• 1. No Cheating

    There are several things that are classified as cheating on this site. The most common way to cheat is to create multiple accounts and play with both accounts in one game. The Site Administrators catch this pretty easily by checking the Internet Protocol (IP) address of each account. If you are caught doing this, then you will be banned. You are also not allowed to create multiple accounts for the purpose of getting around the 5 free game limit. The other common way to cheat is by teaming up with another player when the game is not a team game. Players are not allowed to work together in a game for the whole game. Temporary cooperation is a necessary part of the game, however. If one player has so many troops and cards that they will probably win unless the other players work together to balance the game then cooperation is not only allowed but completely necessary in order to obey the 6th rule, play to win. That being said, players cannot work together to make sure that the current strong player loses. They should only work together to balance the game to give multiple players a chance to win again. It takes experienced players to balance the game properly. Please do not harass new players because they tried to balance the game but went too far and caused the strong player to lose the game. Simply point out their math error. Usually they fail to calculate card value and don't realize that they weakened the strong player just enough for the next player to kill them for their cards. Teaming is hard to prove because there are many instances where it's a good idea to be friendly to your neighbor, especially if there is a third player who gets a bigger bonus than the two of you. In such a circumstance breaking each others regions would only help the third player. This is not teaming, just smart play. Using private messages to work together in a game is also not allowed. If you want to get a temporary ally it must be done in the game chat for all to see. Temporary alliances should only last a few rounds. After a few rounds you will have to end the formal truce in the game chat. You can decide to continue to not attack the other player in hopes that they won't attack you. If an Admin reviews a game and has decided that there was obvious teaming then both players will receive a warning. The game will be canceled and any points that were awarded will be returned.

  • 2. No offensive, disgusting, or vulgar language

    An occasional mild curse word is fine if it is used as an exclamation as long as it is NOT also a disgusting word like the f-word or the sh-word or a derogatory word which would fall under the name calling category. Violators will have chat disabled on their account. An Admin will decide for how long. The length of the chat ban will increase exponentially with each occurrence.

  • 3. No name calling or harassing players

    You can tell a player that they made a bad move if you take the time to explain why, but you cannot call the player names. Attack the strategy but not the person. If an Admin or Moderator reminds you of this rule and you continue to call them names then game chat will be disabled on your account. To harass means to annoy persistently. Do not constantly criticize the same player for the same thing over and over again. Do not follow players around to all their games to make negative comments about them. Do not message someone who has told you to stop messaging them. If an Admin receives multiple complaints about the same player saying or doing annoying things then they will receive an official warning.

  • 4. No racism, sexism or bigotry

    An Admin will be the judge of your comments. A bigot is a person obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices, especially one exhibiting intolerance, and animosity toward those of differing beliefs. Players must tolerate each others beliefs even if they don't agree with them. You can argue why you believe what you believe but this site is not a place where you can attempt to destroy another person's beliefs or act in a hateful way toward a player who believes differently than you. Racism is not tolerated. You will receive an immediate official warning for racist remarks and if you continue saying racist remarks after a Moderator has reminded you of the rule in the game chat you will banned without further warning.

  • 5. No spamming

    Do not fill up the chat with gibberish or nonsense. Do not spread ads around the site. Chat violators will have chat disabled and forum or message spammers will be banned.

  • 6. Play to win

    You cannot purposely lose the game. Excessively attacking a player, knowing beforehand that it will cause you both to lose, is known as murder-suicide and it is forbidden. Retaliatory attacks are allowed but they should not be carried out to the point of mutually assured destruction.

    Players should also not quit games just because they think they have already lost. Unless it is a two player game, the resign button should only be used if you do not have time to finish the game.

    The only exception to 'Play to win' is when you play a live capitals game with a player who has never played capitals before. If they leave their capital undefended all the other players should do their best to explain how capitals work and give the player one turn to move their troops back on to their capital.

  • 7. Take your turns or resign

    Missed turns ruin games. It is disrespectful to make players wait for your timer to run out before they can take their turn. Disrespect is not tolerated on this site. If you have planned a vacation where you will not have regular internet access then stop joining Long Term games at least two weeks prior to the vacation for Increasing Card games and at least one month prior for Fixed Card games. If you are leaving unexpectedly and won't have internet access then first leave any games that haven't started yet. Then, if you know for sure that you will be gone long enough to miss two turns in a row, you should resign from the game so that the other players won't have to wait for your turns to expire.

  • Live Games

    If you know in advance that you have to leave at a certain time and may not have enough time to finish a live game then don't join that game. If you are in a live game and unexpectedly have to leave then it is required that you resign. Also apologize for making them wait for your turn to time out. Obviously if you lose your connection or there was an emergency then you won't be able to inform the other players. But if you regularly quit games without informing the other players you will receive an official warning. After 3 warnings you will be banned.

  • Discipline

    You can receive an official warning for breaking any of the rules. If an Admin issues you three separate warnings for three different occurrences then you will be banned and permanently blocked from the site. The Administrators reserve the right to immediately ban a player who is causing problems even if they have not yet received three separate warnings. Players who use bad language or name call will have game chat disabled. Personal messages and forum posts can also be disabled. Players who create a second account to get around the chat ban will be banned. Discipline messages from Admins are not to be copied and sent to other players or posted in the forums.

  • Moderators

    A Moderator's job is to explain the rules in the game chat of a reported game and ask players to follow them. If the rule breaking continues, the moderator will ask an Admin to review the game and discipline the players involved. If you feel like you have been unjustly accused of breaking a rule then please explain why in the game chat for the Admin to read later. If you disagree with a rule then please argue your point of view in this forum thread and not in the game chat.