Comparison
BGA plays the games. Ludoya keeps the life.
Board Game Arena is the best place to play board games online, and Ludoya does not compete with that for a second. It does the other job: your BGA tables and your real tables, one history, one set of stats, one community.
Two halves, one hobby
Credit where due
Board Game Arena is a marvel: hundreds of licensed games playable in a browser, rules enforced by the engine, turn-based games that fit into a lunch break, and opponents at 3am. Nothing on this page suggests playing online anywhere else — Ludoya has no online play and never will pretend to.
What BGA is not is the home of your whole gaming life. Its history is its own games, under its own usernames, separate from every cardboard box you own. That is the seam Ludoya closes: connect the account once and BGA becomes one more table you play at — recorded in the same log, counted in the same stats, next to Friday's real one.
Side by side
Different jobs, on purpose
Rows where a column says “not its job” are the design, not a defect.
| Board Game Arena | Ludoya | |
|---|---|---|
| Play board games online | Connect BGA | |
| Rules enforced by the engine | — | |
| Your online plays, recorded | Synced from BGA | |
| Your tabletop plays, recorded | — | |
| One history across both | — | |
| Stats across both | Per game, online | |
| Co-players are people | Usernames | Real accounts |
| Find players near you, in person | — | |
| Collection, marketplace, prices | — | |
| Game nights and tournaments IRL | — |
The sync
A finished table logs itself
Connect your BGA account and every finished game arrives as a play — game matched, players listed by BGA username, winner crowned, dated and located “Board Game Arena”. You did nothing.
- One play per table. The table is the record — everyone at it shares the same play, not four private copies.
- Usernames become people. Co-players with Ludoya accounts link by BGA username; shared history accrues automatically.
- Provenance kept. BGA-synced plays stay labeled BGA — the honest-numbers rule applies to your own log too.
The payoff
Your Tuesday-lunch Azul counts
The point of one history is one truth: the win rate, the H-index and the head-to-head against your rival span every table you actually play at — browser included.
- The rivalry is complete. If half your Cascadia losses happen on BGA, the record finally admits it.
- Streaks and recaps too. Replay months count the online plays; the badges do not care where the table was.
- Filter when you want. The BGA label means you can also slice stats to tabletop-only whenever you like.
The bridge to the table
Online friends become Friday plans
The person you play turn-based Hanabi with lives somewhere. If it is 13 km away, Ludoya is where that stops being a username and becomes a chair at a real table.
- Distance-sorted discovery. People, clubs and events near you — the part a global platform cannot do.
- Events with real seats. RSVP to a club night; the plays from it join the same history.
- It goes both ways. Rained-out game night? The group is one BGA table away, and the play still logs.
The honest recommendation
Keep both, obviously. BGA for playing online — there is no better place. Ludoya for the record of everything: the BGA sync means your online games join your tabletop history without a single manual entry, and the community side gives the usernames a map.
Ludoya's core, the sync included, is free; BGA's premium is their own affair and worth it if you play there a lot.
One history, every table
Connect BGA once. From then on, finished tables just appear in your log.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I play games online in Ludoya?
No, and that is deliberate — Board Game Arena does that job superbly. Ludoya’s sync makes BGA’s tables part of your history instead of competing with them.
How does the BGA sync actually work?
Connect your BGA account in settings; finished tables sync as plays automatically — one play per table, with the game matched, players listed by BGA username, results and dates preserved, and the location marked as Board Game Arena.
What happens with my BGA co-players?
They appear by BGA username. When one of them is on Ludoya with the same username linked, the play attaches to their real account — shared history and head-to-head build up without anyone re-logging.
Do BGA plays mix into my tabletop stats?
They count in your unified stats and stay labeled BGA, so you can also filter them out. The same provenance rule covers BGG imports — your log always knows where each play came from.
Does the sync send anything to BGA?
No — the BGA integration is import-only. Nothing is posted to your BGA account.
What does it cost?
The BGA sync is part of Ludoya’s free core. BGA’s own premium tiers are separate and unrelated.