Whatnot card break boards for TCG and sports
A Whatnot break board has to be readable on a phone while chat moves. Sports needs the team. TCG needs the chase named. Both need open versus claimed.
On this page
A Whatnot card break board is the spot list buyers read while the rip is happening. If they cannot tell open from claimed on a phone, the board is a poster. Sports boards are scanned by team. TCG boards are scanned by the chase or the slot people paid for. The layout changes. The rule does not: this break's list, big type, updated when the spot sells.
Pass or fail for a whole sports night, including the cam, is the sports cards graphics checklist. Format drawings that are not a simple grid: Pick Your Team and Stash or Pass. This post is the board itself.
| Sports | TCG | |
|---|---|---|
| What a cell is | A team or a named spot in this break | A slot, a pack line, or a named chase |
| What to leave off | Teams you are not selling | Every card in the set |
| The state that matters | Open, claimed, and whose if you show names | Open, hit, and which slot the hit belongs to |
| Common fail | A full league page with twelve real spots | A grid of logos and no chase name |
Build the list you are selling tonight
Count the spots. Put those spots on the board. Empty cells that were never for sale look like leftover inventory and they shrink the type on the real ones. If the list changes every show, you need a file you can edit or a template you duplicate. You do not need a new brand.
A spreadsheet on the second monitor is not a board. Buyers do not see your second monitor. If the only accurate list is off camera, the on-camera list is fiction.
Three states, readable after a glance
Open, claimed, and done. Color is fine if a color-blind glance still has a word or a mark. Do not rely on a two-percent brightness change. Test by looking away and back. If you cannot find the open spots in a second, the fill will generate questions you do not have time to answer.
Update on the sale, not at the intermission. The pacing problem is real even when the art is pretty: run of show for break nights.
What a board file will not do
It will not click the spot, remember the buyer after OBS crashes, or know which format Whatnot currently calls the button. Pelican ships art you operate. Live board software is a different purchase. Compare features on that vendor's site, not against a promise in a design deck.
It will also not fix a camera that covers the cells. Place the board in the live scene and look at it with chat and bids visible. Safe area is overlay size. If the bottom row is under the bid UI, the bottom row does not exist.
Check the board the way a buyer will
- Count cells against tonight's spot list. Delete extras.
- Mark one cell claimed. Confirm you can see the difference on a phone.
- Put the scene under Whatnot's chrome. Move anything the app covers.
- Say one cell's name out loud. If the type is a nickname only you use, rename it.
- Reset every cell before the next show. Yesterday's claims are a lie.
Who should not order a board: singles sellers, and breakers who have not written the spot list. Who should: rooms where 'what's left?' is the main question in chat while the graphic is already up. Service home: Whatnot boards.
Names buyers use, not collector shorthand
If the cell says a nickname your regulars invented, a new buyer cannot bid the right spot. Use the team or the chase name a stranger can match to the listing. You can say the nickname out loud. The board has to survive without your voice.
For TCG, do not fill cells with set logos and hide the slot number in a corner. The number is the purchase. For sports, do not abbreviate until the abbreviation is shorter and still unique. Two teams that collapse to the same three letters will get claimed wrong. Spell the second one out.
A 32-spot board that still has a bottom row
Build the list you are selling tonight. If the break is twelve teams, the board has twelve cells. A full league grid with empty cells looks like unsold product. Open, claimed, and gone have to read after a glance, including with the sound off. Color is fine. A legend nobody can find is not a state.
Place the board in the live scene with chat and bids visible. If the bottom row sits under the bid UI, the bottom row does not exist. Move the board up. Do not solve it by shrinking every name until the row is a texture. Buyers purchase a name. The name has to survive a phone crop.
Update on the sale, not at the intermission. A pretty board that you batch-edit after five spots is a picture of a break you already left. The file will not mark itself, and it will not survive as the source of truth if OBS crashes. If you need state that lives through a crash, that is live board software. Read that product's current docs. A design file is not that product.
| Board habit | What a buyer does | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Every team in the league, most of them empty | Bids a cell that is not in the break | Only tonight's list |
| Open and claimed are the same color | Asks 'is this open?' with the board on screen | Three states you can name with the sound off |
| Nicknames regulars invented | A new buyer claims the wrong spot | The name a stranger can match to the listing |
| The same file every night | Yesterday's claimed cells are still claimed | Reset before the show, then look |
TCG boards fail when they copy a sports team grid. The slot number is the purchase. Put the number where the eye lands. Sports boards fail when two abbreviations collide. Spell the second one out. Either way, check the board the way a buyer will: on a phone, chat open, bottom row included.
FAQ
What is a Whatnot card break board?
The on-stream list of spots for this break, with open and claimed readable on a phone, for sports teams or TCG slots.
Should a TCG board look like a sports team grid?
Only if you are selling teams. If you are selling chases or slots, name those. A borrowed team layout hides the thing they bought.
How many teams should be on the board?
The ones in this break. A full league you are not selling makes the real spots smaller.
Can I use the same board every night?
Only if the list matches and you reset claims. A new list needs an edit or a new file.
Will Pelican run the board during the show?
No. You get files. Your room updates them. We are not on the mic.
Photograph the board from a phone held at the distance you actually watch shows. If a cell you care about is mush, it is mush for buyers. Enlarge that type or cut cells. Do not add a legend. Nobody reads a legend while a card is being flipped.
Send a photo of the current board and the spot list through Free Audit, or drop both in Discord.
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