equally: you switch to each of them the same way, and each of them has a camera position, a navigation and bookmarks of its own.

Switching between areas

• your own head, in the middle of the table band’s bottom wall: the first tap takes you to your own area, another one back to the shared one. While you are there the button is lit
• an opponent’s head, on the table band’s top wall: the first tap takes you to their area, another one back to the shared one. While you are there the button is lit

Tapping a head only focuses: it does not bring their hand in. An opponent’s hand has a gesture of its own (dragging down on their head), see Your hand → An opponent’s hand.

You can also get to an area you are looking towards, where there is a veil right now, with a long press: the veil itself is the button. Long press an empty part of the table (one that falls on no area’s frame) and it takes you back to the shared area; long press the veil of a curtained area and nothing happens.

Switching does not make the board jump, see The screen.

Your own area’s tabs

Your avatar sits on the left edge of your own area’s frame, with two tabs under it, in the same column. They belong to your area, so they show wherever the area is, and they move with the board rather than sitting on the toolbar.

From top to bottom:

Tab	Its name	What it does
shield	Protect Area	nobody else can take anything from your area
crossed out eye	Curtain	nobody sees what is in your area, not on the display either

A switched on tab is filled with your area’s colour, a switched off one is transparent. Press and hold and it prints its name.

Protect Area is on at the start.

::: tip If you cannot find the tabs, tap your own head first: they come with your area’s frame. :::

Protecting your hand and protecting your area are separate

This is one of the most important changes in v5: there are three separate switches, and each one is set independently of the others.

Switch	Where it is	What it protects
shield (Left hand protection)	on the left edge of the hand bar	the cards in your left hand
shield (Right hand protection)	on the right edge of the hand bar	the cards in your right hand
shield (Protect Area)	on your area’s tab	whatever lies in your area

“Protected” means the same in all three cases: nobody else can take from it. It is not hidden, they simply cannot reach it. All three are enforced by the server too, not only by the interface.

Hiding is a separate question, and the curtain handles that. The curtain hides it everywhere: on the other players’ phones, and on the shared table display as well. What stays in place of your area is a board painted in your own colour, with your avatar beside it, so that at least it is clear whose covered area it is.

Rotating an area

A whole area can be rotated too, in steps of 90 degrees (see Toolbar). Not everyone can rotate every area:

• your own area you can rotate freely
• the shared table, and an empty seat’s area, only the host can rotate
• another player’s occupied area nobody can rotate

The rotation is visible to everyone, on the other players’ phones and on the display, see The table.

What you can do with somebody else’s

Switching to an opponent’s area:

• you see what is on it (unless they drew the curtain)
• you can only take from it if their shield is off
• you can give, though: drop a card onto it, or drag it onto their head and the card flies over to them

A protected area appears dimmer on your side than one you can work with freely, so you can see at a glance where you can reach.