Gaming Events: LobsterConnect can manage schedules for many different events (conventions, gaming days, evenings etc.). The main screen shows the name of the currently selected event, and the table below it shows all the gaming sessions at that event. It only shows sessions for that one event, so if you want to look at sessions for a different event, you need to switch events.

To pick an event, tap the event name above the schedule table (or tap the 'hamburger' symbol at the top left to open the main app menu, and pick the 'Change Event' option)F. The popup will show the list of events that you can switch between. When you switch to a different event, you will see the gaming sessions planned for that event.

There will always be a 'TEST Convention' event, which you can select if you just want to mess around with the app, and see how to propose sessions, sign up to play games, or manage a wish-list of games. In addition to this, the list includes any LoB gaming events (such as LoBsterCon conventions) that are happening now, or being planned. To select a gaming event, choose it from the list, and then tap OK. To make no change to your choice of current event, tap Cancel.

People: You can view the schedule of planned games without logging in to the app, but if you want to propose gaming sessions, or join existing sessions, or flag games that you'd like to play, you'll need to sign in. Tap the 'person' icon at the top right of the page to log in or set up a new user name ('user handle') and password. We will store this information in our on-line database so we can manage game sign-ups for you. You can also enter more information if you like (full name, phone number and email address); this information will be visible to other people. Refer to our data handling and deletion policy to learn how we will handle your information.

To see information about other people, choose the 'List People' option from the main menu. In the popup, tap the drop-down item next to the 'Choose a person' label, and select the handle of the person you'd like to examine. Next to the email address and phone numbers are buttons you can use to copy them, to make it easier for you to contact other gamers.

Sessions: A gaming session or just session is the term used in this app for a specific proposal for some group of people to play a certain game at a particular time at the current gaming event. A session is proposed by a particular person (called the proposer or sometimes the organiser) who might or might not actually be planning to join the session. So sessions are used to make a definite commitment to play some game; if you want to make a more general indication of interest in playing some game, you might instead look at 'wish-list/would like to play', below.

The sessions already proposed for this gaming event are shown in the schedule occupying the main part of the screen; to see details of an existing session, tap on it. A popup window will appear; the top section wll show the game name, start time, proposer name and BGG link. Below that, are the chat link, notes and session state. If you're the proposer of the session, you'll see buttons on the right hand side that you can use to change these elements (admin users can also make changes even if they aren't the proposer).

The chat link (if the proposer has set one up) will take you to a BGG Geek List entry, Wix page or WhatsApp chat for discussing signups to this gaming session. The notes text is for any additional information that the proposer chooses to include - for instance indicating whether inexperienced players are welcome and a teach will be provided initially.

The session's state is one of OPEN, FULL or ABANDONED. OPEN means that further players are welcome to join, FULL means that the gaming session is going ahead with the players who have already signed up, and ABANDONED means the session isn't happening after all. Note that the state is not set automatically. In principle, in some cases it could be updated automatically by referencing the minimum/maximum/current player counts for the session, but an automated rule would sometimes do something stupid. Therefore state can be changed only by the person proposing the session.

If you're the organiser of a session, you should set it to FULL once you don't want any more players, and you should then keep an eye on it in case someone drops out (because in that case you might want to switch it back to OPEN).

Below this, is the button for signing up to the session. The button will show a list of the people already signed up; tap on the button to sign up (or if you're already signed up, to cancel your sign-up). Next to this button there is 'share link' button; if you want to share details of this session with another LobsterConnect user, tap this button to obtain a suitable 'deep link'. The person receiving such a link will be able to open it by just tapping on it, or by using the 'Open Link' option from the app's main menu.

Additionally, if you're the organiser, you'll have the option of removing other people's sign-ups. There could be good reasons for wanting to remove someone else's sign-up, but obviously you should, as a matter of courtesy, contact the person whose sign-up you're cancelling.

If you want to propose a session yourself, tap on an empty area of the schedule screen or tap the '+' button in the menu bar, and you will be prompted to supply further information, starting with the game that you're proposing. The app comes with a list of popular games, but if your chosen game isn't on the list,there's an option to add a game (take care to enter the correct Board Game Geek URL, because it's hard to change this after the game is added - you can, if you want, just add BGG's ID number for the game, nd the app will figure out the rest of the URL for you).

There are numeric controls to set the minimum and maximum number of players that you want to include in this session. Note that these are informational only - the app won't enforce these limits, though it will show a warning if they are violated. Once you've entered this information, tap the 'OK' button to proceed, and create the session. You'll then be prompted to add notes if you like. Use this to specify any extra information, for instance for instance time commitment, or a mention of whether inexperienced players are welcome and a teach will be provided initially. The LoBsterCon organisers have written a detailed guide to the 'Pre-Game' which suggests various points that players should agree on before playing. See the lobstercon.uk website, under 'More Info/The Pre-Game'.

You'll then be given the opportunity to link to a chat for discussing sign-ups for this session. For a BGG Geek List link, just paste it from your web browser; for Wix use the 'share' button to get a link; for a WhatsApp link, set up a new group (or use an existing one that you own) and copy the 'invitation to group via link' link from it, and paste it into the popup in LobsterConnect. You don't have to provide a chat link, and it's up to you whether you set up a single chat for all the games you're organising, or one chat per game - or perhaps you'd just want people to use the general WhatsApp 'Game Organisation' chat set up by LoB.

Finally the app will ask whether you want to sign up yourself; usually you'll want to answer YES, but it is quite OK to propose a session that you're not planning to participate in.

Would like to play/Wish-List: If there's a game you're hoping to play, you can add it to your 'would like to play' wish-list. You'll be able to see whether any other people have also listed it as 'would like to play', so you can see whether it's worth trying to organise a session.

Tap the '*' button in the menu bar to access your 'would like to play' wish-list. If there are any games already on your wish-list, you'll see them listed in the window; if no games are listed it means you haven't got any games on your wish-list to play at this event.

Each game in the list will, next to the game name, show any comments you've added, and then a button with one or more *s on it. The number of *s indicates how many people have indicated that that would like to play this game. Tap on the button with the *s to take various actions, such as removing the game from your wish-list, updating your comment, seeing details of the people who also want to play this game, or to proposing a session to play the game.

To put a game onto your wish-list, tap the 'Add a Game I'd Like to Play' button; a popup will appear, in which you can choose a game to add. You can also add notes; you might for instance want to say whether you own a copy of the game, or you believe there's one in the library, or you're counting on some one else to provide one.

The popup includes an Import/Export button that you can use to manage a list of games (in a message or document perhaps) for your wish-list. This can be helpful because your wish-list is specific to one gaming event (depending on the event, you might be hoping to play different games) - but you may want to keep a list of games ready in a document so you can paste them in to set up your event wish-list, when a new gaming event is announced.

Games: Explore the list of games by choosing the 'List Games' item from the main menu. To select one of the games from the list, scroll the list (the games are in alphabetical order) or enter some text into the filter box above it, and tap on a game to select it. When you select a game, you're offered the option to add it to your 'would like to play' wish list, or to propose a session to play it.

Using the radio buttons, you can change what games will be listed - it can be all games, or only the games that have been proposed at the current event, or only the games that appear on someone's wish-list ('would like to play' games) at this event.

Normally the main window display shows a schedule of all the gaming sessions for the current event. That's either in the form of a table, or a vertical list of sessions by time - depending on the setting of the 'layout' control at the bottom right of the window. You can use the filter button to restrict the set of sessions shown, if you're looking for something in particular.

You can filter to select only sessions proposed by a paricular person (you'll always find your own name at the top of the list, labelled '[Me:]'). Or you can filter according to the game name, or according to whether a particular person is signed up to play, or according to the state (often you'd want to look only for sessions that are OPEN). There's also an option to filter so you see only games that are on your personal 'would like to play' wish-list.

Please take a look at the FAQ. Also, you can contact me by email at lobsterconnect@turnipsoft.co.uk or by using the 'support' item on the main menu in the app.