====== Your first session ======

Pick a lobby, get the map, and ready up. **You do not need to learn commands before you play.**

===== Join and play =====
  - **Choose your room.** Open osu!lazer and pick a [[lobbies:start|lobby for your mode and difficulty]]. Use **Join** on the [[:start|homepage]] or **Join a lobby** at the top of any page.
  - **Get ready.** Download or import the selected beatmap, then ready up. If a match is already playing, wait for the next map; the bot gives an approximate remaining time.
  - **Play a round.** After it finishes, you can give feedback with [[commands:good|.good]], [[commands:bad|.bad]], or [[commands:ok|.ok]].

If the Join button does not open the game, use **Open in browser** for launcher help and an official multiplayer link. The current Discord status card also has room links.

===== Three useful commands, when you need them =====
Type these in the lobby chat, including the dot.

^ When you want to… ^ Try ^
| See upcoming maps | [[commands:queue|.queue]] |
| Ask for the countdown to start | [[commands:start_match|.start]] |
| Ask for a little more time | [[commands:wait|.wait]] |

If you are the only player, ready up for automatic starting; you can also explicitly request ''.start''. See [[troubleshooting:countdowns|countdown help]] if the round is not starting as expected.

===== Playing together =====
Votes and Mania style choices affect the shared room. Most of these controls require you to be a gameplay participant; spectators do not count as players. The [[guides:using_commands|chat command guide]] explains this when you are ready to explore.