Wyllie Online Draughts Club

Welcome to the Wyllie Online Draughts Club, a new way to play draughts online modelled on a traditional face-to-face draughts club, but harnessing the power of the internet. Many World class players play here, including the World GAYP (crossboard) champion, the World Mail champion, the US Mail champion (and several former US mailplay champions), the Canadian Mail champion, the Irish Mail champion, the English Matchplay champion, the English Amateur champion and the present British & Irish Open champion. There are also many players below master strength and players of all levels will find opponents of a suitable level.

Playing Facilities Unlike other online gaming sites, where players are identified only by nicknames, effectively allowing them to remain anonymous, here everybody plays under their real name. Members of the club are able to play pairs of 3-move games with other members at the site, playing their moves on an interactive web page. Any member can invite any other member to play a pair of games on any 3-move opening, selected from a deck that includes the mailplay openings. It is also possible to challenge from a special smaller deck of barred openings that are thought to lose, allowing interested analysts to try new untested defences in these "scrapheap" openngs. Also available, and so far unique to Wyllie Online Draughts Club, is the option to play 11-man ballot games with other members. Go As You please is also supported. Each member has a personal "Status" web page, listing the status of all their games,both completed and in progress, and any pending invitations or messages. This page updates itself automatically once every minute, so members can simply leave their browser open at their Status page and it will automatically show when it is their turn to play or when another member invites them to play or sends them a message, with no need to keep clicking the refresh button to keep it current. Members can play as many games at once as they like, and make moves as frequently as they like. Games played at the Wyllie Online Draughts Club are private and cannot be seen by other members, although in future there may be tournaments held at the Club, in which case the tourney games may go into the archive after the tourney is completed. Your opponent does not need to be logged in at the same time as you to play a game, and your move will appear on their status page when they next visit the Club. If both players are logged in at the same time and responding to moves made as they appear on their respective status pages, this way of playing is only fractionally slower than a serious face to face game, with never more than a minute's delay on receiving a move, but it is also possible to play at a much slower pace more akin to mail play if players wish.

Other Member Benefits In addition to the playing facilities, members of Wyllie Online Draughts Club enjoy some other benefits exclusive to the club:- Wyllie Online Historic Games Archive Over 21,500 games from 1841 to the present, all animated for you to view online, incuding many games published exclusively at Wyllie Online Draughts Club. Basic Checkers Online Dick Fortman's classic books on the 3-move openings are here presented in animated form, with Fortman's notes appearing at the side of the animated board as you step through the moves. There has never been an easier and more enjoyable way to learn published play. Please note this is an ongoing project and so far only the Edinburgh (9-13), Double Corner (9-14), Denny (10-14) and Kelso (10-15) books are completed, as well as part of the Old Faithful (11-15) book. Private messaging Members of Wyllie Online Draughts Club can send private messages to any other member in good standing, and the message will appear on the recipient's Status Page within less than one minute. Most recent messages are always displayed at the top of the list. Club Forum Members of Wyllie Online Draughts Club have exclusive access to the club Forum where news, views and chit-chat may be shared with other members of the club. Real Time Playing Room Full members are automatically able to use the Wyllie Online Draughts Club Real Time Playing Room. What You Don't Get In stark contrast to other gaming sites, Wyllie Online Draughts Club has no tacky advertisements to distract you from playing, no abusive anonymous children to heckle you, no facilities to allow other players to peek at your games and steal your prize cooks and no games abandoned when your opponent disconnects during play.

How to Sign Up - Part 1: Online Signup Membership of the Wyllie Online Draughts Club costs $25 (US dollars) or £16 (UK pounds) per year, or equivalently about 7 cents a day. You can join online via PayPal using the buttons below. You can pay in any currency, as Paypal will do the conversion into dollars automatically. If you do not already have a PayPal account it only takes a few moments to set one up as long as you have a credit card. If you prefer to try the club before committing for a year's membership, a 1 week trial membership is available for $1. Important note:- if you have not used PayPal before, you must have your browser set to allow cookies. If PayPal gives you an error message that says it was unable to install a cookie, you need to adjust your privacy settings. To do this in Internet Explorer click on "Tools" in the menu bar at the top, select "Internet Options" (opens a box) and click the "Privacy" tab. On the left of the box you will see a vertical slider. Slide it to the bottom, then click the OK button. After you have finished, you can repeat the procedure to restore your previous setting. How to Sign Up - Part 2: Postal Signup Memberships are also available by post ("snail mail") payable by cheque or money order made payable in UK pounds or US dollars. I regret that the charges imposed by local banks here make it unviable for me to accept cheques or money orders in any other currency. Postal applications in the UK (£16) should be made payable to RE Waldteufel and sent to the following address:- RE Waldteufel, The Croft House, Knockrome, Isle of Jura, Argyll PA60 7XZ Scotland Postal applications in the USA ($25) should be made payable to McLeod Banks Jr. and send it to this address: McLeod Banks Jr., 3482 Countryhill Drive, Bartlett, Tn. 38135-2458 USA