When connected to the GridGammon server, the Lobby window displays a customizable list of players on GridGammon. The list includes nickname, status, rating, experience, location, and current activity. You can sort on any column, and resize or rearrange the columns by dragging the column headers.
When you select a nickname, you can click the various toolbar buttons to chat with the player, invite him to play, get more info about him, or watch his match (if he is already playing).
You normally only see a subset of the players connected to GridGammon in your Lobby list; to avoid server congestion, GridGammon limits the number of players you can see to 200 (125 for guests).
You control which players you wish to see in your Lobby window by clicking the Filter popup menu in the Lobby toolbar (or choose the filtering menu commands under the View menu):
Filtering allows you to specify the types of players you want included in your player list, based on ratings, status (e.g. ready to play), friends, etc.
You can indicate whether you are willing to receive invitations. The Ready button in the Lobby window's toolbar shows your status and allows you to change it. When the Ready button is green, it means you are ready to accept invitations. If it is gray, you will not accept invitations (you can still send an invitation, however.)
Similarly, you can use the Away button to indicate that you are away from your computer for a while, although you are still logged in to GridGammon. When you are away, the Away button is yellow.
In addition to the list of players, the Lobby window also contains two other important sections:
The links in the upper right portion of the window provides fast access to the FAQs (frequently-asked questions), the latest download, and tournament and league information. Clicking a link will open the link in your default web browser.
The lobby chat in the lower right portion of the window allows you to chat with all the players who are not currently playing or watching a match. Lobby chat is used to send general greetings and remarks intended for everyone located in the lobby. Just type your comments into the chat entry box (the bottom line of the chat area). You will also see messages regarding tournaments and other announcements in lobby chat.
Next: Playing a Match