Welcome, playtesters

Two of our games are ready for more people than just our family: Canasta Club and Four Color War. They’re early. Things will break, some parts are rough, and we’ll be changing a lot. That’s why we need you. If you’d like to play them before anyone else and tell us what you think, here’s how.

How to get a seat

1. Make a Vinyl Owl account. Sign up here with your email and a password, then click the link in the confirmation email we send you. One account works in every Vinyl Owl game. (You need to be 13 or older.)
2. Ask for a seat. Go to the game’s page and press Request playtest access: Canasta Club · Four Color War. You can add a note about what you’ll play on or how you found us. It helps us pick.
3. Watch your inbox. We add testers in small batches and read every request. When you’re in, we’ll email you with how to start playing.

You can see where your requests stand on your account page.

Once you’re in

Everything you have access to is on your Downloads page.

Canasta Club runs right in your browser, with nothing to install. On your Downloads page, choose Play in browser, then press Continue with Vinyl Owl. On a phone, turn it sideways. The first tap on a touch screen asks for full screen. If you’d like to learn the table first, you can play offline against the regulars.

Four Color War is a download for Mac, Windows and Linux. Grab the zip for your computer, unzip it and sign in with Vinyl Owl in the game.

• On a Mac, macOS stops the game the first time because we haven’t notarized it yet. Open System Settings › Privacy & Security, scroll down and click Open Anyway.
• On Windows, the game is signed, but if SmartScreen still pops up, choose More info › Run anyway.

Each game also has a leaderboard that only its playtesters can see, and you’ll find it linked from your account page. If you’d rather not be on it, there’s a Hide me button there too.

Tell us everything

Reply to your welcome email and it comes straight to us. In Four Color War you can also press F8 at any moment (or use Settings › Send feedback), and a screenshot of that moment goes with it.

The most useful things to hear:

• what broke, and what you were doing when it did
• where you got confused or stuck
• what was fun, and what wasn’t

A few ground rules

• Test builds are for you. Please don’t pass around the files or the download links. Talking about the games and sharing screenshots or video is welcome.
• We may reset progress, ratings or stats while we test. Sorry in advance.
• The fine print is in our Terms.

Thanks for pulling up a chair. We can’t wait to see you at the table.