Currently, when you create a game and either await, or invite, other players you have no interaction with them until the game is filled.
It seems that you could have an ENTER GAME button active prior to the game being started, along with the current DROP GAME button.
This only works for "smack talking", or pre-game communications---spoken as someone who does most of their talk through game chat.
You could say things in chat, prior to the start of the game.
This will improve the following aspects of the site by allowing more communication, camraderie, and pre-game negotiation.