Virtual Table: rooms for online playtests
Create a Virtual Table room, know its limits, and learn what you can do inside before inviting players.
Last reviewed October 11, 2026
This article is for designers who want to playtest online without mailing a prototype. The Virtual Table gives you shared rooms where you build a tabletop and play it live with others.
What this page helps you do
- Create, open, share and delete rooms.
- Know what a room can hold.
- See what you need before building and inviting.
You'll start from Prototypes > Virtual Table in the sidebar (/home/virtual-table).
Before you start
- Beta, rolling out to teams. The page carries an Early preview badge. If Prototypes is missing from your sidebar, your team is not in the rollout yet.
- Plan: Pathfinder plan and up. Teams without it see "Virtual Table is a Pathfinder plan feature" with Upgrade to Pathfinder. Building a table with AI (Automate with AI) is Oracle and LaunchBoom only, 50 builds per team per day.
- Roles: Collaborators cannot use the Component Designer or 3D Mockups. The Virtual Table checks the team's plan.
Create a room
The page reads "Playtest your games online with a shared virtual tabletop". With no rooms yet, an intro card carries the New room button; later it moves to the page header.
- Click New room.
- Type a Room name (for example "Playtest, Monday night") and an optional Description.
- Click Create room. The room opens.
Helpful details
- Key areas: The intro's list, "What you'll be able to do", names rooms, drag-and-drop pieces, realtime play, automations, playtest logging and .pcio import.
- What you can do: Start with a blank table and add cards, decks, dice, boards and tokens inside.
- Good to know: The intro marks ".pcio import" as "Coming in the next update", but Import .pcio already works inside a room in edit mode (see Build a table).
Manage your rooms
Each room in the list shows its name, description and when it was created or updated.
Helpful details
- Key areas: Open enters the room. Copy link copies the share link. Delete asks "Delete this room?" and then removes the room and everything on it.
- What you can do: Keep one room per game, or per test group, and reuse the setup.
- Good to know: Deleting a room cannot be undone.
Know the limits
A room is generous but not endless.
Helpful details
- Key areas: 2000 widgets per room (a widget is any piece, deck, zone, note or button), 500 cards per deck, 150 steps per button, 1500 drawings on the table.
- What you can do: Upload images as PNG, JPEG, WebP or GIF, 5 MB or smaller each.
- Good to know: A deck that reaches 500 cards says "A deck can hold up to 500 cards." A table full of drawings asks you to erase some before drawing more.
What happens inside a room
Inside, the toolbar runs along the top. Edit switches on edit mode, where you add and arrange pieces. Share invites players. Link a game ties the room to one of your games. Log playtest saves the session.
Helpful details
- Key areas: The status shows Live when connected and Reconnecting… when not. The table pauses while reconnecting so nothing is lost.
- What you can do: Changes save on their own; the save status shows Saved, Saving... or Unsaved.
- Good to know: Each task has its own article: Build a table, Buttons and automations, Invite players, Log a playtest from a room.
Tips & common questions
Do my players need Boardssey accounts? No. Guests join with a link or room code and type a name. See Invite players.
Can I bring in a room from playingcards.io? Yes. Inside a room, turn on Edit and use Import .pcio. It replaces the whole table, so do it in a fresh room.
Why do I see an upgrade screen? Your team is on Adventurer. The Virtual Table starts at Pathfinder; an admin can upgrade from Billing.
Is the Virtual Table finished? It is an early preview under active development. Expect new widgets and automations over time; this article describes what works today.