Creating & joining games
Learn how to create and join planning poker games in AgileBox
Creating a Planning Poker game
Step 1: Start a new game
If you have a project with issues that need estimating, you can begin your game right away. Start your game either from the Planning Poker’s Backlog tab or Games tab.
From the Backlog tab
In the main Backlog tab, move the issues you want to estimate from the Un-estimated Issues column (left column) to the Picked to Estimate column (middle column).
To efficiently find the desired issues, you can use the Filter option:
Basic Filters: You can use each or combine many of these options to filter issues
Search by Issue Key or Summary
Assignees
Issue types
Status
JQL Filter: Using JQL (Jira Query Language) to filter your issues
Check the Show all option to see all issues, including ones that don’t have the Story point estimate field. Please note that estimated story points won’t be persisted to those issues.
Choose Move all if you want to quickly move all available issues from the Un-estimated Issues column to the Picked to Estimate column.
Then click the Create game button in the top right.
From the Game tab
Move to the Games tab in the top left menu tabs and click on the New game button.
You can quickly see the important details at a glance:
Game name: Helps you identify the session easily.
State: Shows if the game is currently Active or has Ended.
Deck type: Displays the card deck used (e.g., Fibonacci, T-shirt sizes).
Start time: The scheduled date and time when the game begins.
Created by: Names of the users who set up the game.
Actions: Options to Join an active game or view the Result of a finished one.
You can modify the created games by clicking the ellipse symbol with these options:
Copy Game Link
Edit
Delete
Step 2: Configure the planning poker game
After selecting to create a game, you will be navigated to the game configuration menu, which is divided into two sections: General Information and Issues.
General Information | Issues |
|---|---|
 |  |
General Information
This section requires filling in this information:
Game name *: Enter the name for the game
Date and time: Schedule a suitable time for your team
Countdown Timer: Time to estimate each issue
Description: Add a description for the game
Estimation field *: Select the custom field to store the estimation points of the issues in the game
Deck template *: Select the estimation template for your team (Fibonacci, T-Shirt, or Custom decks). See more details here: Estimation methods
Participants *: Select who will join the poker game, including Teams or individual users
Other settings
Dynamic Facilitator: The facilitator can start or end the estimation session or edit the game. If this option is disabled, the creator of the game will be the facilitator.
Add a comment to Jira Issue when submitting estimation
Send invitation emails to participants
Issues
This section allows the game creators to select which issues to estimate in the game using the filter:
Basic Filters: You can use each or combine many of these options to filter issues
Search by Issue Key or Summary
Assignees
Issue types
Status
JQL Filter: Using JQL (Jira Query Language) to filter your issues
Drag and drop to move your selected issues to the Picked Issues column.
Choose Pick All if you want to quickly move all filtered issues to the Picked Issues column.
Click Save to finish creating your game
Joining a Planning Poker Game
There are 2 ways to join the planning poker game
From the AgileBox app: Find the game from the list in the Game tab, then click the Join button; it will direct you to the game screen.
Access via shareable link: On the Game tab, you can get the game link by going to the ellipsis symbol of each game. Use this link to quickly access the game screen.
This screen contains 2 main tabs: Details and Estimate.
Details
This shows all information about the game, including:
Total estimated story points
Game name
Date and time
List of participants
Issues to estimate
Estimated issues
Estimate
Click on Estimate now button or switch to Estimate tab to access this estimation screen
There are 4 areas:
The issue information: this includes the issue key, issue summary, description, and custom fields (Jira admin can decide which custom fields to be displayed from Custom fields display).
The poker deck: the list of poker cards for participants to pick as an estimation point of the issue, and choose to view between the spread or grid mode.
The issue list: the list of issues for estimation of the game. The game facilitator can pick any issue on this list to start estimating.
Live chat: a chat session between participants of the game.
Now your team can start estimating issues. Refer to these resources for more details: