# Online play

The launcher has an **ONLINE** tab. Connect once and you get a lobby of who
else is around, with what game and what rules.

- Host a battle or join one.
- Watch any live match or tournament as a spectator.
- Run a bracket where everyone not playing watches the match that is on.
- Trade Pokemon between save files, yours or someone else's.

Picking a battle opens the game straight into it, no intro and no overworld,
and drops you back in the tab when it ends. Every room names exactly what it
runs, so both sides are on the same engine, the same version and the same
ruleset: vanilla, or a sealed custom cart that both players have installed.

The in-game LINK menu is still there and is local network only.

## More

- [Link play guide](https://github.com/bryanthaboi/gen1recomp/wiki/Guide-Link-Play): START > LINK connects two copies directly over UDP.
- [Link security](../link-security.md): what link play defends against, and what it doesn't.
- [Rulesets](rulesets.md)