Questions about checkers3d, answered

Is it free?

Yes. checkers3d is a free site for playing draughts against other people or a program, and there is nothing to buy.

Do I need an account?

Not to play. Opening the site gives your browser a guest identity without asking for a name or an e-mail address. A guest can play the computer, use Pass and play on one screen, play casual games online, solve puzzles and work through lessons, though puzzle ratings and lesson progress last only for that session.

An account adds rated games once your e-mail is confirmed, daily games, tournaments and friends. Accounts are for people certainly aged 13 or older, and sign-up asks for your birth year, never your full date of birth.

Why was my move refused?

Usually because a capture is waiting. In all four rule sets capture is compulsory: if any of your pieces can capture, you must, and the panel beside the board says "A capture is compulsory". Pieces that must capture are ringed when Show legal moves is on in board settings.

Brazilian and International draughts add a second rule: you must take the route that removes the most pieces, and a king counts as one piece, the same as a man. So a capture that looks fine can be refused because another one takes more. American and Russian let you take any capture on offer. In every rule set a capture must be finished: if the piece can jump again, it has to. Four rule sets compared sets out the differences.

How do ratings work?

The server rates games between accounts with Glicko-2. A rating starts at 1500 with a deviation of 350, which measures how unsure the estimate is, and you hold a separate rating for each rule set and time category. A rating is marked provisional while its deviation is above 110.

To appear on the leaderboards you need at least 20 rated games in that table, a deviation of 100 or less and a rating updated in the last 90 days. Games against the computer never change a rating.

Are the computer opponents real people?

No. The eleven opponents on the computer list are characters played by the rules engine, not people and not accounts. The number beside each one is a label for roughly how strong its settings are, not a measured rating. The computer opponents explains what each one does. Anyone you meet through Play online is another player, signed in or a guest.

Who can read chat?

The two players in the game. Spectators never see it. Chat is stored for 30 days, and longer while an open report holds it, and moderation can read the chat of a reported game.

Typed messages need both players to be accounts certainly 16 or older who both allow them; everyone else uses preset phrases. You can switch typed messages off in privacy settings, and mute or block an opponent from the chat controls in a game.

Can I play offline?

Yes, for games on your own device. Once your browser has loaded the site online it keeps what it needs, and the offline page lets you play the computer or use Pass and play without a connection. Your browser may also offer to install the site as an app. Those games stay on your device, carry no rating and restart if you reload the page. Online play, puzzles and lessons need a connection.

How do I delete my data?

Go to privacy settings. Download my data gives you a copy as a JSON file, and Delete my account removes the account. Deleting asks you to prove the account is yours with a password, a code sent to a confirmed e-mail or a second factor, and a second factor that is switched on is always required.

Deletion removes the account, credentials, connected providers, settings, ratings and sessions. Your games stay with your seat emptied, so your opponents keep their records. The privacy notice lists what else remains. If your account has none of those proofs, settings cannot delete it, so write through the contact page.

Who runs this site?

One person. About this site says more, and the contact page is the way to write about the site, your data or a problem.

How do I report a player?

In a live game, open the Chat tab. Each line from your opponent has a flag beside it: press it, choose a reason, add details if you like and send. The reasons include harassment, hate speech, cheating and an inappropriate username. The report goes to moderation along with that game's chat, and you will not receive a notice of the outcome.

A club has a Report club button on its page. If there is no line to flag, for instance with a player who never used chat, write through the contact page. To stop hearing from someone at once, mute or block them. A block also stops you being paired with them again.

Why are there ads?

There is nothing to buy here, so advertising is what helps pay for the site. Ads appear only on the long reading pages under Learn. They never appear during play, on game, lesson or puzzle screens, or on account, settings and sign-in pages. Every ad is requested as non-personalised, so none is chosen from a profile of you, and an account that may belong to someone under 16 is never targeted. Google may still set its own cookies to limit repeats, measure ads and prevent fraud, as the privacy notice explains.

If your question is not here, write through the contact page, or go back to the board under Play.