Dustin's Designer Den
Now in Active Beta

The Playtesting Platform
Built for Board Game Designers

Stop waiting for package deliveries to find out if your game works. Build your component library, run live multiplayer sessions with anyone anywhere, and collect structured feedback — all before you print a single card. No physical prototype. No shipping. No account required for your testers.

No credit card required • Free forever plan available

Want free Pro access?

We're offering free Pro upgrades to active beta testers. If you're a TGC designer or have a game ready to test, we especially want to hear from you.

Sign up and apply for Beta Access →

Just here to play a game?

No account needed

Browse community game setups and host a live session instantly. If you play a designer's game, leave them feedback so they can keep improving it.

Browse community setups
Real-Time
Multiplayer tabletop
No Account
Required for testers
2 Projects
On the free plan
TGC Ready
One-click import

From Idea to Live Playtest

Set up a playtest session faster than it takes to print a prototype.

1

Build or Import

Start from scratch or bring what you already have. Drop in a CSV to bulk-load an existing design, or sync your project directly from The Game Crafter — components, images, and pricing in one click Pro.

2

Design & Analyze

Every card, die type, token, and board lives in one library. Edit inline, watch live production costs update as you design, and run probability checks on your distributions without opening a spreadsheet.

3

Playtest Live

Open a multiplayer room. Share a 6-character code. Your testers click a link — no download, no account needed — and you're playing together in seconds.

4

Iterate & Ship

Tester feedback lands straight in your project dashboard Pro. See what broke, what lit up the table, and where balance fell apart — then export polished component sheets as PDFs or CSVs Pro to pitch publishers or share with backers.

Flagship Feature

A Real Tabletop,
In the Browser

Not a slide deck. Not a shared image. A live, fully interactive tabletop where every component from your project becomes a game piece your testers can actually touch. Drag, flip, shuffle, draw, roll — everything synced the instant it happens. No app. No download. Just a link.

Live tabletop in the browser

Every Move, Instantly Live

Zero-lag real-time sync powered by WebSockets. Your tester on the other side of the world sees the card flip the moment you release it. Live cursors show exactly who's touching what.

Square & Hex Grid Overlay

Project a square or hex grid onto any board. Configure cell size to match your design, then toggle grid snapping on or off per session — place tiles precisely or freeform as needed.

Fluent Tabletop Controls

Keyboard shortcuts, right-click context menus, multi-select, rotate, flip, stack, deal, shuffle — the full vocabulary of physical tabletop interaction, in the browser. Touch-optimized too: tap, drag, pinch-to-zoom, and long-press multi-select work on phones and tablets. No learning curve.

Named Zones with Behaviors

Draw named areas anywhere on the table, then give them a type that defines how they behave:

  • Hidden— objects inside are invisible to anyone who hasn't joined the zone. Perfect for face-down draw piles or secret vaults.
  • Hand— anything dropped in automatically moves to the joined player's private hand. Zero friction card dealing.
  • Random— right-click to shuffle all objects inside to random positions. Great for market rows, tile drafts, or randomized setups.

Snap Points & Snap Tags

Place snap points anywhere on the table — components lock to the nearest one on drop. The real power is Snap Tags: tag a snap point and a component with the same label, and that component will only snap to matching points. Resource cards only land on resource slots. Unit tokens only fill unit spaces. The ruleset is enforced by the table itself.

True Hidden Information

Private hand dock keeps each player's cards invisible to everyone else — just like a real table. Test deduction mechanics, hidden roles, and hand management without workarounds.

Mobile-Ready Tabletop

Testers can join from any device. The room is touch-optimized: pinch-to-zoom, tap-to-select, one-finger pan, and long-press multi-select. A floating action bar replaces keyboard shortcuts on phones — no app, no setup.

No Manual Scaling Needed. Ever.

Set a component's physical dimensions once and the tabletop handles the rest — a poker card renders at poker card size, a 1″ token at 1″. Import from The Game Crafter and it's all set automatically. No fiddling with sizes per session, no guessing how components will feel relative to each other. What you see at the table is what your players will hold.

Multiple Saved Table Setups Pro

Save multiple named layouts per project — a 2-player setup, a 4-player setup, a solo mode. Every new session loads directly from the saved state you choose, zones, snap points, and all. Stop rebuilding the table every single time.

Testers need zero setup

No account. No download. No onboarding email. Share a 6-character room code — your testers click a link and they're sitting at your table, touching your components, in seconds.

Three Ways to Playtest

Not every playtest looks the same. Sometimes you need to be in the room. Sometimes the best data comes from stepping out of it entirely.

Live Group Session

Your full game, live in a browser, with any group anywhere in the world. Share a 6-character code — your testers click a link and they're at the table. No account, no download, no onboarding. Every move syncs to every player the instant it happens.

  • Real-time sync for all players
  • Private hands per player
  • Live cursors & action log

Blind Playtesting

Set up a public demo room, share the link, and step away. Testers play your game entirely on their own — no instructions from you, no guidance, no designer in the room. You get feedback on what the game is actually like to discover cold.

  • No designer involvement needed
  • Unbiased, unguided first impressions
  • Feedback forms & analytics sent to your dashboard Pro

Publisher & Convention Demos Pro

Save your table setup as a named demo and share it as a permanent public link. Publishers can try your game on their own schedule. Convention audiences and crowdfunding fans can play on demand — no appointment, no you required.

  • Permanent shareable link
  • Always-on, no scheduling needed
  • Every new session starts from your saved layout

Component Library

Cards, tokens, dice, boards, rulebooks, packaging — all in one place with inline editing

Probability Tools Pro

Is that mechanic actually balanced — or just feels balanced? Free calculators cover dice roll odds and card draw chances. Pro runs those numbers directly against your imported custom dice and deck configurations.

Cost Tracking

Live component cost totals updated as you design. Know your production budget at every iteration

TGC Import Pro

Pull your entire Game Crafter project in a single click. Components, images, and pricing all sync automatically

PDF & CSV Exports Pro

Generate professional component sheets to share with publishers, manufacturers, or Kickstarter backers

Print & Play Maker Pro

Turn your component library into a print-and-play PDF — correct sizes, cut lines, bleed marks, auto-packed pages. Save layouts and regenerate after every artwork update.

Design Tools

Everything to Manage
Your Game's Design

Your component library is your single source of truth. Every card, die face, token, and board in one place. Edit inline, import from CSV or TGC, and get a live cost total as you design.

Free probability tools cover dice roll odds and card draw chances — enough to catch obvious balance problems before you sit down to play. Go Pro and run those same calculations directly against your actual imported dice configurations, with the custom faces your players will see at the table.

Analytics & Feedback

Stop Guessing.
Know What Works.

A feedback button is always available during or after a session. Testers fill out a structured form whenever they want — ratings, notes, impressions — and it goes straight to your project dashboard without you asking.

Your dashboard builds a running picture of every playtest: scores over time, most flagged components, and balance trends. All the data lives in one place, attached to the project it belongs to.

Built-in Feedback Form

A feedback button sits right in the room — testers can submit at any point during or after play. Overall rating, component ratings, difficulty, balance, and free-form notes. All collected automatically, no Google Forms, no chasing people down.

Session Notes & Action Items

Capture what broke mid-session without stopping the game. Log host notes, flag action items, and keep a record of what you were testing and what you found.

Custom Feedback Questions Pro

Go beyond the default form. Add your own questions per project — star ratings, numeric scales, multiple choice, or open text. Ask exactly what you need to know about your specific design, not a generic checklist.

Aggregate Analytics Pro

Every action during play is logged automatically — card draws, dice rolls, component interactions, joins, and leaves. After the session your dashboard shows which decks got drawn most, dice roll distributions per die type, which components were touched most, how activity flowed across the session timeline, and a full per-player action breakdown. No manual tracking, no spreadsheets.

Everything Else You'd Expect

The small things that make the whole platform feel solid.

Session Action Log

Every move, shuffle, roll, and draw is timestamped and logged during play — great for catching moments your testers forgot to mention in feedback

CSV Import & Export

Drop a spreadsheet in and your component library fills instantly — always free. Pro to export your component data back out to manufacturers, publishers, or backers.

Prototype Without Artwork

80+ built-in tokens, chips, bags, card backs, and dice mean you can playtest mechanics on day one — no asset commissions, no placeholder hell, no waiting

Custom Dice Faces

Upload your own die face images for custom dice that roll and display on the tabletop

No Install for Anyone

Runs in any desktop or laptop browser — Chrome, Firefox, Safari. Full keyboard required for the tabletop. Your testers open a link and they're in.

PDF Component Sheets Pro

Export polished, print-ready component summary PDFs for pitching to publishers or sharing with backers

How It Compares

Built for Designers, Not Just Players

Tabletop Simulator, Tabletopia, and Screentop are great platforms — but none were built around what a game designer actually needs to prototype, iterate, and collect feedback.

Designer's Den
free to start
Tabletop Simulator
$19.99 / person on Steam
Tabletopia
free account required
Screentop.gg
free
Getting Started
Runs in browser — no download or install Yes Steam app required Yes Yes
Testers join via link — no account, no sign-up Yes Steam account + $19.99 purchase Free account required Yes
Playable on mobile & tablet browser (touch controls, pinch zoom, multi-select) Yes Limited Limited
Upload a spreadsheet (CSV) to populate components instantly Yes Via JS bulk update
Tabletop Capabilities
Physical mm-accurate component sizing (renders to real dimensions) Yes
Named zones with built-in behaviors (hidden, hand, randomize) — no scripting required Yes Yes Limited Seat-hidden only
Snap points with tag-based component matching (enforce placement rules without code) Yes Yes Container-type filter only
Timestamped session action log (every draw, roll, move recorded) Yes
Designer Workflow
Built-in playtest feedback form (ratings, notes, per-component feedback) Yes
Playtest analytics — dice distributions, draw counts, component interaction heatmap Pro
Live production cost tracking (updated as you add or change components) Yes
The Game Crafter sync (components, images & pricing in one click) Pro
Print & Play PDF export (cut lines, bleed, auto-packed pages) Pro
Automatic board & hand snapshots throughout a session — rewind the table state without the designer present Pro

Comparison reflects each platform's documented public feature set as of early 2026. Tabletop Simulator offers 3D physics and deep Lua scripting — a powerful sandbox, but with a steep setup curve for non-developers. Tabletopia and Screentop.gg both excel as lightweight play platforms. Other platforms worth knowing: Vassal (free, Java-based, XML modules — powerful but very technical), Board Game Arena (great for finished published titles, no prototype workflow), and Roll20 (TTRPG-focused virtual tabletop, occasionally repurposed for card games).

Simple, Transparent Pricing

Start free. Upgrade when you're ready to go deeper.

Pro Subscriptions Coming Soon

Pro features are currently available exclusively to beta testers. Sign up and apply for beta access to unlock them early.

Free

Free Forever
$0 / forever

Everything you need to start designing and playtesting your first game.

  • 2 Projects
  • Live playtest tabletop Up to 6 players per room
  • Mobile-friendly tabletop Touch controls, pinch zoom & action bar
  • 100+ built-in game pieces
  • Dice & card probability calculators
  • Full component library & inline editing
  • Private hands, decks & bags
  • CSV import
  • Session action log
  • Pro only
  • Up to 10 players per room
  • The Game Crafter Import
  • Custom Dice Pool Calculator
  • Persistent rooms & saved setups
  • Playtest analytics & custom feedback forms
  • PDF & CSV exports
  • Print & Play Maker
Get Started Free
Most Popular

Pro Monthly

Coming Soon
$9.99 / month

Unlimited projects, deeper analytics, and priority support.

  • Everything in Free, plus:
  • Up to 10 players per room
  • The Game Crafter Import Components, images & pricing
  • Custom Dice Pool Calculator Run probabilities on your actual game dice
  • Persistent rooms & saved setups
  • Playtest analytics & custom feedback forms
  • PDF & CSV exports
  • Print & Play Maker PDF from your component library with cut lines & bleed marks
  • Priority support
Coming Soon

Pro Yearly

Coming Soon
$100 / year

$8.33 / month billed annually

Best value — same Pro features, two months free.

  • Everything in Free, plus:
  • Up to 10 players per room
  • The Game Crafter Import Components, images & pricing
  • Custom Dice Pool Calculator Run probabilities on your actual game dice
  • Persistent rooms & saved setups
  • Playtest analytics & custom feedback forms
  • PDF & CSV exports
  • Print & Play Maker PDF from your component library with cut lines & bleed marks
  • Priority support
Coming Soon

Start Playtesting Your Game Today

No physical prototypes. No shipping. No account needed for your testers. Just you, your game, and players anywhere in the world.

No credit card required • Free forever plan available