ChessCube Cheat Bounty!

We are fully aware that some of our users have taken advantage of bugs or have even possibly come up with code hacks in order to cheat on ChessCube. We really want to stop all forms of cheating and are developing and already have anti-cheat features on our site. We do - however - realize that the most creative and dedicated cheaters will always find new ways to cheat, so instead of fighting against people who have worked out a way to cheat, we would sooner have them help us to make a more secure and cheat-free server.

For this purpose we are announcing the ChessCube Cheat Bounty. If you submit a client (the playing interface), or server, or client-server network related, replicable cheat to us, we will give you one of our videos (http://www.chesscube.com/store/products) for free (1 cheat gets you a $6 video, 2 cheats get you a $10 video... there are many videos being produced at the moment, so you will have a wider selection over time).

The basic rules:

1. A cheat is defined as ANYTHING that unfairly and adversely influences chess playing conditions in your favour; examples include: being able to change your clock, making moves for your opponent, escaping losing points by disconnecting, being able to undo bad moves without your opponent's consent. It can be a simple cheat - like unplugging your computer - to a complicated cheat - like hacking into our code.


2. The first person to identify, document and send us (via support@chesscube.com) a specific cheat wins the video, and once a specific cheat has been submitted, no other similar cheat can win the video. (Similar outcomes, are FINE, for instance you can make your opponent lose on time in 3 different ways; we are just not going to award videos for the SAME way an outcome is achieved). We may ask you to play us to demonstrate your cheat against us as final proof you have a working cheat – we only want to identify cheats that can be used over and over again, not just random bugs that you have no control over!


3. The cheat should be documented sufficiently (in step-wise fashion), so that anyone can replicate it. For instance, if the cheat only works with a specific browser version or operating system, we need to know that.


4. The cheat should be something to do with our client, server or the network - other types of cheating (e.g. using a chess engine, reading an opening book, having someone play for you) do not count; basically there are hundreds of ways people can cheat, and we are only interested in ways that arise from bugs in our code or problems with our architecture.


5. DO NOT POST YOUR CHEAT ON THIS FORUM. Send all suspected cheats to support@chesscube.com with the email subject: CHEAT BOUNTY v3.xx (where v3.xx is the version number of ChessCube you found the cheat in)


6. If you have a screenshot that further demonstrates your cheat at work, send that along too.


7. Awarding of videos is SOLELY at our discretion and no correspondence over the fairness of how we award bounty videos will be entered into; we fully plan on awarding anyone who helps us, but we are not going to argue with you whether your cheat was first or was significantly different from a cheat submitted by someone else.


8. Likewise, the bounty is in no way convertible to cash. If you have problems installing Cinema or otherwise have a problem downloading and playing our videos we are not going to compensate you in any other way.


9. Finally, you will not be banned for finding and reporting a cheat; if you find and do not report a cheat you WILL be banned, or if you report the cheat and continue to use it, you MAY be banned, but simply discovering and telling us about the cheat will NOT get you banned! :)

So... quickly... submit your cheats before anyone else does... remember, the first email in about a specific cheat, wins the bounty!