Connection

This page is about what the display does when the connection drops, when you reload the page, or when the party ends. The short answer: it sorts itself out, and very rarely needs touching.

When the connection drops

During a party a small bar appears at the top of the screen, in the middle, with a spinner in it: Reconnecting…. The table stays visible meanwhile, it simply stops refreshing.

The display tries five times, at growing intervals, over roughly half a minute in all. If the network comes back meanwhile, the bar goes and the table carries on from where it is. There is nothing to do.

When reconnecting fails too

Then an error message appears in the middle of the screen: Connection error, with Retrying automatically… below it.

This is not a final state: eight seconds later the display starts the whole thing again by itself. It asks the server for its code again, and if the party is still running and the display is still linked to it, it finds its way back in. If not, it ends up on the waiting screen. If the network is still down, the error message stays and it tries again every eight seconds. The only thing worth doing is fixing the network.

The same message appears if the display cannot reach the server when it starts up.

When you reload the page

After a refresh the display finds its way back into the same party, on its own. There is no need to invite it again or to type a new code: a few seconds and the table is there again.

That holds even if you pressed refresh by accident.

⚠ Closing the browser tab is different. Close it and open a new one and the display gets a new code, and has to be invited again. See Pairing.

When the party ends

When the party closes, or the display is unlinked from the phone, the display returns to the waiting screen with the logo and the QR code, ready for the next party.

There is no need to restart it or to refresh: it stays there until it is invited again.

While it waits

In the waiting state the display asks the server from time to time whether anybody has invited it. It does that less and less often as time passes:

in the first minute, every 5 seconds;
from the first minute up to 5 minutes, every 15 seconds;
between 5 and 10 minutes, every 30 seconds;
after 10 minutes, once a minute.

It counts the time from the last change the display saw, for example it starting up, or a party ending. After a change like that the asking becomes frequent again.

That has a practical consequence: if the display has been waiting a long time, it can be up to a minute late in noticing an invitation. This is not a fault. If you are in a hurry, reload the page on the display.

The screen does not go to sleep

While the app is open, it keeps the screen awake. If the browser does not allow that, or the TV’s own power saving is the stronger of the two, the screen can go to sleep: then you have to switch the automatic dimming off in the TV’s settings.

Updating and installing

If a new version has arrived, a bar at the top offers the update. It is worth accepting between two parties rather than during a game.

If the display runs in a browser and can be installed as an app, another bar at the bottom offers that. Installed, it starts in landscape and full screen, which is more comfortable on a TV.