Prototypes: Component Designer and Virtual Table (beta)
What the Prototypes group does, who can use it, and how a design travels from the Component Designer to a Virtual Table room.
Last reviewed October 11, 2026
Prototypes is for designers who want to make a physical prototype and playtest it online from the same place. It holds two tools: the Component Designer, where you design cards, tiles, tokens, boards and boxes, and the Virtual Table, where you play them in a shared online room.
What this page helps you do
- Understand what each half of Prototypes does.
- Check whether your team and plan can use it.
- Follow a design from the editor to a playtest room.
- Find the right article for each task.
You'll start from the sidebar, where Prototypes is a collapsible group with a Beta badge.
Before you start
- Beta, rolling out to teams. Prototypes is switched on team by team. If you do not see Prototypes in your sidebar, your team is not in the rollout yet.
- Plan: Pathfinder plan and up. Adventurer teams see "Prototypes are a Pathfinder plan feature" with an Upgrade to Pathfinder button. Building a table with AI (Automate with AI) is Oracle and LaunchBoom only, with 50 builds per team per day.
- Roles: Collaborators cannot use the Component Designer or 3D Mockups. They see "Prototypes access restricted" instead of the library.
Open Prototypes
In the sidebar, open Prototypes. It expands to two items: Components and Virtual Table.
Helpful details
- Key areas: Components (
/home/components) is the library of everything your team has designed. Virtual Table (/home/virtual-table) is the list of your playtest rooms. - What you can do: Open either one, or create your first component or room right from its empty page.
- Good to know: Both pages answer "not found" for teams outside the beta rollout. That is expected, not a broken link.
The Component Designer, in short
The Component Designer is a page editor for printable game pieces. You pick a type (Card / Deck, Tile, Token, Board, Player Mat, Rulebook, Box or Sheet) and a size, then design on a page with bleed, cut and safe-zone guides.
Helpful details
- Key areas: The Data Merge panel turns one designed page (a master) and a table of rows into a whole deck. The Export dialog prints it at home, sends it to a print shop, or packs it for Tabletop Simulator.
- What you can do: Design once and let every card follow the master. Import a PDF, AI, PSD or SVG you already made. Draw your own shapes and score tracks.
- Good to know: Everything autosaves a couple of seconds after each change. See Create and manage components.
The Virtual Table, in short
The Virtual Table is a shared online tabletop. You build the table in edit mode (decks, dice, pieces, zones, seats, buttons), then invite players with a link or a room code. Guests join without an account.
Helpful details
- Key areas: The toolbar adds pieces, the Properties panel changes them, Share invites players, Log playtest saves the session under one of your games.
- What you can do: Deal, shuffle, draw and roll with everyone watching live. Build buttons that run several steps at once.
- Good to know: The page carries an Early preview badge. Rooms are saved to your team, so you can reuse a setup for the next session. See Virtual Table: rooms for online playtests.
How the two halves connect
The path from a design to a playtest has three stops.
- Design the deck in the Component Designer and generate the cards from the table.
- Open Export, pick Virtual table, then Render and send. The cards are rendered and saved with the component.
- In a room, add a Deck, open its properties and choose Import from a component. Pick your component and the deck fills with the cards and their back.
Helpful details
- Key areas: The Virtual table kind in the export dialog shows the last send ("On the table: 12 cards, sent 5 minutes ago") and an Open virtual table button.
- What you can do: Send again after changing the design. New decks pick up the new render.
- Good to know: The same render feeds the Cards from picker in 3D Mockups, so one send serves both. Full steps in Send a component to the Virtual Table.
Tips & common questions
Why do I see an upgrade screen instead of the library? Your team is on the Adventurer plan. Prototypes starts at Pathfinder. An admin can upgrade from Billing.
I am a Collaborator. Can I still play on the Virtual Table? The Component Designer and 3D Mockups are not available to Collaborators. The Virtual Table checks the team's plan, not your seat.
Does the Virtual Table need a Boardssey account for players? No. Guests join with a link or a room code and only type a name. They can play but not edit the table.
Is my work saved if the beta is switched off for my team? Components and rooms stay in your team's data. Only the pages are hidden while the flag is off.