How to make a lobby in Roblox Studio

Two kinds of lobby

1. Build the lobby

• Make it bright and safe: no traps, clear paths, the spawn in the middle.
• Put the way into the game where everyone sees it: a big pad, an elevator, a portal.
• Keep the shop, leaderboards and daily rewards here, so the game part stays clean.
• Give players something to do while they wait: a small obby, a few things to click, a leaderboard to read.

The map maker can build a lobby or hub map from a description ("a spooky carnival lobby with a stage and leaderboards"); see lobby map ideas.

2. Rounds in the same place

Keep the round maps in ServerStorage (each a model with a Spawns folder), and run the loop from a server Script. A StringValue named Status in ReplicatedStorage lets every player's UI show what's happening:

local Players = game:GetService("Players")
local ServerStorage = game:GetService("ServerStorage")
local status = game.ReplicatedStorage.Status
local MIN_PLAYERS, INTERMISSION, ROUND_TIME = 2, 20, 120

local function countdown(text, seconds)
	for t = seconds, 1, -1 do
		status.Value = text .. " " .. t
		task.wait(1)
	end
end

while true do
	repeat
		status.Value = "Waiting for players..."
		task.wait(1)
	until #Players:GetPlayers() >= MIN_PLAYERS

	countdown("Intermission", INTERMISSION)
	local map = ServerStorage.Maps:GetChildren()[math.random(#ServerStorage.Maps:GetChildren())]:Clone()
	map.Parent = workspace

	local spawns = map.Spawns:GetChildren()
	for i, player in Players:GetPlayers() do
		local character = player.Character
		if character then
			character:PivotTo(spawns[(i - 1) % #spawns + 1].CFrame + Vector3.new(0, 3, 0))
		end
	end

	countdown("Round", ROUND_TIME) -- end early when your win rule is met
	for _, player in Players:GetPlayers() do
		player:LoadCharacter() -- back to the lobby spawn
	end
	map:Destroy()
end

Add your game's rules inside the round: roles, a win check that ends the countdown early, rewards at the end.

3. Map voting

Instead of a random map, offer three. During intermission, show three buttons; each click fires a RemoteEvent with the map's name. The server keeps one vote per player (a table keyed by player, so changing your vote replaces it), counts them when intermission ends, and loads the winner, breaking ties at random. Show the vote counts live so the lobby feels busy.

4. A queue pad and a teleport to a game place

For games where each group gets its own server, add a second place to your experience (Creator Hub, under your experience's Places, or Studio's Asset Manager), then a queue pad in the lobby:

local Players = game:GetService("Players")
local TeleportService = game:GetService("TeleportService")
local GAME_PLACE_ID = 0 -- the second place's ID
local MAX_GROUP = 4
local pad = workspace.QueuePad
local queue = {}

pad.Touched:Connect(function(hit)
	local player = Players:GetPlayerFromCharacter(hit.Parent)
	if player and not table.find(queue, player) and #queue < MAX_GROUP then
		table.insert(queue, player)
	end
end)

Players.PlayerRemoving:Connect(function(player)
	local i = table.find(queue, player)
	if i then
		table.remove(queue, i)
	end
end)

while true do
	task.wait(1)
	if #queue > 0 then
		for t = 10, 1, -1 do
			pad:SetAttribute("Countdown", t) -- a BillboardGui above the pad shows this
			task.wait(1)
		end
		local group = queue
		queue = {}
		local options = Instance.new("TeleportOptions")
		options.ShouldReserveServer = true -- a private server for this group
		pcall(function()
			TeleportService:TeleportAsync(GAME_PLACE_ID, group, options)
		end)
	end
end

In a real game, also let players leave the queue (stepping off the pad, or a Leave button), and check the players are still in the server before teleporting. Teleports only work in the published game, so publish and test from the Roblox app. Roblox's teleport docs cover the details, including passing data along with the group.

5. Coming back to the lobby

When a run ends in the game place, teleport the group back to the lobby's place ID the same way, and show the results there. Save rewards before teleporting: a DataStore save on the game place, read again in the lobby.

Generate a round-based game with a lobby

The BloxMaps Game Maker builds games with the lobby included: round games such as murder mystery (intermission, a map vote, the countdown and the rounds), deathrun, zombie waves, battle royale, sky wars and arena shooters, and a lobby place plus a game place for co-op horror and room-by-room horror runs. Round-based games can have their own round maps: up to 4 on the Studio plan.