Group Organizer Setup

Group Organizer Setup

In order to get setup for your PALACESPHERE Virtual Escape Room reservations, you'll need to visit the Game Administrator Portal or "GAP."

The GAP is your reservation control center. It is where you will edit your reservation details, add players, assign teams and Team Captains (optional), and send invitations to play. You'll be able to track if and when teams are scheduled to play. You can also access and join group leaderboards to see how the teams did in the game!


How you get set up will depend on whether or not you want to delegate some responsibilities to Team Captains or not. If you want to do all of the scheduling and add all of the video conference links, then you do not need to use Team Captains. If you want to allow teams to schedule their own game times and add their own video conference links, then you will want to assign a Team Captain to each team. You can also do a combination of these 2 options if that works best for your event! (See Steps 4A, 4B, 4C for different options.)

For guidance on how to get set up, check out the steps below.


SET UP INFO:


1. Login to the Game Administrator Portal (GAP).

If this is your first visit, you'll need to set your account password first. The link from your welcome email will take you to the page to set your password. If you already have an account, you can access it at gap.palacesphere.com.




2. Configure Reservation.

Add a reservation name on the homepage. We recommend using a name for the team building / group event. This will be the name on your reservation's private leaderboard.
On the Home tab, you can also add a Co-Organizer (optional), see your reservation details, and purchase additional player slots if needed.




3. Add Players + Assign Teams.

On the Players page, you will need to add all the players for your group and make team assignments. You can do this 2 ways:

1. Manually: Add players manually by clicking "add player to roster" and then typing in each player's first name, last name, and email address. To assign the player to a team, add the Team name in the "Team" field.

2. Via CSV: Upload a CSV file with first name, last name, email address for each player. To assign teams from the CSV, include the team name in the Team column. Click "this format" to download the CSV template (do not delete column headers when you edit the template). Once you have a CSV file ready, click "Choose File" to select your list and then "Import." 


Team assignments are made by team name, so use the same team name for each player you want assigned to the same team.* You can also make Team assignments on the Teams page if you do not wish to type in team names on the Players page.  The team size limit is 8, but we strongly recommend teams of 3-5 players each (ideally 4).


*Team Names are CASE SENSITIVE.






4. Adding Team Details - With or Without Team Captains

Depending on whether you want to delegate scheduling responsibilities to Team Captains or not, your next step will vary. Read options 4A, 4B, and 4C to see what works best for you!

4A. (Optional) Select Team Captains. On the Teams Page, click the green "Add" button in the Captain column. Then, select the player from that team that you'd like to make Team Captain.


The Team Captain can be responsible for scheduling their team's play time and getting the team together to play. They can also add a video conferencing link for their team to use for the game or change their Team Name.


*Team Captains were formerly called Team Coordinators.






4B. Schedule Start Times & Add Video Conference Links (or not!*) - There are 2 ways to set the game start times and video conference links for teams. *If you don't want to schedule games and, you can leave it up to Team Captains (see option 4A). 


1. Bulk Edits: This is the way to go if you want to have all or multiple teams play at the same time. Select by checking the box next to the Team Name or clicking the top check box to select all. Then add and set the start time and/or the video conference link & video conference notes in the section above the list of teams.







2. Individual Team Edits: You can also set or edit the start time, video link, and video instructions for each team. To schedule or edit a team's game start time, click the linked text in the "Start" column (either "[not set]" if unscheduled or a date and time if already scheduled) and update the details in the pop-up. To edit the video conference link or instructions for a team, simply click in the text box in the "video link" or "video instructions" column.






4C. You can assign Team Captains AND schedule the games for all or some of the teams.

  1. You are able to assign Team Captains to all teams, some teams, or no teams. If you do not assign any Team Captains, see 4B.
  2. You could assign Team Captains to a team if they will be playing on their own schedule. The Team Captain could coordinate with their teammates to schedule their game time. They could add their own video conference link (especially as some services require the host to be on the call).
  3. You could handle the start time scheduling, but assign Team Captains to all teams and ask them to add a video conference link to their team details. This is helpful if all teams will be in a private video conference instead of a single call with breakout rooms.
  4. You could assign Team Captains and invite them to the system just to edit their Team Name or allow them to send invitations to their teammates.

5. Send a Save the Date (optional)

Organizers can now send a Save the Date email to all possible participants with a calendar attachment and event info.
    1. We recommend sending a Save the Date first to get the event scheduled and waiting to send a Player Invitation email closer to your game start time with the teams are finalized.
    2. Save the Date emails contain a calendar attachment, date and time of event, game name and narrative description, a video conference link (optional), a custom message (optional), and steps for playing.
    3. Please note: Save the Date emails do not contain game links. To send an email with an active game link that participants can use to access the game, Organizers will need to assign teams and send Player Invitation emails (on the Invitations tab).
    4. If there will be multiple play times for this event, you can send yourself a Save the Date email for each time and forward it to the relevant invitees.
    5. You can send a Save the Date to all the players on the reservation or just send one to yourself to forward to everyone you wish to invite (this is a good option if you want to schedule the event before adding player to the reservation)


5. Send Invitations
On the Invitations Page, you will have the option to send Player Invitations and/or Team Captain Invitations (if you assigned them). You will have the option to send yourself a sample of each invitation by clicking the corresponding "Send Sample Invitation to Myself" button. On this page you can also see a Team's scheduling and play status including: unscheduled, scheduled, in progress, or complete.

A. Invite Players: To invite players to the game, you can send an invitation through the GAP that will include the scheduled start time, a list of their teammates, a link to their video conference (if provided), and a button to join the game. In the "Invite Players" column, you can either select all (check box at the top of the list) or select specific Teams (check the box on their team's row) to send the invitation. There is a text box below the list of teams where you can add a custom message. When ready, click the "Send Invitations to Players on Selected Teams" button.

Please note: Player Invitations contain ACTIVE game links that are unique to each team. We recommend waiting to send Player Invites until closer to the game start time and when the team assignments are finalized.

B. Invite Team Captains (optional): If you assigned Team Captains, you will want to invite them to the GAP to manage all or some of their team details. Select all (check box at the top of the list) or specific Team Captains (check the box on their team's row) in the "Invite Captains" column. Below the list of teams, there is a text box where you can add a custom message to the Team Captain invitation. When ready, click the "Send Invitations to Selected Team Captains" button.


If you would like to delegate all scheduling and video conference links to Team Captains, then once you have invited the Team Captains, your work is done! They can get their teams scheduled and invited to play. You may want to log back into the GAP from time to time to check the status of the teams to make sure they are scheduled and see if their games are complete or not.  (See step 6.)







C. Generate Game Links instead of sending Player Invitations (optional). If you do not wish to send invitations to players (perhaps for a surprise?), you can generate a game link for each team and share the link with players however you wish. Simply click the "create" button in the Game Info column. Once the link is generated, you'll have the option to copy it. If you send Player Invitations, the Game Links will be automatically generated.


On the Invitations page you can also see a Team's scheduling and play status including: unscheduled, scheduled, in progress, or complete.

If you click the Team's name, you can access their individual team information and see what a Team Captain would have access to if invited. As the Group Organizer, you will be able to make edits to a team's information and send out player invitations from these pages (in addition to the Group Organizer view Players, Team, and Invitation pages).



6. Monitor Team Status.

You can see a view of all the Teams on the Status page. You can access a link to this page by clicking the "Status" tab.

On this page you can review team assignments, see the status of all teams (scheduled, unscheduled, in progress, or complete), find each team's game link, send player invitations, and see final escape times.



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