Fair Play Policy
Effective: July 21, 2025
Last Updated: October 8, 2026
Fair play is fundamental to Okidoke.
Cheating, prohibited assistance, rating manipulation, and deliberate abuse of competitive systems are not permitted.
This Fair Play Policy forms part of the Okidoke Terms of Service and applies to all games, ratings, matchmaking systems, competitive modes, and related features where Fair Play rules apply.
1. Play your own games
When you play another person, your moves must be your own unless Okidoke expressly says assistance is allowed in that mode.
You may not receive move recommendations, analysis, evaluations, or strategic assistance from:
chess engines;
analysis software;
AI systems;
opening databases where their use is prohibited during play;
another person;
books, notes, or prepared analysis used as live assistance; or
any other external source that gives you an unfair advantage during a game.
If a game or mode specifically permits assistance, its rules will say so.
2. Engine and AI assistance
Do not consult an external chess engine, AI system, analysis service, or analysis board while playing a human opponent in a game where that assistance is prohibited.
This includes entering the current position into another service, device, application, engine, AI assistant, or analysis tool while the game is in progress.
Okidoke’s own Doke-AI features follow the rules below.
3. Doke-AI during play
Using Doke-AI as Okidoke makes it available does not violate this Fair Play Policy.
Different rules apply depending on the game:
Rated games between people: Doke-AI will not provide assistance about the current position while the game is in progress.
Unrated games between people: Doke-AI may comment on the game, but will not tell you what move to make.
Games against Doke-AI: coaching, hints, analysis, and other assistance may be available as part of the experience.
You may not use another AI system or external tool to bypass these restrictions.
4. Daily games
Daily games allow more time for reflection, but Fair Play still applies.
In Daily games, you may consult opening books and opening databases.
You may not use:
chess engines;
AI analysis;
computer-generated move recommendations; or
assistance from another person
unless Okidoke expressly states otherwise for a particular mode or event.
5. Do not receive help from another person
Another person may not choose moves for you, analyze the current position for you, signal recommendations, or otherwise assist you during a game.
Likewise, do not provide prohibited assistance to another player during their game.
Spectating, chatting, and kibitzing do not permit giving a player live move advice where assistance is prohibited.
6. No rating manipulation
Do not deliberately manipulate ratings, rankings, matchmaking, or competitive results.
Prohibited conduct includes:
intentionally losing games to lower a rating;
arranging wins or losses;
trading results with another user;
using alternate accounts to manipulate ratings or matchmaking;
deliberately feeding rating points to another account;
coordinating outcomes in rated play; or
exploiting a system primarily to create an inaccurate competitive rating.
7. No sandbagging
Do not intentionally play below your ability, deliberately lose, or suppress your rating in order to obtain easier opponents, enter weaker pools, gain eligibility, or create another competitive advantage.
Ordinary mistakes, bad games, experimentation, or changes in form are not Fair Play violations by themselves.
8. No account sharing or substitute play
Do not allow another person to play rated or competitive games through your account.
Do not play games on another person’s account where doing so would misrepresent who is playing or affect ratings, results, matchmaking, or competitive integrity.
9. Multiple accounts
You may not use multiple accounts to evade Fair Play enforcement, manipulate ratings, distort matchmaking, manufacture results, or gain an unfair competitive advantage.
If Okidoke permits more than one account for a legitimate reason, each account remains subject to this Policy.
10. No deliberate stalling or abandonment abuse
Do not deliberately waste an opponent’s time in order to frustrate, punish, or manipulate them.
This may include repeatedly allowing clocks to run out from clearly abandoned positions, intentionally refusing to move for non-chess reasons, or systematically abandoning games to distort results or matchmaking.
Ordinary thinking time, connection issues, emergencies, or occasional abandoned games are not violations by themselves.
11. Do not exploit bugs or competitive systems
Do not knowingly exploit technical bugs, matchmaking errors, rating defects, timing issues, or other system weaknesses to obtain an unfair competitive advantage.
If you discover a vulnerability that could affect competitive integrity, report it to Okidoke rather than exploiting or distributing it.
12. Fair Play monitoring
All Okidoke games may be monitored and analyzed for Fair Play.
We may use automated systems, statistical analysis, move and timing patterns, account history, technical information, reports from users, human review, and other appropriate methods to identify and investigate potential violations.
A Fair Play investigation may consider multiple games and sources of information rather than any single move, game, or statistic.
13. Detection methods are confidential
To protect the integrity of Okidoke and the effectiveness of our Fair Play systems, we may not disclose:
detection thresholds;
internal scoring systems;
anti-cheat models;
investigative methods;
technical indicators;
specific evidence that would compromise future detection; or
other confidential Fair Play information.
We may provide general information about an enforcement decision where appropriate.
14. Enforcement
When we determine that a Fair Play violation has occurred, we may take one or more actions, including:
issue a warning;
invalidate games or results;
adjust or remove ratings where appropriate;
restrict access to rated or competitive play;
restrict account features;
suspend an account;
ban an account; or
prevent a banned user from creating or accessing additional accounts.
Serious cheating may result in immediate suspension or banning without a prior warning.
Attempts to evade Fair Play enforcement through another account may lead to additional enforcement.
15. Fair Play and Community violations can overlap
Cheating investigations and Community Guidelines enforcement are separate, but the same conduct may violate both policies.
For example, threatening another player during a Fair Play dispute may violate the Community Guidelines even if no cheating occurred.
Likewise, harassment allegations do not excuse cheating, and Fair Play allegations do not excuse abusive behavior.
16. Reports and accusations
You may report suspected Fair Play violations through Okidoke’s reporting tools.
Do not publicly harass, threaten, or organize abuse against someone because you suspect them of cheating.
A suspicious game or strong performance is not, by itself, proof of a Fair Play violation.
We ask users to report concerns and allow Okidoke to investigate them.
Knowingly filing false or malicious Fair Play reports may violate the Community Guidelines.
17. Appeals
Where an appeal process is available, a user may ask Okidoke to review a Fair Play enforcement decision.
An appeal may result in the decision being confirmed, modified, or reversed.
An appeal does not require Okidoke to disclose confidential detection methods or information that could compromise Fair Play systems.
Fair Play appeals may be sent to:
18. House Players
During our Beta launch, Okidoke may operate non-human, computer-controlled house-player accounts to help keep games and tables active. House players may participate in rated or unrated games.
19. Changes to this Policy
We may update this Fair Play Policy as Okidoke, chess technology, and our detection systems evolve.
If we make material changes, we may provide additional notice where appropriate and will update the “Last Updated” date above.
20. Contact
Questions concerning Fair Play may be directed to:
Fair Play appeals may be directed to:
For conduct between users, see our Community Guidelines.
For general legal terms governing use of Okidoke, see our Terms of Service.