Play65 Bonus

Play65 is easy to use and navigate. It tries to simulate the experience of gambling on a wooden board, complete with (optional) sound effects. The board is in "3-D" style and not overladen with fancy features that we don't have in real life. But there are reasonable time limits which help prevent frustration and/or ill feeling. Each player has a timer with 2 clocks. One (the "Move Timer") is reset after each move and the other (the "Global Timer") is never reset during the game but only starts when the other runs out. In the Help section is the rule: "You may not disconnect on purpose while in a game or allow the global timer to run out.."

Players negotiate to play at either "Normal" or "Fast" speed. "Normal" is 45 seconds on the move timer and 2.5 minutes on the global timer, while "Fast" is 25 seconds on the move timer and 1.5 minutes on the global timer.

Online help is readily available, and new players can familiarise themselves with
the layout and mechanics by playing in the "play money section" before switching to risking real cash.

This is the site with the most gamblers, and it is easy to quickly get a game for money. The site has a system for rating players by their results and charges a higher rake when there is a big difference between the two players' ratings. The motivation for this perhaps slightly weird practice is I assume to reduce the incentive for high-rated players to pick on much weaker players, which otherwise might lead to the latter becoming discouraged and giving up.

There are lots of tournaments at Play 65.com, especially at times convenient for North Americans. There are satellite tournaments leading up to tournaments with US$100,000 in prize money.

There is no membership fee and non-gamblers can play for play money and ego-point "ratings". They don't charge deposit or withdrawal fees. Rakes vary and as a percentage is generally bigger for lower stakes, longer matches and greater disparity between the ratings of the players. A single game for less than US$20 is raked at 4.9%, so for example at the conclusion of a 1-point match for $10, the loser has lost $10 and the winner gets $9.02.

Players who play in raked games and tournaments are awarded "stars" that accumulate and can be spent on entry to some tournaments with cash prizes. Players who manage to get their rating above 1700 are rewarded by only paying 50% of the normal rake in their games with each other. There have been and still might be a modest sign-up bonus on offer, and there are cash rewards for referring friends who play raked games.

Players can chat to their opponents, but with cash at stake and a clock ticking I get the feeling that not too much of this goes on. The site is mainly geared to simple gambling rather than making new friends.

They accept a wide range of deposit and withdrawal methods and are financially reputable. Maybe because they are sticklers for security, from the time a player "requests" a deposit it can take up to four working days to clear.