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A Tabletop Simulator alternative for card games
Tabletop Simulator can be any game, which is its strength and its problem. For a card game it means a Steam purchase for everyone at the table, a mod somebody maintains, cards you stack and flip in three dimensions with a mouse, and a deck that has to be built in a format the mod understands. Untap.in is the flat version: a table that already knows it is a card table, a database that already has the cards, and nothing to buy for the people you are trying to play with.
Play-test a deck nowin your browser · nothing to install
Side by side
| Tabletop Simulator | Untap.in | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | A Steam purchase per player, about twenty dollars | Free to play-test; Power Up for extras |
| Runs on | Steam, desktop | Browser, phone and tablet |
| The table | 3D sandbox, physics, mods | A flat table laid out for the game: zones, piles, counters |
| Cards | Imported by the mod, kept up by its author | 60 games synced nightly; 201,141 Magic cards alone |
| Decks | Built in the mod or imported as images | Imported by URL or text, kept on your account |
| Rules | Your table decides | Your table decides |
| Undo | Rewind in TTS is per object | Rewind the whole table |
| Replays and voice | Steam voice; no replay | Voice in the table; every game recorded |
Both leave the rules to the players. The difference is that one is a physics toy that can hold a card game and the other is a card table. If your group plays board games in TTS and one of them happens to be a card game, TTS is probably still the right place for your group. If the card game is the point, the flat table wins on every row above.
The mod problem
A card game in Tabletop Simulator is only as current as its mod. When the author stops updating it, new sets stop arriving — the Final Fantasy TCG mod on the Steam Workshop was last updated in August 2024 and the game has released several sets since. On Untap.in the card databases are synced from official or community lists every night, for every game that has one, so a card is there the day it is out, with its art and text, and a deck importer reads it by name.
What a table built for card games does that a sandbox cannot
It knows what a zone is. A library, a hand only you can see, a discard pile, an exile pile, a command zone — each is a place on the table with its own menu, not a stack of objects. Counters are counters, not dice you remember to roll. Shuffling is a click, drawing is a click, and the log says what happened. On top of that: 43,916 Magic cards carry a script that does what their text says at a click, a card in hand shows its cost with a Pay button that taps for it, Rewind restores the whole table, and every game is a replay. None of it is possible in a sandbox that does not know the cards are cards.
Moving your group over
Nobody installs anything. Each person makes a free account, imports their decks — a URL from Moxfield, Archidekt or the deck site for their game, or a pasted list — and one of you opens a table and sends the link. Voice is already in the table, so the Steam call can stop. 60 card games are on the same account, so the group that plays Magic on Tuesday and Lorcana on Thursday needs one place.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free alternative to Tabletop Simulator for card games?
Yes. Untap.in is free to play-test, runs in the browser, and is built for card games rather than adapted to them with a mod.
Does everyone at the table need to buy it?
No. Nobody buys anything. Power Up is an optional subscription for extra seats and perks.
Which games does it support?
60 card games, with their card databases synced nightly where an official or community list exists. Magic, Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, One Piece, Lorcana and the rest.
Does it enforce the rules?
No, the same as Tabletop Simulator. Your table resolves the game.
Can I use my own custom cards, like a TTS mod?
Yes. Add Missing Card uploads a card with its art and text, and a Custom CCG deck type holds games the database does not know at all.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes, in the phone browser, and it installs as an app. Tabletop Simulator does not.
Bring a list
Import a deck, goldfish a few hands, then open a table and send your pod the link. It runs in the browser, and the first play-test takes about as long to set up as reading this did.
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