Backgammon Online

A: The following are the basic rules of conduct that govern users' activity on ZooEscape. Failure to act responsibly and comply with these Rules will result in the suspension and/or termination of your account without any refund of any kind. Any offending posts, comments, images, etc., will be deleted.

1) You may not harass, badger, threaten. bully, or rush other players.

2) You may not use any sexually explicit, vulgar, harmful, threatening, abusive, defamatory, obscene, hateful, rude, accusatory, insulting, inflammatory, racially or ethnically offensive language and/or images. No exceptions for abbreviated or misspelled words with clear intended meaning.

3) No commercial or advertising posts. You may not send any unsolicited mass messages (aka spam) to other users.

4) You will not violate any local, state, national or international laws or regulations, or the privacy rights of a third party.

5) You may not post any links to any websites that would violate these Rules.

6) You may not create nor use more than one account. Only one account per computer is allowed.

7) You may not impersonate any ZooEscape staff, nor claim to act on behalf of ZooEscape staff.

8) You may only post on behalf of yourself. You may not ask another user to post on your behalf.

9) You may not circumvent another player's ignore list, including but not limited to, by posting a message to them in the forums or any other public areas, or by asking another player to send a message to the player on your behalf.

10) You will not attempt to interfere with or hack into any of the ZooEscape servers. You may not cause excessive load on ZooEscape servers and/or excessive use of server resources (including, but not limited to, using download bots or automated scripts to access ZooEscape pages). You may not disrupt or interfere with the normal functionality of the website in any way (which includes disabling or blocking the ads).

We reserve the right to change these Rules at any time at our own discretion.

» Rules and Policies

A: Please try to follow these Guidelines. Forum posts that do not follow these Guidelines may be edited or deleted at our own discretion.

1) Be polite and civil.

2) Stay on topic.

3) Posting of the same question in more than one forum is not allowed.

4) Post appropriate and relevant content.

5) Give the post a meaningful title (i.e. subject) so that users can find your post efficiently and contribute effectively.

6) Use appropriate capitalization. Capitalizing in ALL CAPS means shouting and should be avoided.

7) Use appropriate punctuation. Excessive punctuation, smileys, etc., should be avoided.

8) Avoid posting personal information such as your full name, mailing address, or telephone number.

A: Your user name can be changed by accessing the Settings -> My Account page. Provide your password and then click 'Change' next to your user name.

A: Your password can be changed by accessing the Settings -> My Account page. After providing your current password, click 'Change Password' link.

A: Your email address can be changed by accessing the Settings -> My Account page. After providing your password, click the 'Edit Info' button.

A: Unfortunately it's not possible, for multiple reasons. Please continue playing using your current account.

A: Please rest assured that we closely monitor all ZooEscape servers 24/7 with an automatic notification to our staff if there are any problems or slow response.

Most often the slow page loading is caused by a temporary Internet traffic congestion on the way from your computer to ZooEscape servers. Try accessing the website during a different time of day or using a different Internet connection.

You might also try the suggestions described in FAQ #9.

If none of this helps, and you are absolutely sure it has nothing to do with your computer or your Internet connection, and the problem persists for more than a couple of days, please contact your ISP and they should be able to run some tests to see if there are any issues in the network segment between your computer and ZooEscape servers.

A: If you are referring to some of your or other player's stats, please note that not all of the information shown on the website is updated in real-time. Some stats are updated hourly and some are updated daily/nightly. Please wait at least 24 hours and everything should be updated.

If more than a day passed since you checked the last time, please review FAQ #9.

A: If there is a visual problem with any of pages, or if a page seems to never finish loading or show a "script error", it is likely that the web browser was interrupted or failed to download a page component. This causes an incomplete file to end up in the cache, causing problems. Here a few things you can try to fix the problem:

» Clear the web browser's cache. This is usually the most effective way to fix all sorts of problems:

» If clearing the cache doesn't seem to help, try closing down your web browser (all windows!) and start it again. Or restart your computer altogether.

» It is possible that your web browser simply does not support a particular feature required by our website. We routinely test our website with the latest versions of the following web browsers: Firefox, Edge, Safari, Chrome. If you are using a different web browser, please consider switching. If you are using one of the browsers listed, please make sure to upgrade to the latest version. Using beta versions (i.e. untested experimental new releases) is not recommended as they usually have many issues that haven't been fixed yet.

» If you are using Mozilla Firefox, try temporarily disabling all third-party plug-ins and extensions, to make sure they are not interfering in any way.

» If you are using Microsoft Windows (XP/Vista/etc.), please make sure to promptly download and install all the latest patches from Microsoft Windows Update.

» Check your computer for viruses and spyware, as they can be interfering with your web browser as well.

» Please do not skip any of these steps even if they seem unimportant or unlikely to be the cause of the problem -- they are not just random suggestions, but real solutions that we have collected over the years.

A: We do not allow inappropriate or adult ads on Zoo Escape. What you are seeing is most likely produced by so called "adware" or "spyware" programs -- a free program or software package that you have downloaded and installed on your computer, that contains a hidden module that shows excessive ads (pup-ups, banner ads, text links, etc.) on the websites you visit without their authorization. Also, certain unscrupulous websites (hacking/cracking, pirating music/software, adult, etc.) can sometimes exploit newly discovered security flaws in Internet Explorer that allow them to install hidden software on your computer without your consent. Same as with the computer viruses, your computer can get infected with "spyware"/"adware" via downloading and installing of untrusted programs, by opening dangerous email attachments, by visiting shady websites, etc. etc. You can read more about "adware"/"spyware" programs here: Spyware Info. There are excellent free spyware detection and removal tools, for example: Ad-Aware, SpyBot Search and Destroy.

A: First of all, let us assure you that Zoo Escape is absolutely clean and free from any viruses of any kind. There are multiple possible reasons why your anti-virus software might be triggered when visiting our site:

1) Your computer might be infected by spyware that is interfering with your web browsing; please use the following free tools to detect and remove spyware from your computer: Microsoft AntiSpyware, Ad-Aware, SpyBot Search and Destroy;

2) Your computer might already be infected by a virus; please make sure that you have the latest version of an anti-virus software and that your virus definition files have been updated recently and then do a full scan of your computer;

3) Anti-virus software sometimes mistakenly identifies regular code as a virus;

If you are using Windows, please always install all the latest security updates using Windows Update.

A: Most often the slow page loading is caused by a temporary Internet traffic congestion on the way from your computer to Zoo Escape servers. Try accessing the website during a different time of day or using a different Internet connection. Also, it has been reported previously that some of the Internet security software packages can cause the slow loading of the pages on some systems. If you have any of the antivirus or firewall programs installed on your computer (McAfee, Norton, etc.), try temporarily disabling them to see if it helps. Make sure to do a complete scan of your computer for viruses and trojan programs, as they might be overloading your system. Also, make sure that you are using the latest version of your web browser, or try a different web browser (for example, Firefox) to see if it makes a difference. Also, please make sure to download and install all the latest patches from Microsoft Windows Update. If none of this helps, and you are absolutely sure it has nothing to do with your computer or your Internet connection, and the problem persists for more than a couple of days, please contact your ISP and they should be able to run some tests to see if there are any issues in the network segment between your computer and Zoo Escape servers.

A: You can not use anything besides your own brain, and you can not consult anyone besides yourself while the game is in progress. That includes other programs, engines or computers, your friends, colleagues etc. etc.. If you have a concrete evidence that someone is cheating, please submit a formal complaint.

A: The ratings system is based on statistical analysis using the Elo formula with a fixed K=10. Here is the formula we use:

R'A = RA + 10(S-E)
where RA is your current rating, S is the score (0=loss or 1=win) and
E =	1
	1 + 10(RMB - RMA)/400
RMA =	RA - 100(M-1)S
RMB =	RB - 100(M-1)(1-S)
where M is the multiplier (doubling cube value multiplied by 1=regular game, 2=gammon, or 3=backgammon), and RB is your opponent's current rating

Essentially, winning against a lower rated opponent yields a small rating increase but losing against a lower rated opponent yields a large rating decrease. Conversely, winning against a higher rated opponent yields a large rating increase but losing against a higher rated opponent yields a small rating decrease. In the case of the doubling cube, winning against a player with the same rating and the final cube value at 4 yields the same rating increase as winning a non-cube game against a player with a rating 400 points above yours.

All players start with a rating of 1500.

Games that end before each opponent makes 2 moves (short game) do not affect the winning player's rating and stats. The losing player's ratings and stats are always affected, regardless of the number of moves made.

See also FAQ #22 for more info on Gammons and Backgammons, and FAQ #31 for more on the Doubling Cube.

A: Zoo Escape requires a valid email address in order to fully activate your account. A confirmation email was sent during account registration and/or upon updating of your email address that contained a link for you to click on to confirm your email address.

A: Zoo Escape requires that cookies are enabled in your browser in order to log in.

Enabling Cookies in Internet Explorer 6 or 7

1) Click 'Tools' in the browser menu bar and then select 'Internet Options'.
2) Click 'Privacy' tab and then click 'Sites' button.
3) In the 'Address of website' text box, type in 'zooescape.com' and click 'Allow' button. 'zooescape.com' will appear in the list of managed websites with 'Always allow' text next to it.
4) Click 'OK' button to close the 'Per Site Privacy Actions' window and then click 'OK' to close the 'Internet Options' window.


Enabling Cookies in Firefox

1) Click 'Tools' in the browser menu bar and then select 'Options'.
2) Click 'Privacy' icon and then if 'Accept cookies from sites' checkbox is not checked, click it. Click the 'Keep until:' drop-down menu and select 'they expire'.
3) Click 'Exceptions' button next to the checkbox. In the 'Address of Website' text box, type in 'zooescape.com' (without quotes) and then click 'Allow' button. 'zooescape.com' will appear in the list of websites with 'Allow' status next to it.
4) Click 'Close' button to close the window and then click 'OK' button to close the entire 'Options' window.

A: Visit this link to have your password or user name sent to you by email.

A: If your email has been returned as undeliverable, there are several possible reasons. Listed below are common reasons that emails are returned, along with suggested actions.

1) There is a typo in your email address. Please enter your email address by accessing the Account section and then clicking 'Edit Info'.

2) Your current email account has been closed. Please update your email address by accessing the Account section and then clicking 'Edit Info'.

3) Your email account is over quota. After you have deleted some of the old messages from your email account, please re-submit the same email address by accessing the Account section, clicking 'Edit Info', and then clicking 'Update' (it is not necessary to re-enter the email address unless it has changed).

4) Emails from ZooEscape.com are being mistakenly identified as spam. If you have a spam filter installed, please add "service@zooescape.com" to your address book or add "zooescape.com" to the list of domain names to never filter emails from.

5) Emails from ZooEscape.com are being blocked. Please contact the customer support department of your ISP or email provider and ask them to remove the block on all emails from ZooEscape.com.

A: Use of the ZooEscape service and web site constitutes acceptance of the following rules and policies.

» Rules of Conduct

» User Naming

» Privacy Policy

» Terms of Service

A: The following types of names are prohibited:

1) Vile, profane, rude, or racist names including common swear words, anatomical references, racial slurs, and homonyms of these words.

2) Combinations of words that produce an offensive result (e.g. Hugeaz, TugMcGroin).

3) Names of religious, occult, or significant historic origin (e.g. Jesus, Allah, Satan, Stalin, Hitler, Devil, Demon).

4) Trademarked names of products, services, or concepts (e.g. Marlboro, Sony, Band-Aid).

5) Names of famous people, either fictional or non-fictional (e.g. BillClinton, AustinPowers, BritneySpears, HarryPotter).

6) References to drug substances or drug related paraphernalia. (e.g. Ecstacy, Cannibis).

For all of the above, misspellings and alternative spellings of the words are also unacceptable.

Any account with a user name that falls under any of the categories above will be suspended and/or deleted immediately, without any prior notice, with no refund of any kind.

» Rules and Policies