2007 April StreetSoccer monthly cup is finished
Winner: Steven Pedlow
Chess * Go * DVONN * StreetSoccer * ... and other board games

Summary

Players/Games:

16016/880342

Main Menu

Main
Login
MyGames
Messages
New games
Tournaments
Forum
Waiting room
Games
FAQ
Membership
Game of Empathy

Frequent asked questions

General Game Play

Golem's word game

Time

What are the time limits for the games?

The games have a time limit of 240 hours + 36 hours/move. At the moment, that is the case for both tournament games and non-tournament games. This means the following. At the beginning of the game both players have 240 hours on their clock. The clock of the on-move-player will count down. When she moves she gets 36 extra hours, with a maximum of 240. So if you move within 1 day and a half, the clock will be on 240. If the clock of a certain player on one of his games gets to 0, a day of vacation will be triggered. This means that all games of that player get 24 hours extra time. Each player has 20 vacation days.

Why does my opponent not time-out while he is not moving for 20 days, and he has always around 80 hours left?

This means that that your player has a game where he is between 0 and 24 hours left, which triggers each day a new vacation day. Typically the game will last 30 days and then it will time-out.

Where can I see the time left for a game?

The clock is in the box "Game Info" on the right-hand side. The hight lighted clock, is the clock of the on move player.

General Game Play

Where do I see my games?

There are different links to the games page, or to specific games. The link 'player' in the upper-right-hand box, brings you to your game status. Clicking the number of one of the games brings you to that game.

How do I get games started?

There are 4 ways to start games.

1) Go to the waiting room, and take a game from the list. Make sure it is a game you know, or want to learn, and your rating of the game has to fit the conditions, given. You can simply start the game click 'start game!'.
(If you get the message: Your rating (957) is not in request range (1800 - 2000). it means you're not considered fit to play the game (too good or too bad))

2) You can enter a game in the waiting room. You click the "Add my game to the waiting room" at the top of the page. You have to indicate a number of things during the process.

On the first page : the game type and the number of games you want to start. (Being a turn based site, it is not a bad idea to start for instance 5 games at once, since some opponents may play very slowly.)
on the second page : rating range : if you have no idea what that is, you should make it wide, and try to make sure your own rating is in the range (your current rating is indicated on the right) and a message : Tell something to the possible opponent. This way you can narrow down the possible opponents.

3) You can enter a tournament, by clicking 'registrate' on the 'tournament'-page. Depending on the tournament, you will get a number of games on your game index page, when the tournament starts. Typically rating tournaments (if your rating is popular) and monthly cups will start very often.

4) Invite an other player for a game. The link is under 'New Game' on the left hand side.

How many games can I play simultaneously?

There is currently no limit on the number of games you can play.

Game Play

How do I play?

The actual Game play on this site is feasable with each web browser, even a WebTV. In general, one loads the page of a certain game. The board is drawn on screen (which eliminates the problem of other corresponding games, to have the game board fysical at home). A move in general happens by clicken on the square or piece with which you want to play, in some games, you have to hit some other square (GWG and chess), and at the end of a LEGAL move, it is possible to use the button 'send move' (you may or may not type a message for your opponent) to send the move. (You can as well 'cancel move') The move is considered played while hitting the 'send move' button. ((This means that you can do the whole move, consider the effect on the board, and still cancel it. This is rude and not done in most real life games, but here it is allowed, and probably done often, since nobody knows.))

Which options do I have during play?

(For particular games see below.) On the page of a game, there are a lot of links, giving several options, different from the ones above. Some are due to the particular game rules, but others are in all the games the same. I consider only the parts of the game page, which doesn't occur elsewhere.

resign

Underneath the game board you can resign the game. This can avoid the 'boring' part of the game when both players know who has won.

skip

To the right of the game-board you see 4 boxes. Above the first there is 'skip game' link. Normally the game you will have to play is the first to be time-out (the most time-pressure). It is possible you want to think it through and first want to play other games. In that case you can use the link 'skip game'.

player info

The next first 2 boxes indicate the players. Each of them has a link to the player info. you might want to study the opponents other games...

Game info

The next box shows the 'game info'. It has a link to the tournament (in that case) where you can see the standings, and the games in the tournament.

List of moves

The last box is the list of moves. There you can scroll through the game, if you need it. This is also the way to recover the message on which your opponent has answered if you don't remember or can't get it from the context.

GO

Chess

Reversi

Amazons

What is Amazons ?

Amazons is a game on 10x10 board, where 2 teams of 4 chess queens oppose each other. The aim is to restrict the movement of the opponent to zero, by remove squares from the board. How do I move in Amazons ? A move is done by one of the queens, who first moves, like in chess (horizontal, vertical or diagonal) without crossing a removed square. Then from the place she landed, she may remove any stone she can jump to next (so again horizontal, diagonal or vertical, and not over one of the removed squares). The game finished is a player is not able to move, that player is lost.

Hex

What is Hex?

Hex is a game invented seemingly simultaneous by some game theorist. The grid is hexagonal, the aim is to connect to sides of your colour with each other.

How do I move in Hex?

You move by clicking in an empty circle, which will be coloured to your colour. The opening player has a enormous advantage as being first to move. Therefore the second player is allowed to 'swap' at his first move. Then the first player and the second swap places, so the first player has to play as if the other player played his first move.
The game is over if one of the players has connected the both sides of his colour.

Golem's word Game

This is an original game of this site!!!!

How can I move?

Important is that there are 3 phases in the game. In the first phase you can't move. That is the bidding phase. The first player has to bid by clicking one of the numbers underneath the board. (0.5-1.5-2.5- ....). The bidding (of let's say 4.5) means you say to the opponent: "I want to start and I'm willing to donate you a 4.5 points". The opponent has underneath his board (Pass (4.5) - 5.5 - 6.5 - 7.5 - ....). The opponent can now decide to either pass, which means he accepts the 4.5 headstart, and the first player opens the game, or he can bid higher. The first phase ends with a pass of one of the players (who obtains the points of the last bid).

The second phase, is the actual playing phase, where you have to score points by making long words on the grid. The scoring is discussed in the forum, and might be changing in the next week, so I won't discuss it.

Finding info

Where can I find ...?

On each page of the site, the are 2 boxes with interesting links, within the site.

"Summary"

On the upper right hand corner shows, your player name (with a link to your personal statistics), games, where the numbers 12/56 would indicate that you play 56 games, of which you have to move in 12 of them. (The number is sometimes one of, if you just have hit the 'send move' buttom.) Then the number of players and games on the site, and maybe 'New messages : 2' with a link to the message page.

"Main menu"

To the left you can find a main menu, also available from each page.

(Main) The link 'main' gives you the home page with news. And
*acces to FAQ, which you apparently found,
*acces to a list of players, which you can order following the rating in one of the games, by clicking a link right of the list.

(Login/new User) The link gives you the chance to login, and
*acces to "New User" to open an account
*acces to "Forgot Password"
*acces to "Edit user profile"
*acces to "log off" (if you are on your own computer this is not needed, at a public computer it is recommended to use it.)
*acces to "blacklist" (people on the blacklist won't be able to send you any message)

(My Games) The list of all your games
*acces to "Vacation" You can see your vacation days here. You don't have to indicate in forehand, the vacation days are triggered automatically.
*acces to "print Games" A printer friendly list of your games!
*acces to "chess PGN"

(Messages) The list of the messages to you, with the link to writing messages yourself.

(New Games) All ways to start games, see above.

(Tournaments) The page to registrate into tournaments.

(Forum) A lot of good ideas and explications are there!

(Waiting Room) See above

(Games) For each games, you find info on the game, registrating to tournaments, rankings, and using the link 'rules' you can find the rules and maybe sites with tactical advice.

Tournaments

What are the different tournaments?

For each game there are 3 kind of tournaments. The tournament games are always 'rated', and the only rated games, at the moment. Within a tournament (or a section) the points are given as follows. A win is 2 points, a draw 1, and loss 0 points. If 2 players get the same points, the 'Son' is considered. The 'Son' is the sum of the following products. For each opponent (the score you got against him) times (the points of the opponent). So in fact a win against a better player should be more valuable then a win against the last in the tourney.

What is a Rating Tournament (RT)?

The rating tournament is a short tournament, with only 4 players. You play each player in one game (which means that 3 games will start at the beginning in the tournament, one or two where you have to play first). The players will come from the same range of rating, so a rating tournament should be very close.

When does the Rating Tournament start?

Whenever 4 players of the same range join, the tournament will start within 10 minutes.

Why should I play Rating Tournaments?

There are 2 advantages for a RT: it is fast, and it is close battle.

How many RT's can I play at once?

You are allowed to play as much as RT's as you can cope. You can only registrate once, but when the RT starts, you can registrate for the next.

What do I get for winning?

First of all you will have enjoyed playing. You will get a better rating (due to game victories; not for winning the tournament), and on the page 'games' in the subsection of that part, there is a ranking for the number of RT's won, in which you can try to climb.

What is a Monthly Cup (MC)?

The monthly cup, is desputed for each month. Due to the 'slowness' of turn based play, it lasts for several months though. The first round of the Monthly Cup. Consists of round robins with 5 players. You play each player in one game (which means that 4 games will start at the beginning in the tournament, two where you have to play first). Since all players can join, it will start faster in general then RT's. Winners of the first round, meet in the second (in robins of 4 to 7 players), and so on. (If a player wins more the one Round Robin in the first round, he will only play once in the second round, if he manages to win ALL first round robins, he wins the tournament at once.)

When does the Monthly Cup start?

Whenever 5 players registrate, the round robin will start within 10 minutes. When all round robins of round end, the next round start (except if it was decisive).

Why should I play Monthly Cup?

There are 2 advantages for a MC: it is starts fast, and you can play anyone, much better, and much worse players.

How many MC first rounds can I play at once?

You are allowed to play as much as first round robins as you can cope. You can only registrate once, but when the round robin starts, you can registrate for the next.

What do I get for winning?

First of all you will have enjoyed playing. You will get a better rating. Finally winning the cup is a big honour of course.

What is a GOLEM Championship (GC)?

The Championship is the long term tournament, where all players are in the same tournament. The championship is played in round robins of 9 players each. They are divided in leagues. The first 9 players play in the first league, and dispute the championship. The next 18 players are in the two second leagues, the are 4 third leagues, and so on (chess and Go19x19 are almost needing a 4th league, when I write this). The first 2 of each league advance to a better league in the next tournament. Since draws can occur, it might be possible that more players advance. The first 3 of a league are always certain to maintain (if not advance) their place. Normally up to 5th place is pretty sure. New players start in lowest league.

When does the Championship start?

When the previous ended. It will be announced at the tournament page, and also at the home page, a few weeks before the beginning.

Why should I play Championship?

It is an alternative way (compared to rating) to see your strenght. It is the only way to show your the best.

How many championships can I play at once?

For each game you can only enter once the championship.

What do I get for winning?

Ratings

What is a rating (general idea)?

A rating is ESTIMATE of you skill in a certain game. It is important to point that out at first. The point of a rating in the first place is to give people an idea of how stong they are compared to other players. It gives an easy way to find good opponents, to play close games. However this is only partly true... players that play the first time reversi on this site will have rating 1500. One can be champion of his country, the other totally new to the game, both will have 1500... Note as well that ratings are not universal (even if they look so). The rating on this site is internal to this site, a should be seen as such. A 2.dan player on this site, could be a European 5.dan player.

What does 'kyu' mean?

The site uses 2 different rating systems (or rather it looks like that). The rating system for Go is traditional in 'kyu' and 'dan', while the other games use chess-like ratings. A beginner in Go (on this site) is 20. kyu. When you get better your kyu will drop to 1. kyu then to 1. dan, and up to 2. dan,.... Best players on this site are 3. dan The traditional (oriental) Go system you merit a new rank or kyu, and can only get better. Here the kyu is just a translate of the chess-like system of the other games. Therefore you can drop as well. Remember that the players ordered from best to worst have: ..., 5dan, 4dan, ... 1dan, 1kyu, 2kyu,... 21kyu, 22kyu, ....

How does rating work?

The system is the international chess-rating system. Whenever a game is finished a score is added to the winners rating, and a score is subtracked from the losers rating. The score does not depend from the extend of the victory... For instance in Reversi it does not matter if you win 31/33 or conquer the whole board. The score depends mainly on the difference between the scores of the opponents. A win to a equally skilled player would give 16 points bonus. A win to a player whose rating is better then yours (winning against the odds) would give you more then 16 points while a loss to a better player would give only few points. If a player didn't play much, the rating will not be a good estimate, therefore the influence of the game to that player will be greater then to a player that played a lot.

The exact formulas are not really interesting.

Little Golem. Thanks for playing on our website. Message to webmaster. Read our Privacy policy. Time for generation of page: 0 ms.