Can I use my own map for a game room?

Game rooms ignore map templates. Football starts from its pitch and the other games build their own arena, but you can add to any of them in build mode.

Can I pick the football teams?

No. Teams are assigned automatically and kept even as people join. Sides switch at half-time.

How do I stop a game?

You can't pause or switch off a game. Rounds only run while people are in the room, and a football match with fewer than two players ends early. To stop playing, move to another room.

Do players need any permissions?

No. Anyone who can enter the room can play, including guests who joined with a link. Creating a game room needs Edit Rooms, and changing its arena needs Build Map.

Game rooms

Turn an Open Spatial room into a football pitch, a maze, an arena, or a beach.

Last updated: September 27, 2026

What is a game room?

A game room is an Open Spatial room with a mini-game built in. When you create the room, you pick a game as its style instead of Walk & talk. Everyone who walks in plays, rounds start and restart on their own, and the arena is a normal map you can still change in build mode.

How to create a game room

1
Open the create dialog
In your lobby, click Add Room in a category, or go to Settings → Rooms → Add Room. You need the Edit Rooms permission.
2
Name the room
Enter a Room Name and check the URL. A name that says what's on, like "Friday Football", helps people find it in the lobby.
3
Choose Open Spatial
Under Room Type, pick Open Spatial. Games aren't available in Conference rooms.
4
Pick a game
Under Room style, click ⚽ Football, 🏁 Maze race, 🎯 Arena shooter, 🖌️ Territory, or 🏄 Surf. The hint underneath confirms that it "Comes with a ready-made arena — still fully editable in build mode." The map template picker disappears, because the game brings its own arena.
5
Create the room
Click Create Room. The room shows up in your lobby with its game's artwork and a label like ⚽ Football on the card.

The Create New Room dialog with the Football room style selected — Pick a game under Room style when you create an Open Spatial room.

The game is fixed

You can't switch a room to a different game, or back to Walk & talk, after you create it. Make a new room instead. Duplicate this room keeps the game, which is handy if you want two matches running side by side.

The five games

Room style	What it is	Round length
⚽ Football	"Two teams, two halves, kick the ball into the goal"	Two 5-minute halves with a 45-second half-time
🏁 Maze race	"Escape a fresh maze each round, collect coins, dodge bombs"	Up to 5 minutes; ends 60 seconds after the first escape
🎯 Arena shooter	"Build your own arena, destroy blocks, outscore everyone"	10 minutes
🖌️ Territory	"Paint the floor, loop back to claim it, cut trails to take theirs"	15 minutes, then the map wipes
🏄 Surf	"Grab a board, catch a wave, ride it all the way to the beach"	10 minutes

Football needs two players to kick off. The other four start as soon as one person is in the room. For controls and scoring, point your guests to Play games in a room.

What each arena comes with

Football: the game lays out a striped pitch with low boards around it. The room's map holds a red and a blue goal plus Game Spawn Point markers, which are visible only in build mode and set where each team lines up for kick-off. If you remove the markers, teams line up in front of their own goal instead. If a team's goal goes missing, a default net appears on its goal line, so a match can always run.
Maze race: a new maze is generated at the start of every round, packed with coins, diamonds, and bombs.
Arena shooter: the map starts empty. Each round the game fills a fenced arena with bricks, bombs, heal pickups, and a giant d20 die. Anything you build becomes solid cover that stops bullets, which is what "build your own arena" means.
Territory: a round arena with a low wall.
Surf: an island with a beach, a rack of six boards, a boat, and rocks that change with every new surf.

Around that, the room is yours to decorate. Open build mode (it needs the Build Map permission and a computer) to add signs, seating, or a quiet corner next to the action.

A football game room in build mode showing the pitch, both goals, and spawn markers — Football rooms come with two goals and team spawn markers. Decorate around them.

Who starts and resets rounds?

Nobody has to. Games have no host: a round starts by itself once enough people are in the room, a results card shows the leaders when it ends, and the next round begins automatically. There's no button for hosts to start, pause, or reset a game.

Surf is the one exception, and it's open to everyone. Every surfer sees 🏝️ Start a new surf, which starts a fresh round with new rocks and resets everyone's score, plus 🌊 Summon tsunami and 🌀 Barrel wave. Let your group know before a round that counts.

Everyone plays, and everyone hears everyone

Everyone in a game room is in the game, guests included. There's no opt-in and no spectator seat; people who want to sit out can go to another room. In Football, people are split into Red and Blue automatically (a ring under each avatar shows the team) and new arrivals join the smaller side. There's no team picker.

Voice isn't spatial in game rooms: everyone hears everyone at full volume, wherever they are on the map, so teams can call to each other across the pitch. Audio isolated pods are the exception, and people inside one keep a private conversation. See Audio isolated rooms.

Lobby cards for a football room and a surf room with live player counts — Game rooms show their game and how many people are playing right now.

Tips for a team game night

Make one room per game and name it clearly, then share its link: flat.social/f/{flat}/{room}.
Keep a Walk & talk room next door for chatting between rounds, or place a pod in the game room as a quiet corner.
Send everyone Play games in a room beforehand. Kicking and surf tricks need a keyboard, so computers work best.
On the Free plan, up to 5 people can be in your flat at once. For a bigger one-off event, add a Day Pass.