The table

This page is about what the display shows of the playing area: how big the table is, what is visible on it, and what deliberately stays on the phones.

The table surface

The table is a dark green, GreenCloth patterned surface, always 16:9, and always centred on the screen. Its size follows the game: big enough for every container to fit on it with a little to spare. If a game holds little content, it still does not go below a minimum size.

If a new container lands on the table during the game, or an area moves, the surface follows, and the camera re-fits to it by itself. See Camera.

Areas

The same areas are visible as on the phone:

• the shared table, which is everybody’s
• every player’s own area, framed in the player’s colour, with their avatar in its corner
• the empty seats, if the game is set for more players than are sitting down

Where the areas sit on the table is not the display’s business: the party’s host sets that on their phone, and the display only follows.

Containers and cards

Piles, rows, grids and stacks look exactly as they do on the phone, only bigger. Every card on the table is visible on the display too, in the position it is in: what lies picture up is face up, what lies back up is face down.

The display always picks the best quality image the zoom warrants, so the text on the cards stays readable on a large TV too.

Rotated containers and areas

If somebody rotates a container or a whole area on their phone, it appears rotated on the display too: the rotation shows up as immediately as any other gesture. A rotated area still fits on the table in full: the size of the table surface, and the place of that area’s hand strip at the edge, follow the area’s actual, rotated extent rather than where it was before the rotation.

The display’s own camera does not rotate, only what it shows.

Moving cards

When somebody is dragging a card or a whole container on their phone, the movement can be followed on the display too: the card moves in place while it is being dragged, rather than jumping to its target only when it is released.

So the people around the table see who is doing what, without looking at anybody’s phone.

What is not on the table

• the players’ hands, not by default: they have a page of their own, Hand strips
• the contents of the box, never: that stays on the phone
• the selection: what somebody selected on their phone is their own business
• the navigation arrows, bookmarks and toolbars: those belong to the phone
• the contents of an area behind the curtain, see below

The curtain covers on the display too

If a player draws the curtain across their area, their area disappears on the display as well: the cards, the piles, every container covered, and the area’s place is filled by a single plain board painted in the player’s colour, with the crossed out eye mark in the middle of it.

The covering is the same as what the others see on their phones, and that is deliberate: the curtain should mean one thing everywhere, or it would not be worth drawing. It applies to your own area too: the display is a shared screen that everyone around the table looks at, and there is no “mine” there.

What does show from under the covering:

• the area’s place and shape, painted in the player’s colour
• the avatar stuck to its edge
• their hand strip at the edge of the screen, if the hand strips are switched on

So you can see whose area it is, just not what is on it. As soon as the player lets the curtain back, the area reappears in an instant.

An area’s shield is a different question: it governs who can reach into the area, not who can see it. The display shows a protected area just as openly.