---
title: "Board layout"
package: "@phaser-ae/board"
tier: Pro
version: 3.0.0-3
released: 2026-10-14
updated: 2026-10-20
description: "Turns grid cells into world positions and back, centred on a 3D table or a 2D screen, with flips that settle which way row 0 runs."
url: https://phaser.io/packs/board
site: Phaser - https://phaser.io
---

# Board layout

Where a grid's cells are in the world. A rules pack resolves moves in cells; this turns a cell into a world position
and a pointer back into a cell, with the board centred and the right way round.

## What it does

`game.board.layout` takes a number of columns and rows and the spacing between cell centres, and returns a layout:
`toWorld` gives the world centre of a cell, `toCell` gives the cell a world point falls in, `contains` says whether
a cell is on the board, `index` and `at` convert to and from the row-major index rules packs keep, and `cells` lists
every cell for building sockets and highlights. `width` and `depth` give the board's full extent, for sizing the
backing under it.

The board is centred, not its first cell. Cell (0, 0) sits half a cell in from the edge, an odd board has a cell
exactly on the centre and an even one has a seam there: the off-by-half-a-cell every hand-written version gets wrong
once.

The other question it settles is which way round the board reads. A rules pack's "up" is row 0, and whether that
should face the camera or face away depends on where the camera sits. A mirrored board type-checks, renders and
passes every test, and is obvious to the first person who plays it. So `flipCols` and `flipRows` are named options
rather than a sign hidden in an expression.

## Features

- **Cell to world** — `toWorld(gx, gy)` gives a cell's centre as `{ x, y, z }`, extrapolating off the board for a
  piece mid-move.
- **World to cell** — `toCell` rounds to the nearest centre, so any point inside a cell picks that cell.
- **Two planes** — `'xz'` lays the board flat on a 3D table; `'xy'` stands it on a 2D screen, with y running down so
  row 0 is the top row.
- **Named flips** — `flipCols` and `flipRows` run the columns or rows the other way, and a flipped board still
  round-trips through `toCell`.
- **Indices and cells** — `index`, `at` and `cells` match the flat row-major arrays rules packs use.
- **Extent** — `width` and `depth` size the board's backing.
- **Placement** — `x`, `y` and `z` move the whole board; on a table, `y` is its height above the ground.

## Good for

- **Sliding-tile and 2048-style boards**, where tiles tween from cell to cell.
- **Match-3 fields** laid out in 2D or on a 3D table.
- **Board games such as chess**, where the camera may sit on either side of the board.
- **Click and tap picking** on any grid, from a pointer position or a raycast hit.
- **Level editors**, placing a cursor on the cell under the mouse.
- **Grid rules packs of your own**, which then need no layout code of their own.

## Make it yours

The layout takes `cols`, `rows`, `cell` (centre-to-centre spacing, 1 by default), `plane`, the board's centre `x`,
`y` and `z`, and the two flips. The pack itself has no options.

Two quite different uses: a four-by-four sliding board on a 3D table, laid flat on `'xz'` with a cell of 1.12 so
tiles have a small gap, and no flips because the camera sits at yaw π, where row 0 is already the far row; and an
eight-by-eight 2D match-3 field on `'xy'`, centred on the screen, where `toCell` turns each tap into the cell to swap.

## A quick look

Build the sockets of a four-by-four board, then tween each tile to its cell:

```ts
const board = game.board.layout({ cols: 4, rows: 4, cell: 1.12 });

for (const c of board.cells())
    game.world3d.spawn({ mesh: 'roundedPlane', ...board.toWorld(c.x, c.y), sx: 0.96, sz: 0.96 });

for (const tile of rules.tiles())
    game.tween.to(view(tile.id), board.toWorld(tile.x, tile.y), { duration: 0.13 });
```

## Works with

- `slide`, `match3`, `placer` and `faller` — grid rules packs whose cells it places.
- `cards`, `boulder-dash` and `chips-challenge` — other grids it lays out the same way.
- `tween` — to move pieces between the positions it returns.

## Good to know

- Square cells only: one spacing serves both axes. Nothing is hexagonal or isometric.
- There is no gap or padding setting; `cell` is centre-to-centre spacing, and how much of it a tile fills is the
  tile's own size.
- `toCell` extrapolates past the edges rather than clamping, so check `contains` before using the result.
- A layout is a value, not a live object: after a resize, build another one.

---

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