How prizes and payouts work

Where the money comes from

Every prize is funded by an exchange owner buying an event. No entry fee has ever funded a prize here and none ever will, because there is no way to pay to enter — playing is free and there is nothing to buy that improves your chances.

A pool cannot be overdrawn. The total paid out of an event can never exceed what was paid in for it. That is checked in the code before every award and again by a constraint in the database itself, so a bug in one cannot get past the other.

If an event does not pay out its whole pool, the remainder goes back to the owner who funded it. It is not kept and it is not redistributed.

What you can earn, and when you get it

Most you can earn in a day

$5.00

Most of one pool to one person

20%

Clearing period

7 days

Smallest withdrawal

$15.00

How you are paid

by hand, to the address on your account

Winnings sit for 7 days before they can be withdrawn. That is not us holding your money — it is the window in which a farmed result can be found and reversed before it has left, which is what keeps the prizes worth competing for.

Payouts are sent by a person, not a machine, so they are not instant. You are told when one goes out, and told if it is held or declined, with the reason.

Paying us never helps you win

A paid account and a free one hit for exactly the same number. Nothing you can buy changes your damage, your level, your gear or where you finish. Surfer plans are appearance and convenience only.

Gear is bought with ichor, which is earned by playing and cannot be purchased with money at any price. There is no code path from money to ichor, and there will not be one: the moment paying improved your expected winnings, a competition would become something people buy tickets to.

What gets an account stopped

• Automating surfing, or anything that produces page views a person did not watch.
• More than one account. One person, one account — accounts sharing an address are flagged for a human to look at.
• Traffic an exchange did not really deliver, however it was arranged.

A flagged account keeps playing and keeps placing. Only withdrawals wait, until somebody has looked. If we get it wrong, say so — a flag is a question, not a verdict.

Strikes are limited to 150 an hour per person, and an account newer than 3 days plays and ranks normally but does not yet count toward cash events.

The plain conditions

Age

18 or over

Entry fee

none, ever

Cost to play

nothing

Who funds prizes

exchange owners, only

These are the house rules for how prizes and payouts work here. They are not legal advice and they are not a substitute for the law where you live — if the rules where you are say you cannot take part, they win.