nabla: I'm against private games, especially in Dark Chess. That is why I almost always decline invitations to play Dark Chess privately. Sure, you can follow my games and figure my plans, good for you. Hmm, maybe that's why I've dropped so far lately? :) Dark Chess is completely hidden while the game is in progress. If I play privately, I can't easily share the game with someone else when the game is over. Believe it or not, there are people that won't play me Dark Chess because of my not playing privately and yet these same people will enter Dark Chess tournaments and those games are always available for viewing when the game is complete!

I request the end of private games too. nabla's two reasons are good ones. Especially for rated games. There's been enough scandal and pointing of fingers over cheating. Having the games available for public view makes it more likely that cheating can be detected and it certainly can act as a deterent to cheaters.

One option would be to have the games private until they are complete. This would help cut down on outside help for a game in progress. Add that as a third option when creating an individual game: private, public, and private until complete.