If your problem/question is not covered by the topics below, please contact Technical Support for help. If you are looking for specific game rules, please visit The Games area. This page was last updated on October 10, 2001.

CONNECT4:
1. What happens if my timer runs out?
2. Why did my rating decrease when my game got disconnected?

GENERAL:
1. What do I do with my points? Does the site offer prizes?
2. How does the rating system work?
3. The game freezes a lot, I always get disconnected, is there something I can do?
4. What is Flash? Why do I need it to play on this site?
5. Where can I get the latest version of Flash?
6. I am having problems installing the Flash update, what can I do?




CONNECT4:
Q. What happens if my timer runs out?
A. You lose the game automatically.


Q. Why did my rating decrease when my game got disconnected?
A. If you leave in the middle of a game, you will lose the game by default. This is to avoid cheating. If I don't do this, then any player losing a game can just quit anytime he wants without being penalized for it, and the winning player will not be happy for sure. In fact, if I allow this, then it's possible that none of the ratings will ever change! But what if you really lost your game connection? Unfortunately, the game server can not distinguish a valid game disconnection (due to poor Internet connection), and one who intentionally leaves the game to cheat. The only way I can think of, is to let you come back to the same game, say in a span of 5 minutes, and if you are not able to resume the game, that's the only time that the ratings will be computed. This is currently not implemented, but I am working on something along these lines already.



GENERAL:
Q. What do I do with my points? Does the site offer prizes?
A. Please note that this is a personal site, it is not being maintained by a company, everything you see here is just a one-man effort, so I am not really able to offer any prizes or drawings. Points are used for player statistics/rankings only, and may be reset anytime. The ranking/rating system is still being finetuned so stay tuned for site updates.


Q. How does the rating system work?
A. All games at ToTheGames.com are rated. The rating system for each game are all variants of the Elo system being used by the US Chess Federation. It provides a quick assessment of the skill level of a player. Please check the How Games Are Rated section for more information.


Q. The game freezes a lot, I always get disconnected, is there something I can do?
A. Freezing happens due to several factors, so there is no single solution for everyone. Sometimes, your connection to the Internet suffers from some slowdown, and I can not really do anything about this, a 5-second problem with your connection can already affect the stability of your game. For bingo, the most obvious sign is if the balls stop from being called, and after awhile, you suddenly get 2-3 balls almost at the same time.

Try to browse other sites, and see if you experience any slowness in general. For dial-up users, you may try disconnecting from your ISP, then reconnect again, perhaps you can get a better connection that way. I am on dial-up myself, and I do this sometimes if I see that my modem is connecting at slower speeds than what I normally get. However, this does not really solve intermittent connection problems. In my case, for about 1 hour that I am online, my connection will slow down for a few seconds every now and then. It is not very obvious when you are just surfing the web, but if you are playing a game that needs a stable connection for straight hours, then the problems gets magnified.

Sometimes, the machine itself (from my end) may be under heavy load, and/or it may also be experiencing slowdown reaching connections of some of the players. The server running the games right now is just a Celeron 500 Mhz computer with 128MB of RAM. This is really NOT enough with the traffic the site is getting now, but I am not sure when I can upgrade the server.

Other factors include how fast your computer is, how many applications you are currently running etc. Generally, I would recommend that you don't run too many applications while playing the games. Close any browser windows that may be open at the same time. I will also be adding options later on to turn off some features of the game for those who have slower computers.

I understand that some of you will have cable/DSL or even better connections, have the latest and fastest computers, and still experience problems once in awhile (or all the time depending on your luck ;-) I am sorry that I can not really possibly fix everyone's problems one by one, so I just like to assure everyone that I always try to find ways of improving everything :-)


Q. What is Flash? Why do I need it to play on this site?
A. Flash is a browser plugin technology that Adobe has developed. It is the "engine" behind such sites like ToTheGames.com, making it possible to make sophisticated online games and applications at a fraction of the size of most downloadable games (and even java applets in most instances).


Q. Where can I get the latest version of Flash?
A. Click on the graphic below to check your Flash version. You will be prompted to update your version if you don't have the latest one installed.


For Internet Explorer users, the version should be Flash 8.0.24.0 or higher
For Netscape Navigator users, the version should be Flash 8.0.24.0 or higher

While you can still play the games even if you don't have the latest Flash version (as long as you have version v8.xx), it is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that you upgrade to the latest version for better game performance. A number of issues that are specific to the Flash player itself (not the games), have already been resolved by the latest patches.


Q. I am having problems installing the Flash update, what can I do?
A. Below are some tech-notes taken directly from the Adobe site that may be helpful.

How to uninstall the Adobe Flash Player plug-in and ActiveX control:
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_14157&sliceId=2

How to remove the Macromedia Flash Player ActiveX control:
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_12727&sliceId=2

Troubleshoot Adobe Flash Player installation for Windows:
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_19166&sliceId=2

Flash Player audio failure on Windows:
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb402691&sliceId=2

Flash Player 9 installation fails on Macintosh:
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=4aa64290&sliceId=1

Registry permissions required for Flash Player install or update:
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_19148&sliceId=1

Troubleshooting system registry issues that prevent Flash Player installation:
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb400116&sliceId=1

Download SubInACL from Microsoft to fix permission issues that prevent the Flash Player installation:
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=fb1634cb&sliceId=2

Safe versions security restrictions when installing Flash Player:
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb402435&sliceId=2

I am still having trouble installing Flash Player. Where can I get support? :
http://www.adobe.com/support/flashplayer/

Where to get Flash player for a different platform:
http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/alternates/

Version test for Adobe Flash Player:
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_15507&sliceId=2