There’s no denying that the Coronavirus pandemic has drastically impacted the majority of our social lives. Last year, I would have jumped at the opportunity to meet with my friends for a good old fashioned board game night, but right now, with restrictions and lockdowns in place, it’s not possible for me and I’m sure other people in other countries are in a similar position. That’s where Tabletop Simulator comes in.
Tabletop Simulator is essentially what it sounds like – a physics sandbox, developed by Berserk Games that allows you to play a wide variety of card and board games and even create your own if you’re feeling particularly ambitious. The base game comes with 15 classic games with 42 additional games in the form of individual DLC but what makes Tabletop Simulator truly great is the workshop where you can browse through thousands of player created games.
It’s honestly a whole load of fun, especially if you’re playing with friends.
It can, however, be a little daunting when you launch the game for the first time which is the point of this guide – to get you started with the basics of Tabletop Simulator, namely how to host a game and make use of the vast variety of player-made games over on the workshop.
How to host a game
Tabletop Simulator is pretty easy to use once you get the hang of it. From the main menu you can either join a game – public or friends only – or host your own. To host, you’re going to want to click create then select the type of game you want from singleplayer, multiplayer or hotseat. Hotseat mode allows you to play with multiple people through the same device which is good for a family, but if you’re wanting to play online with people you don’t live with, you’ll want to create a multiplayer game. There are a couple of options here, depending on who you want to play with. If you’re open to random people joining you, you can set the game to public. If you’d rather a private game, you can either set it to invite or friends – with the former, only those invited can join, whereas with the latter, anyone on your friends list can jump in.
How to download games through the workshop
If you’re not feeling the base games, you can check out the workshop. Downloading games through the workshop honestly couldn’t be easier. First you’ll want to go onto the Tabletop Simulator workshop page over on Steam. Once you’ve found a game that takes your fancy, click on it and then click the green subscribe button. When you launch Tabletop Simulator, and create a game, all of the games you have subscribed to will be available under the workshop tab. Only the person hosting the game needs to be subscribed.
The possibilities really are endless with Tabletop Simulator so if you like playing board games, it’s worth checking out, especially now that in-person social interaction is being limited in a number of places.
If you lose…well, you can, in typical sore-loser fashion, always flip the table.
Published: Jan 19, 2021 08:13 am