Guide for stores

Match&Play is the app to find people to play board games with. As a store, your venue shows up in the venue directory, players can set up their games at your tables and you can post events and tournaments that people in your city join from the web or the app (iPhone and Android). It is free for players.

When you sign up, tick “I'm a store or venue with gaming tables” and enter your business name (and, if you like, your website or social media). Verify your email and you're in: you land straight on My store, your dashboard. From Edit store you can upload your logo (square, at least 200×200 px), used for all your venues.

A business can have several venues. For each one you set its name, address, city, description, phone, opening hours (by day, with or without a break), whether playing has a cost and how far ahead players can book. Then you add its play areas (board games, card games, role-playing, wargames, miniatures) with their number of tables; some can be VIP tables. An admin reviews every new venue before it appears in the directory. You can mark closed days or holidays: no bookings on those days.

Changes go live right away and your venue stays in the directory. If you change the name, address, description or cost, an admin reviews them afterwards. The city can't be changed: if the business moves, create a new venue. A venue with upcoming games or events can't be deleted.

When creating a game, a player can pick your venue and one of its areas. Each game takes one table that day, and the app only allows it if a table is free, the venue is open at that time, it isn't a closed day and it's within your booking window. Bookings close one hour before. You get a “New game at your venue” notification.

In Agenda you see, by venue and area, table availability for the next 7 days and each day's games. If a game doesn't suit you, tap Remove from my venue: the table is freed and the game still exists, just without your venue.

From Events you create a tournament (for a specific game, with format and prize) or an event (with a game or your own cover image). You choose venue, area, spots, how many tables it takes and, optionally, an entry fee. The fee is informational only: you collect it at your store. You host, you don't play: you don't take a spot. When you publish an event, players in your city get a “New event near you” notification, and those who follow that venue get it wherever they live (see “Followers”). For a one-off event you can give early access to your VIPs until a date.

Choose Recurring for an event that repeats every week or every two weeks, on one or several days at the time you want, with or without an end date. The app creates the dates by itself two weeks ahead and skips your closed days. A new series notifies players in your city only once, for its first date. You can see its dates, edit it or deactivate it.

Tap an event to open its page: from there you edit or cancel it, talk to attendees in its chat and, for tournaments, take attendance (check-in) and export it as CSV. If you cancel, attendees are notified.

In VIP you add your best customers by their nickname, with no expiry or until a date. A VIP can see and use the VIP tables at your venues and sign up early for your events with early access. It's private and applies to all your venues; the person gets a notification.

Any player can follow a venue with the “Follow” button on its page. When you publish an event or tournament at that venue, its followers get a notification wherever they live; followers of your other venues don’t. My store shows how many people follow any of your venues and, for each venue, how many followers it has. Games that players create at your venue don’t notify your followers.

A banner is an ad for your venue on the Match&Play home page: image (4:3, 1200×900 px recommended), title, text, button, colour, audience and dates. An admin reviews it before it goes live. It's shown to people in your venue's city: registered users by their profile city, and visitors by the city they pick when searching or, failing that, their approximate location. It also appears on your venue page while it's live.

In Statistics you see, per venue, how many tables are taken per week, average occupancy, turnover per table, your busiest week, which area is in most demand and the trend over the last 12 weeks.

In the bell (and as a phone notification if you use the app): new game at your venue, new sign-up to an event and cancellations from your events. By email and in the bell: when an admin approves or rejects a venue or a banner. You can turn off the first two phone notifications in Settings.

In Settings you change your notifications and password, you can close the store (your upcoming events are cancelled and you become a regular player account again) or delete your account entirely.

It doesn't take payments for you: those happen at your store. There are no private messages with players: they reach you by your venue's phone or website, and you talk to event attendees in the event chat. Each store has a single person in charge and one logo shared by all its venues. It doesn't generate tournament brackets.