Start from a prepared table
Before you begin the session, confirm the table reflects the exact test you want to run.
Check for:
- the right pieces on the table
- the intended opening layout
- no leftover components from an older scenario
Optimize for a clean join experience
Players should arrive to a table that already explains the session structure. The less cleanup you do after they join, the faster the playtest starts producing useful feedback.
Treat launch as part of the test
If starting a session feels confusing or fragile, that is useful information. A reliable playtest flow should be easy for you to repeat.
While the table is being prepared
When you start a session, Playtest Parlor copies your saved table into it in the background, so even a game with thousands of pieces gets a table. Until the copy is done the table shows a progress bar and nobody can move anything on it. If you changed the game's imported components just before starting, the session does not wait for that change to reach your saved table: it starts at once and catches up with the change, deck order included, as it opens. If an import is still being applied as it opens, it catches up once that is done but keeps its decks in the order they were dealt (see when the game's imported pieces change).
If preparing the table stops partway (for example during a busy moment on the site), it tries again on its own a few times over the next couple of minutes. If it still cannot be finished, a notice on the table says Setting up the table stopped before it finished, with the reason, for everyone looking at the table, and a Retry button for the players seated at it and the host: Retry carries on from where it stopped. The table stays as it is until then. The host can also reset the table, which empties it and sets it up again from the start.
An update of the game's imported components asked for while a table is being prepared waits until the table is ready, then applies to the finished table.