shaggath: I don't think so. When a player captures an opponent's piece, it is his extra piece and doesn't matter if the piece was promoted or not.

u should check the rules at www.chessvariants.com/other.dir/crazyhouse.html or http://www.uschesslive.org/help4/cl_crazyhouse.htm

That's one of the beauties of this game! I remember an early game where I promoted to a queen, only to see it taken by a rook!! More careful nowadays.

shaggath: I've never read the rules on chessvariants.com. Just take it as a different chess variation.

Hi Fencer its day 7 of the site being laggy and next to impossible to get in to certain times of the time not to mention that there are still people who cant get in to the site. Can we get an update from you on just how the progress is going? I know half the people I play are very frusterated at how long it takes to access the site or send a move only to play a turn an have it not register then have to play it again when the site is back up.. yesterday the site was down ( for lack of a better word) 15 times while trying to play. I would play 10 or 15 turns then get that white upgrade page.
I am asking every one if they get it. and no matter what part of the world you are from they are getting it whether its North American or Europe.

Rigattoni.. you're lucky to get 10 goes before you get the upgrade or page unavailable page! I get 3 or 4 turns at the most before being booted! Very frustrating!

I know harl I have never had this much patience in my life!!! I guess any of us who can get in are lucky as a ton of ppl cant even access the site at all. I mean not even to the opening page.

Its very hard for me to bite my tongue here as I asked a ton of questions about site slowness before I bought my membership and was told it wouldnt happen! I went ahead an bought a top membership then this happens.. But I remain hopefull this is going to be rectified soon... arggggggggggggggggggggggggggg

Can I add a request that the backgammon and variants ratings be changed to something more suitable for the game ie: the fibs system. The current ratings system just doesnt work well for backs, the fibs info can be found here http://www.fibs.com/ratings.html

Rose, I just wrote a long reply then got the site unavalable!! ARRGHH!!

Maybe short messages are better... I was saying new sites are bound to have problems and Fencer has been generous giving us another days membership for every day the site has problems...

I give up. 2 hours and I've managed to post 2 messages and play NO games.

Very frusterating isnt it harl..
I realize Fencer is working on this and he is very generous etc etc
I do like the idea that someone mentioned yesterday about giving us daily updates on how the progress is going. There are still alot of people who cant get in at all, as well as the most of us who cant play proper games fromhaving to wait and wait for pages to load only to get that upgrade page.

Fencer what will it take to fix this? A faster machine, limited moves per day for non members, a new Hosting company??

Why does the system wait until the end of a match to update the ratings? Is each game considered separately? If so the ratings should update intra-match.

grenv: even multi point/game/wins matches are treated the same as a single game, so whether you win a single game or a 10 wins match, your rating is effected the same amount at the same time (the end of the match).

That seems a little strange. Can anyone else verify that.

I verify that.

Following on from the comments below and having seen how the ratings system has worked at GoldToken and other places I would like to offer some observations:

1) As others have said, the USCF ELO system does not work at all well for Backgammon and its variants. There is too much luck involved in these games and soon the higher-rated players will refuse to play the lower-rated ones because they lose too many points if they lose the game. FIBS is a much better system for these games and its introduction at GT has resulted in the top players lists becoming much more representative of ability. FIBS is probably better also for the other games which involve luck such as the Battleship-type games.

2) The Provisional Ratings formulae used by the USCF ELO system are designed to facilitate a small number of new players reaching their correct rating in a large pool of established players. On a site such as this the opposite applies - a relatively large number of new players with no real established base. I don't think they are of any benefit here and I would simply get rid of them. ie just use the established formulae. They are particularly inappropriate for Backgammon etc as they quickly take you to an (almost) arbitrary rating (see 1 above) from which it can take around 300 games to approach your true rating.

3) The treatment of multi-game matches is I think a little simplistic. I think common sense suggests you should receive more credit for winning a long match than for a short one. Fortunately multi-point matches are common in Backgammon and FIBS copes with them simply by multiplying the rating adjustment by the square root of the match length. So you get 3 times as many points for winning a 9-point match as you would for a single point one. An n-point Backgammon match is equivalent to an n-wins match here. There is no such thing as a draw in Backgammon but the same formula could probably be applied to an n-points match. I think an n-games match can be considered as an (n+1)/2 - wins match. I'm not sure how you would treat a tied n-games match - again there is no such thing in Backgammon.

4) Ratings based on all matches played are easily manipulated by the unscrupulous. They would be more meaningful if based on tournament matches only.

Would it be possible to also include what State we are from on our profiles? I Like to find and play games with others from the same state.

i work 51 hrs/6 days a week...in charge of $25,000 to $30,000 worth of fresh produce inventory a week...thats over 1,000,000 worth of fresh produce a year...so when i get home...i relax...to relax...i play games...when i play games...im happy....this is better than having a wife always saying why dont ya get off your butt all day? and all of that...at least when i get tired of playing games...i can turn it off...ok so i turn off many women too but hey thats life...:-)

in their defense...they are proabably playing games with me..

if their breathing...their hearts are beating...aint that life?

Why should it matter to any one else but the player???? You never know who's on the other side of a keyboard. I'm not one of the most active players here, but I used to be at IYT,and plan on being here soon. I played at least 12 hours a day. I had broken my leg and it was all I could do. It helped me keep my sanity being able to talk with people and play instead of looking out a window all day wishing I could get out. I also have a neice that has a brain stem injury and being on the computer talking and playing is her world. So the next time you say these people need to get a life, you just think about how much some of the people would if only they could...Don't put so much into what other people are doing and worry about yourself. I think Michael Jackson said it best in his song: I'm starting with the man in the mirror..

I think they should Flash the most Active players on the site in Bold Gold letters! :)

I think it's interesting and in my case, I like fast games so it helps to know who plays alot. Question answered?

If that's your biggest worry, consider yourself lucky

lol maybe you should have consulted him before making such a crude remark in the first place

I am very much aware that you meant everyone and that's why I commented.By him in my last statement. I meant God not eddie... This just goes to show you things can be easily be taken the wrong way on a computer. No facial expressions or tones of voice can be seen or heard.

how about some yahtzee and battleboats plus

Erm.. this 'active players' discussion, has someone deleted their messages?!
I feel like I'm listening to one half of a conversation!! LOL!

Yes you are reading a one sided conversation.Guess she felt she was wrong

Hi Fencer, just was wondering if it is possible for a site like this to have cribbage. I have been on webtv for 5 years and have never found a site that has it compatible with webtv. If it isn't possible I'm not surprised, just kind of wierd in my mind, seeing we can play blackjack and other card games against people online somewhere. Vince

Oh please Fencer. If there's a way of adding this game, please do....my most favorite game of them all!!!

I'm not sure if it would be possible to add cribbage to a game site like this or not. But keep in mind, this is a TURN BASED game site. That means that after every card that is layed, you'd have to send it back to your opponent. That would make one hand seem unnecessarily long...let alone the entire game.

Actually, it is possible to implement but with the limitations as Stingeroni writes. Do you think it would be still acceptable and playable?

Is there a way of setting up a testing of the game for a few Cribbage players to try out and see how it would all work out? I sure would be willing to try it out. Sanchos.com is the best for webtv users, but it's a far cry from the real board game as I know it.

Its great to see someone else agreeing with the change of backgammon ratings. I would like to note that although GT has implemented the FIBS rating system, it is not working correctly, at present a player will only gain or lose 2-3 pts, whereas it should be possible to gain or lose more even in a 1pt match. This 2-3pts has resulted in a stagnation of many peoples ratings, making it near impossible for a low rated but improving player to ever get near the top. Dailygammon however uses the FIBS system which works very well and is representative of a players strength. If multipoint games with the cube were intoduced here (fingers crossed) then a modification of the ratings system would be essential.

This would be a blast. I do fear that it would take a long time for a game to be played, but I would be happy to try it.

I love cribbage, maybe actual cribbage (not crib) in that you only have 5 cards & play 61 holes rather than 121 would be a bit quicker.

Would a regular cribbage game take any longer to play than a Tank Battle game. That has to be one of the slowest games going. I think if you enjoy playing the game, the time frame won't be much of an issue.

I certainly would be happy to be a BK cribbage player. Yes, it would be slow, but hey, we got all the time in the world, don't we? LOL

The biggest problem that I have with this site is how it figures out the next move after making your move. If you have a game setup for 3 days, shouldn't your opponent have only three days to make a move, not 5 days and 17 hours or whatever number it so happens to pick? I think this promotes slow play from opponents as well. Am I alone on these sentiments?

You opponet will only have 3 days... unless the move falls on a week-end or vacation day, then the time is extended.... hope this helps.

If you want to you can set up short time span gammes in the waiting room of 1-2 days.

Fencer: How about that pro version of 5-in-line (like IYT`s Pro Go-moku) ? I`m posting this request again just in case you didn`t notice it the first time.
Another thing: I posted a new game with a lower limit to the BKR of the opponent. The game was, however, picked up by someone with a significantly lower BKR than the limit was. Is there a problem with that feature?

I have a real problem understanding how to set ratings up. All the BKR=100 =BKR... and so on!!
I had to check how Eddie had set up his tournament before I could start my own, and I know others struggled with this too.
Setting up a new game with restricted BKR's just isn't an option because I dont know how! Isn't there an easier way to arrange this? Just a simple "BKR minimum 100...BKR maximum 3000" and an option to change the numbers?

The number to the left is the minimum, the one on the right the maximum. Ignore everything else!

sundance: I'll add it to my TODO list.
hrlqns: I will write some FAQ or Help issue. But it is exactly like Mike writes.

Thanks Mike & Fencer, that simplifies it a lot!!

One of my favorite games of all time, just wondering if it would be difficult to make a turn-based version.

Goonerg, thanks

This may have been asked for before..but anyway...I am asking again
Can we get some options for different coloured game boards and playing pieces? Purely an asthetic thing I know, but makes it easier on the eyes :-)