Just clicking "Match" on the Main Menu wont do it.
Unlike other games like DbD, Gold Express is not that popular and has a very small but dedicated playerbase. So I will show you how to find a game:

Step 1: Boot up the game and on the Main Menu, click on the Discord icon in the bottom left hand corner or click HERE[discord.gg]to be invited to the Gold Express discord.

























Step 2: Find the #looking-for-group channel:















































Step 3: Write something to let us know you are new and that you are available to play. If you are shy you can also just say "hi" and we will know. We will let you know when to queue up to find a game.






Step 4: Like you, we also have to go to school or work so there wont be an instant game as soon as you want to play. If no one is responding or you want to ping players, you can ping the @Looking For Game group.





Step 5: If you enjoyed playing Gold Express with us and you want to play more often, we recommend getting the Looking For Game Discord role so you get a ping whenever people are trying to form a lobby.









To do this, message one of the moderators and tell them "hello @[mod], can i have the looking for game role plz" in the "#Chat"





Hey you made it! Welcome to the GE Community <3

Usually when new players buy the game, they queue for 5 minutes and then refund the game. Others join the Discord server but don't say anything and end up leaving again. In some rare cases they actually ask "Is the game dead?" and we always respond in the same way: YES AND NO and here's why:

In a way, yes, the game is kind of dead. The developers don’t advertise the game at all right now and since there is no new content players are likely to stop playing after a few hours.

BUT you are still able to play the game a fair amount, even though I have everything that you can obtain in this game, I still don't get bored... but maybe I’m just weird.
Maybe I'm drawn to the game because it has such a small but friendly player base. For me, it's way more enjoyable than DbD.

"Why are there no players in queue?"
Because it's not worth spending hours waiting for a random person to que up. We form games via the Gold Express Discord and as soon as we hit 5/5 players, we all boot the game and start playing. It's not currently possible to find games with randoms in que, it has to be orchestrated using Discord.

"When is the next update coming?"
DawnStudio are currently reworking the game. When I asked them in a private DM on Discord they responded with:



(won’t show the full conversation out of respect)



The above message and the Twitter post heavily indicates that they are still working on the game. It's important to note that the collaboration with Japanese game publisher DDM has stopped for unknown reasons, which could also be a reason for the delayed update. Let me also address the elephant in the room: ... COVID 19... the pandemic has obviously impacted the working routine of DawnStudio and since they are located in China, they got hit pretty hard with it.

"Why are DawnStudio not pinging everyone to encourage players to come back that don’t play anymore?"
They are very rarely online which makes any communication with them extremely difficult
and the server Mods dont have permission to do so without there consent.

"Why am i to lazy to join the Discord server[discord.gg] and ask about it?"
I don't know man... you tell me.

Most of the early beta testers have left because of early balance problems in GE's life cycle. The game never properly recovered after that.

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2019

2019 was probably the best year for Gold Express in terms of playerbase. There was enough players actively playing to find a game in less than 5 minutes. However, towards the end of 2019, this halved to around 40 - 50 players a day. Games could still be found in the evenings without issue though.



















20/12/2019
DawnStudio dropped the last official update:






Some months after this the playerbase plummeted and finding games using discord was a must.
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2020

2020 was probably the worst year for Gold Express in terms of playerbase. There was almost no-one joining the community, with several months having a peak of 2 players a day.



















25/2/2020
DawnStudio posted a statement for the missing updates on Twitter.












07/05/2020
DawnStudio officially state that they are redeveloping the game:










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2021

2021 is looking like a better year for Gold Express in terms of playerbase. We saw a rise in new players and within 4 months we had only 7 days that we were not able to play. There was also 5 days where two lobbies were being played at the same time.



















14/01/2021
A Community Tournament was hosted to bring old players back into the game:





DawnStudio provided exclusive skin codes and copies of the game as rewards for placing high in the tournament. The tournament was a huge success and people came back to play for a short while. After this it was easier to find games again.

14/04/2021
I came up with the idea of a pingable Discord role for the active players. This was implemented on the server on the day it was suggested.









Players still come and join the server every few days, but I have given up on sending every single one a private DM at this point. Most don't respond anyway.





































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04/08/2021
They have stated that they are droping Gold Express for now... My predictions are 3-4 years of no updates or anything. Looking back at the 3+ that they did not Update the game proabaly even longer or just never. RIP GE









The players that play often will often participate on their own accord. At this point in time, we have enough players to play every day consistently. We are kind of like a small family. Well, at least that's how I see it. Thanks to everyone that has played and laughed with me, love you all <3

Thanks to: BlindRiven, MegWATTT, and Heliotropic Rose for helping me with this guide.

Sources:
All information and screenshots shown are from:

- My own experiences in-game.
- The Official Gold Express Discord server[discord.gg](#update-notes, #announcements, #chat)
- Gold Express (Screenshots)
- Steam Charts[steamdb.info]

Hopefully this guide answered your questions and helped you out. I will try my best to keep this guide updated :)