# Game stats and expansions

Chapter 11 of the Loot user guide.

For board games, card games and RPGs, Loot shows what a player checks on the back of the box, and makes sure nobody buys an expansion without the game it needs.

## Game stats

Fill a game's **Min players**, **Max players**, **Min play time**, **Max play time**, **Minimum age** and **Weight** metafields (chapter 7). Then:

* **Product cards** show "2–4 · 60 min · 12+" with icons and five weight pips (Theme settings › Product cards › **Show game stats**, on).
* The **Game stats** block on the product page shows up to four tiles: players, minutes, age, and weight with its pips, the number and a label ("2.6 · Medium").

How the values read:

| Data | Shows as |
| --- | --- |
| Players 2 and 4 | 2–4 |
| Players 2 and 2 | 2 |
| Players 2 and 10 or more | 2–10+ |
| Min players only | 2+ |
| Play time 45 and 60 | 45–60 min (one value: 60 min) |
| Minimum age 12 | 12+ |
| Weight 2.6 | Five pips: pip 1 and 2 full, pip 3 half (a pip is full at its number, half from half a point below) |

The weight label comes from the block's **Weight labels** ("Light, Medium light, Medium, Medium heavy, Heavy", lightest first), picked by the weight rounded to a whole number. Screen readers hear words ("2 to 4 players", "Weight 2.6 out of 5, medium") rather than pips.

Game stats block settings: **Show players**, **Show play time**, **Show age**, **Show weight** (all on) and **Weight labels**. A missing value drops its tile; with no game data at all the block shows nothing, so it can stay on the template for every product.

## The base-game guard

An expansion is a product with a **Base game** metafield (`custom.base_game`) pointing at the game it needs. On the expansion's product page, the **Base game guard** block shows a pop-colored panel with the base game's picture:

* "You'll need Starfall Harbour to play", "Tidewatch is an expansion." and whether the base game is already in the cart ("Not in your cart yet.").
* An **Add both · $134.90** key that adds the base game (its first available variant) and the chosen expansion in one go and opens the cart.
* When the base game is already in the cart, the key adds the expansion alone ("Add expansion · $44.95") and the panel says so, or the panel hides, depending on **When the base game is in the cart**. The panel follows the cart as the shopper adds and removes things.

| Setting | Default | What it does |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Heading | You'll need [title] to play | [title] becomes the base game's title |
| Text | [expansion] is an expansion. | [expansion] becomes this product's title, [title] the base game's |
| Button label | Add both | The price follows |
| When the base game is in the cart | Say so, add the expansion alone | Or Hide the panel |

The guard only shows while the base game can be bought. On product cards, an expansion's meta line reads "Needs the base game" (the card doesn't name the game, for space).

## Expand this game

On a base game, fill **Expansions** (`custom.expansions`, a list of products). The **Product recommendations** section with **Source** set to **Expansions** (the presets have it on the product page, with the kicker "Expand this game" and the heading "Add more to the table") shows them as a row of cards. With no expansions listed, the row hides.

## Shopping by player count

Add a **Players** filter in Search & Discovery (chapter 13): its values show as number chips on collection and search pages, so shoppers can tap "4" to see games that play four.