Help - Zones

Realtime Playtest

Zones

Draw regions that enforce rules: hidden areas, hand drop-zones, auto-flip discards, randomizers, and tidy layouts.

Zones

A zone is a rectangle on the table with rules attached. Instead of asking players to remember that one corner is the discard or that another is a player's private area, you draw a region and the table enforces the behavior for you. Only the host creates and configures zones, but any player can join or leave one.

Two labelled zones on the table — a "Player Area" and a "Discard Pile" — with the Zones panel along the bottom

Note

While the Zones panel is open, table pieces are paused — clicks go to zones, not to cards or tokens. Close the panel to play normally again.

Drawing a Zone

  1. Open the Zones panel. Drawing mode starts armed — drag out a rectangle where you want the zone.
  2. The zone is created immediately with an automatic name and no behaviors.
  3. It's selected in the panel, ready to edit: rename it, pick a color, set its opacity, and switch on the behaviors you want.

To edit any zone later, click it on the table (with the panel open) or click its chip in the panel. Press Delete to remove the selected zone; deleting is undo-able.

Zone Behaviors

A plain zone does nothing — it's just a labelled region. Each behavior is an independent toggle, and you can combine them freely (for example, a Hidden zone that also keeps its contents in a tidy Grid Layout). Every enabled behavior shows as an icon on the zone and on its chip in the panel.

Behavior What it does Use it when
Hidden Contents are invisible to non-members a player needs a private play area
Player Hand Pieces dropped in go to the joined player's hand you want a "play to hand" drop spot
Randomizable Adds a Randomize Objects right-click action shuffling positions of pieces inside
Grid Layout Auto-arranges dropped pieces into a grid keeping a market row or tableau tidy
No Stacking Cards and tokens dropped in stay separate instead of auto-combining into a deck or stack a market row or individual card display where pieces should never merge

Separately, On drop controls what happens to a card or token's facing when it lands in the zone: keep it as-is, flip it (toggle front/back), or force it face-up or face-down — one setting, since those options contradict each other.

Tip

Zones can be moved by dragging while the panel is open. If you keep nudging one by accident, Lock Zone from its right-click menu pins it in place.

Joining a Zone

Hidden and Player Hand zones belong to whoever joins them. A player right-clicks the zone and chooses Join Zone. After that, a Hidden zone's contents are visible only to members, and a Player Hand zone routes their dropped pieces into their private hand.

Tip

Worked example, a private hand area: draw a rectangle in front of a seat and switch on Player Hand. Have that player right-click it and Join Zone. Now anything they drop there slides straight into their hidden hand. Switch on Hidden too and pieces sitting in the zone stay invisible to everyone else.


Related: Your Hand & Dealing · Host Controls · Grids & Snapping