Pocket-monkey.com games

Some of that information is public because of the nature of the site for instance, players need to know your username to invite you to games! Anything which is not public like your email address , we don't share with other people. There's more to it, of course, so please read our Privacy Policy. The list is always growing, check out the Game Rules and Instructions page for the current list, and links to the descriptions and rules for each game.

The site has seven sections, shown as tabs across the top of the page: Games , Players , Messages , Store , Forum , Settings , and Help. Here's a brief description of each tab:. Games - Perhaps unsurprisingly, this is where you play your games! The main page of the site is on this tab, the Current Games page that's shown when you log in. It lists the games you have going and the ones that you've completed in the past week.

The Games tab also offers options for starting games: You can send a private game invite to a specific player, view the list of open invites, enroll in tournaments, etc. Players - This section has various lists of players: A list of the players who are active on the site right now, a full Player Directory well, almost full, players can opt out of it , a list of the top-ranked players on the site, and your personal buddy list -- people you've played with before, listed conveniently in various places to make it easy to play with them again.

Messages - Here, you can read and reply to private messages and game invitations sent to you by other players, and send messages and game invites. Store - The Pocket-Monkey store has physical board games for playing with friends and family in the real world, books on various games, T-shirts, coffee mugs, and such.

Check it out! Forum - You can post public messages in the various sections of the Pocket-Monkey forum. It's a great place to discuss game strategy in the Backgammon or Chess sections, or just to pass the time of day in the Catchall Cafe. Settings - This section has pages where you can control the look and feel of Pocket-Monkey, choosing the colors and options that work best for you. You can update your Player Profile and your account settings, choose a color theme and edit your Ignore List. Help - Last but certainly not least, the help -- where you are right now!

In addition to this FAQ, you can find pages describing each game, how to use various features of the site, etc. There's also a map of the pages of the site which you can get to at any time by clicking the icon on the tab bar or clicking here.

Most pages on the site have their own context-sensitive help. To the right of the main tabs, if there's a small [?

No problem! You can start playing right away; half the fun is meeting people! See the next question -- "How do I start a game? There are lots of different ways you can get started playing games here on Pocket-Monkey: Accept an open invitation on the Open Invites page: On the Games tab, click Open Invites.

The Open Invites page lists open invitations players have posted, inviting anyone -- maybe you! Just choose the kind of game you want to play from the drop-down list to see the invites for that game, find a game you want to play, and click the [Accept] link. Put your own open invitation in the Waiting Room and let people come to you!

Find someone and send them an invite! A great place to look for people is the "Active Players" list on the Players tab. Or you can browse the Player Directory also on the Players tab , or maybe take a look at the Top Players for a bit of a challenge! Either way, when you see someone you might want to play, click their username to see their Player Profile, which tells you a bit more about them. If you want to play, use the drop-down list of games that's on their profile and click Invite. Type them a brief message and send the invite.

When they accept your invitation, the game will appear on your Current Games page on the Games tab. Accept an invitation that's sent to you: If someone invites you to a game, it'll show up in your messages and the note on the Current Games page will say you have a new unread message. Click on the message, and then click the Accept radio button and hit Reply to accept the invitation.

You can find instuctions and rules for each of the games on the Game Rules and Instructions page. All games share a common interface though some games may have additional controls , which looks like this:. Once you have sent your turn, you can leave the page or even log off the site and you will be emailed when a new turn arrives if you like. If you stay on the the page you will be alerted when your opponent makes a move in the game. The notification may take a few seconds. Click here for the list of current tournaments, or click here for the Tournament Help page.

You can sign up for a tournament when it's in its "signup" stage. Once the tournament starts, it will match you up with your opponents for the first round and create the games.

When that round of games finishes, the players who survive the round will move on to the next round automatically, etc. For more details, click here for the Tournament Help page. Click this link to use your username to have the site email your password to you. Click this link to use the email address registered on your account to have the site email you your username. Sorry to lose you! Contact us and let us know that you want to cancel your membership. We will email you for confirmation.

You can only cancel your membership using the email address listed on the account. Make any changes you like to the other various fields Click the Update button at the bottom of the page Look for the confirmation message at the top of the page saying your changes have been saved Be sure to click the Update button! If you don't click Update , your profile isn't updated e. If you change your email address, the site will email you a confirmation of the change. You must confirm the change using information from the confirmation email within a few days.

To change your email address, just update your account information with your new email address following these steps: Click Settings from the tab bar at the top of the page Fill in your password in the Current Password field you always have to supply your password when changing your player profile, just to prove it's really you doing it!

Fill in your new email address in the Email field Fill it in again in the Email again field Click the Update button at the bottom of the page Look for the confirmation message at the top of the page saying your changes have been saved Be sure to click the Update button! If you don't click Update , your settings aren't changed! Pocket-Monkey will email you a confirmation message when you change your email address, with a code you can use to show you got the confirmation message.

To choose from our various color themes, click Settings on the tab bar, then click Color Themes from the menu on the left. That will list all of the color themes -- just click one to try it! The change is immediate. Be considerate Do not use someone else's copyrighted material unless you have written permission to use it.

Most of the graphics you find on the web are copyrighted and using them without permission can get Pocket-Monkey in trouble. Think Small!! If your player icon is more than about pixels wide by about pixels tall, it may dominate pages inappropriately for people with smaller screens.

If we get a complaint that your icon is too big, we may have to remove it. Don't use flashing or otherwise distracting images Don't use images that you wouldn't show somebody's sweet old grandma or 10 year-old child -- because that's exactly what you're doing Don't use images likely to cause offense or controversy or bad feeling Don't use any religious, anti-religious, or political images Don't include any form of advertisement Notes on "free gif" web sites: Note that most "free gif" web sites allow you to use their images only if you post a link back to their site on the page s where the image is used -- e.

Fair enough. Since you can't do that on Pocket-Monkey, you can't use images from those sites. Note that many of these "free gif" sites do not allow you to link directly to the image on their site; to use it, you must download it and host it elsewhere.

This is because image hosting takes lots of network bandwidth, which is expensive for them. Be sure to check the policy of the site before you use images from that site.

If your icon doesn't appear but you're sure you have the URL right and you're linking to an image held elsewhere, it may be that the site hosting the image won't let you use the image that way -- they can check what page the image appears in when the browser tries to show it in the page, and deny use of the image if it's not in one of their pages.

Always read the terms and conditions if you're using someone else's image, even "free gif" sites will frequently have restrictions on how you can use their images. You may have to copy the image and host it somewhere else provided, of course, that the site you're getting the image from allows that! Okay, now we've got those out of the way: To start with, you'll need to have the picture you want to use hosted somewhere on the web, not on your computer.

To show your picture as your player icon, put the URL in the Player Icon field on your player profile. Note that it's just the URL, you don't put anything around it like you used to -- there are no "tags" to wrap it in. Pocket-Monkey will put the appropriate tags around it. Just supply the URL itself. See above for how to change your player profile. Once the time limit has been reached the game may time out see below.

If a game times out, the player it was waiting for loses and the other player wins. You're in control of the time limits. See How do game timeouts work? When you start a game, it has a time limit for moves -- 1 day, 3 days, 7 days, etc. When you make a move, your opponent has X days to make a responding move. Once that time limit has passed, the game becomes eligible to time out unless the game allows vacations and the player is on one.

It doesn't actually time out until The Gorilla comes by and does it. What's The Gorilla? The Gorilla is an automated process which runs periodically throughout the day and deals with games that have gone over their time limit. Only when The Gorilla actually ends the game has it officially "timed out.

Sometimes The Gorilla runs less often than normal for whatever reason perhaps we're doing maintenance on the site, etc. If a player manages to get a move in after the game becomes eligible to time out but before The Gorilla gets around to it, well, that's lucky for them -- the game continues as normal.

We do not go back and time out games that "should" have timed out but didn't because, for whatever reason, The Gorilla didn't get to it quickly enough. Our official definition of a game timing out is it being past its "must move by" date and The Gorilla ending the game. Normally, the timeout interval for the game is set when you start it and stays the same throughout the game.

However, you can ask your opponent to agree to a change to the time limit, see Can I change the time limit of a game? You can for non-tournament games, yes, if your opponent agrees to it. Tournament games have fixed timeouts. To do that, click the "[Change Time Limit]" link under the game. This will take you to a page where you can set a new time limit and write a message to your opponent saying why you want to change it.

Once you send the message, it will go to your opponent. If your opponent accepts the time limit change, the site will change the time limit on the game. Most people accept time limit changes, though -- we're here to have fun, not to be difficult!

Either because the other player is on vacation , or because The Gorilla hasn't gotten around to it yet. The Gorilla didn't time out a game and my opponent moved late, can I have you time it out? No, we don't go back and time out games. I'm going on vacation, what can I do so my games don't time out? You have a couple of options available to you.

You can schedule a vacation by going to your vacations page details on the vacations help page here. While you're on vacation, your non-tournament games won't time out and games in tournaments that allow vacations won't time out tournaments that don't allow vacations will time out as normal. Alternately, for your non-tournament games, you can see if your opponents are willing to extend the timeouts on the games. A day timeout, for instance, is sufficient for most vacations. There's a link under the game board for asking your opponent to change the time limit.

Please note that they're under no obligation, although most of the people who play on Pocket-Monkey are very nice and say "Of course!

For your tournament games, again if the tournament supports vacations you can schedule one; there's nothing you can do about games in a tournament that doesn't support vacations other than trying to play as quickly as possible to build up grace time but even that won't help if you're gone longer than the hard time limit.

I just barely missed a game and it timed out, can you restore it? That hurts. But no, we're afraid we can't restore timed-out games, even if you just missed it by a few minutes. After all, the game did time out, and with the way The Gorilla above works, usually you do get a few extra minutes anyway. If you play games with very short time-outs for instance, one-day games or UltraFast tourney games , even if you play "every day," it's really easy to be away from the site for more than 24 hours.

You play at a. If you think a game timed out on you before it should have which has happened exactly once since Pocket-Monkey started -- the result of an admin error we saw and corrected [restoring the games] before anyone noticed , it's easy to check: Review the game time limit, and then go into the game and click the Show Game History link under the game board. If you've reviewed that and you still think the game shouldn't have ended, free free to ask us to take a look at it by dropping us a note via the Contact Us link and telling us the game , when the last turn was made, when the game ended, and why you think it shouldn't have.

We'll take a look and come back to you. But again, games don't time out prematurely unless there's some kind of admin error, which has only happened once, several years ago. Whenever you're doing things on Pocket-Monkey, you're on our internal "Active Players" list and the public one, if you've chosen to be visible to others.

You go off the Active Players list when you log out, or when you haven't done anything on the site in the last five minutes. The one exception to this is that we don't consider you "active" if you're just sitting at the Current Games page, which auto-refreshes every three minutes -- for all we know, you've left the computer on overnight or something.

Note for long-time members: It used to be that you were only on the "Active Players" list if you'd logged in or sent in a move in a game; but now we consider you active even if you're doing other things. If a player has logged in or sent a turn within the last five minutes, then their name will appear bold in your list of current games and various other player lists on the site and in the game itself.

You can also check out the Active Players list on the Games tab to see who's around. The Buddy List on the Players tab is a list of people you know on the site.

This list makes it easy to invite people you already know to games, rather than your having to go digging through the Player Directory every time.

Your buddy list can also have notes next to your buddies. If the site adds someone to your buddy list automatically, it will include a note saying why. On the Buddy List, you can click the "[Start Game]" link to go to the Game Invite page with your buddy already listed as the "to" player. You can also update the note on your buddy, or remove someone from the list. Your list of buddies is also included on the Game Invite and Send Message pages as a drop-down list. Yes, if you like.

For full details, check out the section on notifications below. It's very important to us that Pocket-Monkey be a safe and pleasant place for people to play online games with one another. If someone is hassling you here on Pocket-Monkey, here's what we recommend: Tell them to stop hassling you. This is quick and easy and it usually works. If that doesn't work, put them on your Ignore List. When you put a player on your ignore list: You don't see private messages or game invitations from them, and you can't send them private messages or game invitations.

You don't see each other's open invitations in the waiting room. If you have a game going or you get paired up in a tournament at some point , you don't see the other player's in-game chat and won't be able to send them chat in that game. If putting the player on your Ignore List doesn't work e. Usually you don't have to. Mostly if you tell people to lay off, they will. But, in cases where there's someone you just don't want to associate with at all on the site, you can put them on your Ignore List.

The easiest way to do this is: Go to their profile page, typically by clicking their name somewhere almost anywhere you see a player's name on the site, it's a link to their profile. Near the top of their profile page is a link saying "Ignore playername ".

Click that link. The site will take you to your Ignore List and fill in that player's name in the "Ignore player:" box near the bottom. Double-check the name, optionally fill in a comment to remind yourself why you're ignoring this player, and click the "Ignore Player" button at the bottom. The list will refresh and there will be a message at the top confirming that you are now ignoring that player.

You can review your Ignore List, take people off of it, put people on it, etc. The non-Java games have a problem where sometimes the word "null" appears in the chat area for no apparent reason. It's not that one of the players actually said "null", it's being generated by the game itself. We're replacing our non-Java games and this problem will be fixed when we do. Until then, please just ignore it.

Note that even if you use the Java games, your opponent may be using the non-Java games. The non-Java games have a problem where sometimes the chat is wiped clean.

On some users' systems this happens every turn, on others only sometimes. We're replacing our non-Java games and this will be fixed when we do.

Until then, we apologize for any inconvenience. If this problem happens to you and you're the player using the non-Java games, as far as we can tell you can reliably chat with your opponent by doing the following: When you go into the game to take a turn, look at the chat area right away for a message from your opponent, because that message may get erased as you make your move.

Then type your reply after making your move and just before clicking the Send button if you type it earlier, it may get erased as you make your move.

If you resign a game, the other player wins , even if you resign on your first turn. If the game is rated as most games are , it'll show up in your stats as a loss and in your opponent's stats as a win. Earlier versions of Pocket-Monkey used to let you resign early on in a game affecting your stats, but that's no longer true. If you find yourself in a game with someone you don't want to play with, naturally you can always resign -- remember that resigning always means your opponent wins, no matter how early in the game you resign.

However, right at the beginning of a game, if you find out that you and your opponent just don't get along, you might be able to cancel the game. A cancelled game doesn't count at all; it's like you never started it.

If a game can be cancelled, there's a "Cancel this game" link underneath the game board if the link isn't there, the game can't be cancelled. Clicking the link presents a confirmation page, and if you confirm, then the game is cancelled. Note that Tournament games can never be cancelled. How do I cancel a game when there's no [Cancel this game] link under the board? You can't. Once a game has a couple of turns the exact number depends on the kind of game it cannot be cancelled; if you really want to stop playing, you'll have to resign -- see "What happens if I resign a game?

Pocket-Monkey can notify you via email when it's your turn in a game, when someone sends you a private message or game invitation, etc. This is entirely up to you; you control whether and how often we send you email notifications. You'll send me an email every time it's my turn!?! So now, we send you summary emails instead, on a schedule you choose. We'll send you a notification email when you haven't been on the site for a while and: It becomes your turn in a game Someone sends you a game invitation Someone sends you a private message including the site itself sending you messages about tournaments you're playing in Note that we don't bug you about games where it was your turn when you left the site; we figure you knew about them and are planning your strategy What do you mean by " When you're not on the "Active Players" list see this question for details , the site then uses a setting you supply see below to determine how long to wait to send you your first notification email provided there's something to tell you; we don't just email you to say nothing's happening.

You control: Whether we send you notifications at all details How long to wait after you've been on the site before sending you the first notification details How long to wait before sending you another details The questions below describe these options further. Here's how: Click the Settings tab, which will take you to your player profile page Fill in your password in the "Current Password" box just to prove it's really you making the change Scroll down to the Miscellaneous section and un check the "Yes, email me when it's my turn and such" checkbox click the "Update Profile" button at the bottom -- you must do this, or your changes won't be saved!

The site will immediately stop sending you notifications. How long do I have to be gone before you send me an email? Well first off, we won't bother you at all unless there's something to tell you. Beyond that, you control when we send you the first notification. There's a setting in your player profile :. This tells us how long after you've left the site we should wait before sending you the first notification email.

The default for this is just ten minutes, because we figure you want to know almost right away if it's your turn in a game, etc. For instance, you could say that you want us to first notify you four hours after you leave the site. That's also entirely up to you, it's controlled by this setting in your player profile :. This tell us how long we should wait, after sending you the first notification email, before we should send you another one.

Of course, if you come to the site in the meantime, we don't send the update -- we only send notifications when you're not around. You'll keep sending me emails over and over again? Only on the schedule you give us. Also, after a week, if you haven't come back to the site, we stop sending you notifications on the theory that you've probably gone away for a holiday or something.

This was a last-minute addition and so it's not an option you can set yet. Player Forum - We have lots of message areas where you can discuss game strategy, or just pass the time with a joke or two. Player Directory - There's a directory of people here at Pocket-Monkey, so you can always find someone to play with. Being listed in the directory is optional. Private Invitations - When you find someone to play with, you can send them a private game invitation -- if they're not around now, they'll get it when they next log in.

Open Invitations - If you'd like to let people come to you, you can post an open invitation which anyone can accept. Or you can go look at the open invitations and see if there's a game you'd like to play already there. It's a great way to meet people you wouldn't have met otherwise! Color Themes - The website has multiple color themes, so you can choose a set of colors that look good to you on your monitor. Private Messages - Any player can send a private message to any other player; like private invitations, if the other player isn't around, they'll get the message later when they come back.

Turn Notifications - The site can notify you when its your turn via email this is optional. Crowder and Jock Murphy. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Welcome to Pocket-Monkey tm!