It's one of the first things you see when you come to StartPlaying — Find Game! There's hundreds of games to search for, but how does the Game Search work?
How is the game order determined on the Find Games page?
Games on the Find Games page are sorted by how soon until they start. The games that are closest to their start time show up at the top of the page, while games that are more than a few hours or even days from their next session will show up lower on the search.
If you add additional search filters like "Day of Week" or "Start Time," the search will still show you the games starting earliest on that day or in that time frame.
No secret tricks like number of reviews or games run to get to the top — if your game is starting soon, it'll be up at the top 😁
How can I filter for games on the Find Games page?
We have a number of different filters to help you find the game that's right for you!
Schedule
Frequency
How often do you want this game to meet? You can use the Frequency filter to select from Weekly, Every other week, Monthly, and Custom.
Day
You can use the Day filter which days of the week you want to play.
Start Time
You can use the Start Time filter to choose the earliest time you want your game to start, and the latest time you would want your game to start.
Status
You can select from Ready to Play and New games.
Ready to Play = Have enough players to start/have already started
New = Recruiting players to begin, has not started yet
Game
Have a specific game you want to play? You can select multiple systems you are interested in playing and search for just those systems.
Story/Setting
If you are searching for either "Dungeons & Dragons 5e" or "Pathfinder 2e" in the "Game" field above, you will see two additional fields appear under the "Game" filter.
Story
This dropdown will allow you to search for games that are playing through adventures that were created by the publisher of the game system you selected. If you are looking for original stories, created by your Game Master, select the "Original/Homebrew Story" option instead.
Setting
This dropdown will allow you to search for games that are located within one of the official Settings that were created by the publisher of the game system you selected. If you are looking to play in an original setting, created by your Game Master, select the "Original/Homebrew Setting" option instead.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
If you are not looking for a specific Story/Setting, or looking for one that is not listed in the dropdown, you can leave this field blank for your search and all available games will be displayed!
Theme
Looking for a specific theme or genre of game? The "Theme" filter will let you search for Gothic Horror, Space Western, High Fantasy, and everything in-between!
More Filters
Price Range
You can use the Price Range filter to select the lowest and highest amount you are looking to pay per session.
If you are playing in a one-shot, this would be a one time payment. If you are playing in a campaign, you would pay this amount for each session of your game.
Duration
You can use the Duration filter to select the minimum and maximum amount of time you would like a session to run.
If you are playing in a one-shot, this would be how long a single game would run. If you are playing in a campaign, this is how long you would like each session of the game to run.
Game System
If you are looking to play a specific TTRPG, like Dungeons and Dragons 5e or Pathfinder 2e, you can use this filter to select the system you want to play.
Note: The full list of game systems is only available on the GM side, when editing or creating a Game Template.
If you're searching for a system on the Find Games page and aren't seeing it, only the systems that currently have games running will be shown.
Game Type
You can use the Game Type filter to select if you want to search for one-shots or campaigns.
Game Platform
If you have a specific Virtual Tabletop (VTT) that you want to use in your game, you can filter by it using Game Platform.
If you are looking to play in a Play by Post (PBP) game, you can also search for those games with the Game Platform filter.
Favorite Game Masters
You can display only games from your favorite Game Masters.
Why is my game not showing up on the Find Games page?
If your game isn't showing up in the game search, it could be for a variety of reasons.
Only Public games with show up in the game search. Games that are set to private will not show up.
Games that do not have any active sessions scheduled will not show up in the game search.
All games are removed from the Find Games page 1 hour before their start time.
If your game is fully booked, it will not show up on the Find Games page.