Following the game

A digital table has a problem a real one doesn't: you can't watch other players' hands move. Bots make it worse — they act in a fraction of a second, on the far side of the table. Tablecraft is designed so that everyone can follow every move, whether they are playing, waiting or spectating.

#Spotlight

When another player reveals or plays a card, the Spotlight shows it at the top of the screen — large and readable — with who did it, what they did and, when available, the line from your game log:

Bot 2 played a card
Bot 2, Marseille: delivered Olive Oil, +3
[card] → Discard

Entries queue up and are shown one at a time. Hover to pause, pin to keep, press Space to skip, click the card to enlarge it. The card also glows on the table so the eye connects the two. If moves pile up (fast bots), entries get shorter so the table never falls behind. Players choose Large, Side or Off in the settings, and whether to see their own moves too.

#What is detected

Nothing to configure — the client compares consecutive views:

Moves into your own hand are skipped — you already see them.

#Helping it

The actor and the caption are inferred. A few habits make them exact:

1. Write one log line per action with the player's name and the card's title. If a new line mentions the card's title, that line's player is the actor and the line becomes the Spotlight text.
2. Keep ids stable — the same physical card has the same id when it moves.
3. Label centre zones (label: 'Market') — that's the "→ Market" caption.
4. Use enterFrom for cards that come out of a deck.

For anything the diff can't infer — a secret role revealed at the end, a card shown to the table without moving — use an explicit reveal:

ctx.fx({ type: 'reveal', ids: ['role:p3'], by: 'p3', title: 'revealed their role', text: 'Bo was the Traitor!' });

#Game log

Press L (or the list icon) for the game log: the whole match as a timeline.

• hud.log lines, with rounds as dividers and player names in their colours
• every Spotlight entry with card thumbnails (click to enlarge)
• dice results ("Bo rolled: 5")
• banners as section headers
• filters (All · Moves · Cards · Dice), an unread counter, copy-to-clipboard for playtest notes

You only send the last ~40 lines; the client keeps the history.

#Pace

Bots wait before moving so people can keep up. The base delay depends on the room's pace; effects add time:

The room's host changes the pace from the table settings (it applies to everyone). Server-side: match.setPace(), createRoom({ pace }) or createLocalMatch({ pace }).

#Turn cues

• The turn indicator at the top: "Turn: Bo · · ·" or a gold Your turn.
• When your turn starts: a soft chime, a brief "Your turn" card, the decision dock glows and expands, and — if the player enabled it — the camera turns to their area.
• The active seat glows on the table and in the player list.

#Watching vs. playing

Spectators get view(state, { playerId: 'spectator' }) — only public information — with the same Spotlight, log and cues. That's the view to design your public table around.