Lobby, Rooms and Accounts
The lobby is the game's front door: it knows who you are, finds you a room, starts the match and keeps your record. This page covers the parts that live around the match. For the step-by-step flow into a game, see Connecting.
The lobby screen
The gold rail on the left is the whole menu:
| Key | What it opens |
|---|---|
| Play | The mode stage: Duel, Amphi, FFA, S&D. Pick one and find a room. FFA rooms hold 8 players, S&D rooms 10 (it starts from 2), Duel and Amphi 2 |
| Leaderboard | Skill rankings per mode, with separate Public and Private pools |
| Demos | Replays of recorded matches; see Demos |
| Profile | Your account and your ranked record |
| Settings | The settings screen; see HUD → Settings |
| Console | The developer console |
Below the keys the rail shows your name, and while you are on the Play stage it lists the rooms you can join and the room's chat.
Accounts
You never register. The first time a browser reaches the lobby it makes you an account and asks what to call yourself.
- Name. 2–16 characters: letters, numbers,
_and-. Names reserved for bots and new players (thePlayer_<number>style) are refused. Leaving the name empty keeps the one you were given. You can rename later from Profile. - Key. Your account's key is 24 characters, shown in groups of four. It is the only thing that proves the account is yours: type it into Use my key on the welcome screen, or on Profile, in any other browser and you are signed in as the same player, with the same record.
- Keep your key safe. The lobby only ever sees it when you log in, so nobody can recover it for you. Profile has Copy key and Save as file keys (and, where the browser allows it, Save in browser). Anyone who has it can play as you.
- Switching accounts. Profile also lets you play as someone else by entering a different key.
The lobby rate-limits account creation, wrong keys and renames per network address, so a burst of attempts will be refused for a while.
Rooms
Pressing the big action under a mode puts you in a room for that mode, either an open one with space or a new one. A Private room appears in no list, and the only way in is the invite link it gives you.
In a room you can:
- Vote for a map. Three maps are drawn from the mode's pool (only maps actually installed are offered, so there can be fewer than three); the most votes wins.
- Pick a side in a team mode, add bots in private rooms, and chat with the room.
- Ready up. When everyone is ready the lobby starts a dedicated game server for that match alone and hands your client a ticket for your seat.
See Connecting → In the Ready Room for the voting and bot rules.
When a match ends, Back to the lobby returns you to the same room, ready for a rematch.
Joining a match that has started
A room whose match is under way shows join if it has space and watch if it is full. See Connecting → Joining a match under way.
Ranked matches
Match records and skill ratings are separate. A recorded match can contribute gameplay totals and history without changing your rating. Profile history shows whether it was rated and explains exclusions.
| Pool | What counts toward its rating |
|---|---|
| Public | Eligible matches between verified human accounts; public rooms do not allow bots |
| Private | Eligible human matches and matches against verified standard bot presets |
Ratings are separate for each mode and pool. The system uses TrueSkill, which tracks both estimated skill and uncertainty, rather than a win-count ladder or classic Elo. Your displayed rating is a conservative estimate. It is marked Provisional until you have at least 10 rated matches and uncertainty is low enough; provisional players can appear after their first rated match.
The original roster, final standings and full-match participation must be verifiable. Late joins, side changes, interrupted participation and aborted matches can prevent a rating update. A supported 1v1 forfeit can still be rated. Custom bot configurations, unverified presets or bot configuration changes do not qualify. Standard preset bots have their own rating identities; playing them is not automatically an unrated practice session.
Participation is tied to the verified account through its seat ticket, not its display name. A direct server connection does not by itself guarantee a lobby record or rating. Check Profile history for the stored decision.
Leaderboard
Pick a mode and see its ranking:
- Public / Private: choose which independent ladder to read.
- 30 days / All time: choose the activity window; 30 days rolls continuously.
- Top 100: the whole list, with a search.
The top players are shown as a podium, and your own rank in every mode appears in the rail. Players are ordered by conservative skill rating; wins, losses, draws, games and win rate provide context. The 30-day view filters recent activity; it does not reset your skill rating every month. Public and private positions can differ, and an unrated account has no ladder position yet.
Profile
Profile shows your name and key, plus per-mode records for the selected Public or Private pool. It includes skill rating, provisional status, gameplay totals and match history, with rating changes or an explanation when a match was not rated. It is also where you rename yourself or switch accounts.
Where this lives
The lobby server, accounts and the result store are part of the engine (src/lobby/ in the engine repo); the screens are in this repo's client/ (LobbyPanel.ts, ProfileView.ts, LeaderboardView.ts, WelcomeOverlay.ts).