Information

Play-By-Mail, known as PBM for short, is a hobby which allows people to play games with groups of players from all over the world! You can choose when to play, without needing to worry about matching up times with the other players and you get the flexibility to enjoy your game when you want to do so. Gaming at your convenience! PBEM stands for Play-By-Email, and is basically the same as play-by-mail except that email is used to send game reports instead of surface post. Turn-Based Gaming describes the entire system, since games of this type are played in moves, with each move being called a "turn".

This is how it works:-
(1) You send your ''moves'', in the form of coded orders, to the company who are running the game (Madhouse.)
(2) On a set date Madhouse 'run the game', producing personalised printed reports for all the players and mailing them out to them.
(3) The players peruse the reports they have been sent and it's back to (1) (above).

There are essentially two different ways to play-by-mail. The original and still very common one is the postal method (for which you do *not* need a computer). Turns are sent to you by mail and you return your orders the same way. The other method, becoming increasingly popular, is to play-by-email. There's no difference in the game itself at all, just in the medium for sending and receiving turns. It doesn't matter which you choose, you will still be in the same game playing with the same rules and paying the same price to play (if you are in a commercial game).

PBM and PBEM games are not for everybody. They are in-depth, often very involved, and have fairly large rulebooks. Mostly these are not beer and pretzel games, they are played by intelligent creative people who are looking for an engrossing challenge. These sort of games often have high-levels of player interaction, possibly some level of roleplay for those that like that side of the game, and can go on for years and years of real time. Players who have tried other sorts of games often find the wait between turns 'long' to start with. Once you get into a turn-based game you will quickly see that it is this pace which gives PBEM games their unique and lasting appeal. You have time to plan, plot, scheme, diplomacise and get excited about what might happen next... and it doesn't eat your life!

We understand that these sort of games do not suit everybody and we address this in two ways. Signing up for our games sometimes involves answering questions about the rules. This is not to bug you, but simply to confirm that you are the sort of person who will enjoy the game. If you cant be bothered to read the rules to answer some simple questions then there's no way you'll be able to play. We do offer free introductory versions of our games to let people who think they might be interested try it out. This is a great way to get a taste of this unique style of gaming and join the fast-growing crowd who want just a little bit more from their leisure time.