Help & support
How can we help?
Answers to the questions new players ask most — and how to reach us if yours is not here.
How do I…?
Short walkthroughs for every part of BoardGrid.
The getting started checklist
- New to BoardGrid? A "Getting started" card on your dashboard walks you through the first four things to do: join a group, add a game, log a play and RSVP to a game night.
- Each step expands with a short how-to and a button that takes you straight to the right screen.
- Steps tick themselves off as you do them for real, and the card disappears on its own once all four are done.
- Prefer to explore alone? Hide it with the small cross; you can bring it back from this Help page any time.
Groups, invites and organisers
- Create a group from your dashboard — you become its organiser.
- There are two ways in. Organisers can create an invite link from the Members tab: by default it lasts 24 hours and can be used once, so it is safe to send to one person. There is also an option to create a 24 hour link that up to 25 people can use, handy to share at a game night. Anyone opening a live link joins immediately; if they do not have an account yet they sign in, set up their profile, and are then taken straight into the group without needing the link again.
- Everyone else finds the group on the Find a group page and taps "Request to join". Organisers approve or decline requests from the Members tab.
- New members can browse straight away but cannot log plays or edit games for their first 6 days, so organisers have time to remove anyone who should not be there. If an organiser knows a new member plays with the group in person, they can lift that wait early from the member's menu in the Members tab.
- Organisers can edit the group, list or unlist it, promote a member to organiser, and remove a member — all from the Members tab.
- Everything inside a group is members only. Someone without a membership sees just the name, description and location, and a game night link they are sent will not open until they join; removing a member cuts off their access straight away.
Adding and tidying games by hand
- Use "Add a game" on My Collection for anything not in your BGG export.
- A BoardGameGeek ID is required so stats for the same game join up across the group — use the "Search BGG" link beside the title to find it.
- Copies of the same game are matched by that BGG ID, so the group shelf and game night voting show one row per game with an avatar for every member who owns a copy.
- Learning curve follows the BGG weight: Easy under 2, Medium 2–2.99, Hard 3–3.99, Very hard 4 and above.
- The three dot menu on a game lets you edit or remove it, and the duplicate merger tidies up repeated titles after an import.
- Rules summaries are written from the Rules button on a game, not the game form. Your summary is yours, so it shows on any copy of that game; if another member of the group has written one too, the dialog lets you tap between each member's notes.
Scheduling a game night
- Organisers schedule game nights from the Game nights tab. Give it a title, a date (past dates are not allowed), a start time and a location.
- Add a map link so members can tap the location and get directions — the group's usual venue link is reused automatically.
- The three dot menu on a game night lets an organiser duplicate it — the title, time and location carry over and you just pick the new date — or delete it.
- Members RSVP and vote on games from the group shelf, and can leave comments on the night. A "Vote for games" button under the RSVP options jumps you straight to the voting list. The voting list has the same search and filters as the Collection tab, with a "Load more" button for large shelves.
Logging plays and scores
- Log a play from the Plays tab, or straight from a game on the group shelf. You can also log one from the Me page — a "Which group did you play with?" dropdown lets you save it to one of your groups, or keep it personal.
- Choose individual, teams, co-operative, or campaign for legacy and campaign games where nobody wins or loses. Any date works, so you can log a night afterwards.
- No scores? Tap the trophy beside a player, or beside a team in team mode, to mark them as the winner; wins and win rates count it just the same.
- Every play card shows a trophy beside the winner: the highest score, a marked winner, everyone when a co-op is won, or the winning team header in team mode.
- A campaign session asks only who played and, if you like, the chapter or scenario you reached. It counts towards play totals, trends and most played games, but is left out of wins and win rates.
- Add guests who are not members yet — their results still count and can be claimed later.
- The Plays tab shows the most recent plays with a "Load older plays" button for the rest; tap "Search & filter" to search a game title or filter by players at the table, date range, play mode, winner, co-op result, venue or who logged the play, across your whole history.
- The three dot menu on a play lets whoever logged it edit or delete it, and anyone can comment.
Claiming a guest's history
- When you join a group that already logged plays with guests, a prompt appears on the group page.
- The prompt goes away by itself once you have been logged in a play in that group, or once every guest name has been claimed; there is nothing to dismiss.
- You can also claim at any time from the Members tab: the Guests list shows every guest with their play count, and a "This is me" link on each one moves that history onto your account.
- Claim your guest name and every past play, score and win moves onto your profile, along with any games you contributed as a guest; those stop being shared games and become yours.
- If a shared group game matches one already in your collection, BoardGrid offers to merge the two so stats stay together.
Reading your stats
- Group stats cover wins and win rates, most played games, monthly trends, venues and team or co-op results. Campaign sessions count as plays but never affect win rates.
- The Me tab and My stats page show your own H-index, win rate, favourite player counts and how you fare with and against each member.
- Every summary tile is clickable — it takes you to the play, game or leaderboard behind the number.
- On the Game performance table, tap a column icon to sort by time played, plays, win rate or player count; tap again to reverse the order.
- Head to head shows the win–loss record between each pair of players in games one of them won; team-mates are never counted against each other.
- Versatility counts how many different games a player has won at least once, so adapting across titles counts for as much as mastering one.
- Whose games get played shows how much table time each member's collection is getting: their plays, how many of their games have been played, and their share of the group's plays. When several members own the same game the play counts for each of them, so the shares can add up past 100%; games the group owns collectively are listed together as "Group-owned".
- Attendance streaks count consecutive weeks with at least one play, with your current run, your best ever and your total weeks played. A current streak stays alive through this week and last.
- On My Insights, Win rate by player count shows how your form shifts between two-player duels and a full table.
Your profile, avatar and dark mode
- Set your display name and pick an avatar from the Me tab — it shows beside your name in plays and member lists across every group.
- Change your name and every past play, game, leaderboard entry and comment updates to match straight away; there is nothing to fix by hand.
- BoardGrid follows your device's light or dark setting unless you choose one yourself.
- Tap your avatar in the top right of any page for your account menu: edit your profile, jump to My Insights or My Collection, switch between light and dark, or log out.
Using BoardGrid at the table
- Install BoardGrid to your home screen and it opens full screen like a normal app.
- Groups and plays you have already viewed stay readable without signal, and plays you log offline sync as soon as you are back online.
- On weak WiFi a save that stalls for more than ten seconds is kept on your device instead of hanging on "Saving…"; you will see a note that it will sync once signal returns.
Tracking your collection on BoardGameGeek
The quickest way to fill your BoardGrid shelf — mark your games as owned on BGG, export them, and import the file here.
New to BoardGameGeek?
- BoardGameGeek (boardgamegeek.com) is a free database of nearly every board game ever made. Create a free account to start tracking the games you own.
Mark a game as owned
- Search for the game on BoardGameGeek and open its page.
- Click "Add to".
- In the pop-up, tick the "Own" checkbox.
- Click Save. Repeat for each game you own.
Export your collection
- Click your profile in the top right, then click Collection.
- In the top right of your collection there is a download option — "all | owned". Click "owned".
- Click the message icon in the top right; you will have a new notification.
- Open the latest message and use its link to download your collection file.
Import it into BoardGrid
- Open your My Collection page in BoardGrid and upload the file you downloaded.
- Only games marked as owned are imported, and titles, player counts, playing times and learning curve are filled in for you.
- Re-import any time to refresh your shelf with new games.
Frequently asked questions
Get in touch
Stuck on something, or spotted a bug? Email us and we will come back to you.
hello@boardgrid.appSee what it does
Browsing before you sign up? The features page walks through collections, voting and group stats.
Explore the featuresLooking for a group?
Search publicly listed groups by town or venue and join with their invite code.
Find a group