Mahjong Time-Aide FAQ

YOUR MAHJONG TIME ACCOUNT

ACCOUNT INFO

1. What is "My Account"?
2. How do I change my personal information?
3. I have a question regarding my account. What do I do?
4. Can I change my player name?
5. I have forgotten my log in details. What do I do?
6. How can I change my picture?
7. What’s a personal webpage?
8. How do I change my gender?
9. Why doesn’t my statistics (personal statistics) match the statistics on the community column on top players’ stats?
10. Why doesn’t the site let me upload an image to my profile?
11. How do I close my account?
12. What do the crowns on the top of the avatar photos mean?
13. How many points do I need to have to get to the other crowns? I have a Copper Crown right now!
14. Why did the system take points from me?
15. Why sometimes when I declare Mahjong and don't have enough points the system is telling me that I don’t have Mahjong and other times it penalizes me for Wrong Mahjong?
16. I’m in a game right now – where can I see how many Dragon Chips I have?

YOUR RATING

1. How come I’m back to beginner’s belt?
2. How can I keep my rating from resetting every month?
3. Why did my rating drop?
4. What is negative rating rest?
5. What does the “Rated” checkbox in a game mean?
6. How do I get my rating up?
7. How does the Belt Ranks System work for the mahjong versions available on your site? Is it the same for all versions?
8. What is the meaning of the stripes with different colors (rating stripes)?

E-MAILS

1. Why should I give you my e-mail address?
2. How can I change my e-mail?

ACCOUNT INFO

Q: What is "My Account"?
A: Your Account contains your personal details, financial transaction information and other game settings.

Q: How do I change my personal information?
A: To change your e-mail address or other information, follow the next steps:
1. Go to "My account > Settings” on the system bar;
2. Find the information you'd like to change and replace it with the new one, modify the preferred settings;
3. Click on the "Save" button

To find out more about Settings, please watch our Tutorial about Settings:

Q: I have a query regarding my account. What do I do?
A: You can contact Live Help by clicking on the button on the system bar or submit a problem report by clicking on the “scarab-like” Submit a Problem button on the user panel.

Q: Can I change my player name?
A: You cannot change your username, but you can create a new user account - and then contact Live Help from the old account and we will assist you in the process.

Q: I have forgotten my log in details. What do I do?
A: Simply click here and we can e-mail your information to you.

Q: How can I change my picture?
A: Yes, you can change the avatar by visiting the “My Account“menu, which is on the upper left side of the screen.

Q: What’s a personal webpage?
A: The personal webpage is an option offered to our VIP players. (It lets the world see your rating and the tournaments that you are playing on). Note: The personal webpage is just one of the benefits you get with a VIP membership.

Q: How do I change my gender?
A: Go to "My Account", click on the “Settings” tab, and find the "Gender" field – change the gender then click "Save".

Q: Why doesn’t My Statistics match the statistics on the community column on top players’ stats?
A: Your personal statistics and the Community column are different because the system refreshes the players’ rating every hour.

Q: Why doesn’t the site let me upload an image to my profile?
A: The size of the picture you want to upload on the site should not exceed 300KB. Also only VIP members can upload their own pictures.

Q: How do I close my account?
A: To close your account, please contact us and request that your account be closed. Please include your player name in the e-mail. Once your account is closed, we will send you a confirmation e-mail.

Q: What do the crowns on the top of the avatar photos mean?
A: The Crown placed above a player’s avatar indicates that this particular player had played at least one cash game. The Crowns reflect how many cash games this player played until today. There are 5 types of Crowns (see below): Copper, Bronze, Silver, Gold and Diamond. You can find more benefits of a Mahjong Time membership here

Cash Reward Program Benefits

Cash Rewards Level	Copper	Bronze	Silver	Gold	Diamond
Lifetime Cash Games Required	1 -299	300-2,999	3000-14,9999	15,000-29,999	30,000+
Tournament Registration Promotions	N	N	Y	Y	Y
Special Promotion Offers	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Merchandise Offers	N	N	Y	Y	Y
Player Profile on Site	N	N	Y	Y	Y

Q: How many points do I need to have to get to the other crowns? I have a Copper Crown right now!
A: After the Copper Crown you can reach 4 other crowns. The next crowns are:

• The Bronze at 300 points
• The Silver Crown at 3000 points
• The Gold Crown at 15000 points
• The Diamond Crown at 30,000 points!

We have created a system of tiers that range from "Copper" to "Diamond"! Each level has unique benefits for players including special promotion offers, tournament registration discounts, and other exclusive offers for the higher tiers. You will be amazed at how quickly you can move up!
So, how do you see what tier of player you are? You can now check out other players by looking at "Player Info" in the game lobby. We are also implementing changes to how you view your own information so you can see your current level and also your current "points"!
Play Cash Games – Earn Reward Points – and get free money and Golden Coins when you need them!

Cash Reward Program Benefits

Cash Rewards Level	Copper	Bronze	Silver	Gold	Diamond
Lifetime Cash Games Required	1 -299	300-2,999	3000-14,9999	15,000-29,999	30,000+
Tournament Registration Promotions	N	N	Y	Y	Y
Special Promotion Offers	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Merchandise Offers	N	N	Y	Y	Y
Player Profile on Site	N	N	Y	Y	Y

Q: Why did the system take points from me?
A: The system can penalize you during a game in four basic cases:

1. If a player claims your discarded tile for mahjong.
2. If a player declared Mahjong Self.

When a player declares a Mahjong Self – there are different variations in payment  counting for European Classic, Mahjong Competition Rules, Hong Kong and other styles – but what  they all have in common is that all the three remaining players pay the same number of points (except European or in Riichi).

3. Wrong mahjong.
4. The Uma penalty.

 Point “3.6.1 Winner bonus” in the Riichi Competitions Rules.
Other insubstantial penalties.
Other insubstantial penalties are: The counter penalty, Dealer penalty, Riichi Bonus penalty and other penalties which do not take any essential amount of points.

Q: Why sometimes when I declare Mahjong and don't have enough points the system is telling me that I don’t have Mahjong and other times it penalizes me for Wrong Mahjong?
A: The system will penalize you for declaring mahjong (either invalid claim for a discard or a Mahjong Self) in case your claim was invalid – a Wrong Mahjong. The penalty will not be taken if your rating at the moment of the claim was lower than the rating required for one green stripe on a white belt for that particular style (You can find the belts and the rating requirements for all the styles here. The penalties various and can be found in the Rules sections of each style.

Example: You where playing an HK game and declared a Wrong Mahjong: You will be penalized if your rating was 6.04. If your rating would have been 4.16 – you wouldn’t have been penalized, but the system would have warned you that you don’t have Mahjong and wouldn’t have let you declare or claim a tile for mahjong.

Q: I’m in a game right now – where can I see how many Dragon Chips do I have?
A: You can see your current Dragon Chips balance indicated in the upper right corner of the game screen – on the System Bar. You can also see check your Dragon Chips balance and other useful information in the My Info menu located in the Information tab.

YOUR RATING

Q: How come I’m back to beginner’s belt?
A: You have experienced this because you are a free member. The rating and the belt for free members is dropped to 0.1 each month.

Q: How can I keep my rating from resetting every month?
A: When you are a Free Player, your rating resets to 0.1 every month, but if you sign up for a Premium or VIP account your rating never resets, so you can work your way up all the way to a mahjong black belt master!

Q: Why did my rating drop?
A: In order to maintain your rating you need to be a community member. For our guests the rating gets reset to 0.1 by the end of each month. If you have been playing with in the past and you had a high rating, but you did not become a community member you can become a league member now and we will restore your rating.

Q: What is negative rating rest?
A: This is a benefit of having a Premium or VIP account. Your rating does not drop below 0.1 even if you lose.

Q: What does the “Rated” checkbox in a game mean?
A: When the box is checked your rating will change weather you win or lose. When it is not checked your rating won’t change.

Q: How do I get my rating up?
A: The more you win, the higher your rating goes. If you play against people with a higher rating, your rating goes up faster than if you play against low- level players.

Q: How does the Belt Ranks System work for the mahjong versions available on your site? Is it the same for all versions?
A: The Belt Ranks System does not work similarly for all the versions. Hong Kong, Mahjong Competition Rules and American share the same belt rating, whereas Riichi Competition, European Classical and Taiwanese versions have different ratings.
The belt ratings for all versions are as follows:

Belt	HK/MCR/AM	RCR	EC	TW
White belt	<1	<120	<2	<0.2
One green stripe on white belt	1-4.99	120-599.99	2-9.99	0.2-0.99
Two green stripes on white belt	5-9.99	600-1199.99	10-19.99	1-1.99
Green belt	10-24.99	1200-2999.99	20-49.99	2-4.99
One brown stripe on green belt	25-49.99	3000-5999.99	50-99.99	5-9.99
Two brown stripes on green belt	50-74.99	6000-8999.99	100-149.99	10-14.99
Brown belt	75-99.99	9000-11999.99	150-199.99	15-19.99
One black stripe on brown belt	100-149.99	12000-17999.99	200-299.99	20-29.99
Two black stripes on brown belt	150-199.99	18000-23999.99	300-399.99	30-39.99
Black	200+	24000+	400+	40+

The ratings in all styles of Mahjong are calculated according to our formula which is based on Official International rules:

1. For Quick Mahjong Games: NewRating= OldRating +( (Score*4 + Difficulty –OldRating)/41 ) /4
2. For Games where there are more than 1 round

Rounds= Total number of game's rounds
NewRating= OldRating + ((Score * (4/Rounds) + (Difficulty –OldRating) / (4*Rounds) ) /41) / (4/Rounds).
The Difficulty is the average of all the participating players' ratings.

Q: What is the meaning of the stripes with different colors (rating stripes)?
A: The stripes and colors of belts are visual displays of ratings of a player. Each next color White>Green>Brown>Black show tiers for that rating – while stripes show an intermediate point toward the next color.

E-MAILS

Q: Why should I give you my e-mail address?
A: It is important for us to have your correct e-mail on file in order for you to be notified. We also utilize your e-mail as a security cross-reference for your player account. We do not share it with third parties or send you unsolicited e-mail as specified in the guidelines outlined in our Privacy Policy.

Q: How can I change my e-mail?
A: Go to the “My Info” subsection in "My Account", find the "Email" box, and insert the new email then click "Save".