LIVE FEED

What's New

August 25, 2010: Now you can click to trade! -- Tired of dragging pieces around to propose trades? Now there's an easier way. Just click on the piece you want to give away on your own board (to set the yellow highlight), then click on the piece you want to trade it for on your friend's board!

August 25, 2010: New Refer-a-Friend program! -- Now you can earn up to One Million Bonus Points for each friend that you refer to Winster. You get 5% of all points they earn (10% if you are a Club Winster Member). You can keep track of your Bonus Points on your personal Dashboard, at the bottom of the "Invite More Friends" page (under Friends on the top menu).

What about all the friends you have already referred? No problem! You can keep all the referral points you have been awarded, but starting today, you will begin to earn points under this new program as well.

See the Terms and Conditions page for a more complete description.

August 5, 2010: Use your 'Enter' key to spin! -- Mouse finger getting tired? Now AFTER your first spin, you can use the 'Enter' key on your keyboard to spin!

August 5, 2010: Put up your 'BRB' sign to extend your breaks! -- Need to take a break while you are playing, but don't want to risk leaving your room? Now just put up your 'BRB' (Be Right Back) sign, and you will have ten minutes before being removed. (The joke around here is that BRB stands for "Bath Room Break".) Click on the small 'BRB' icon above your Score to turn BRB on or off.

August 5, 2010: Easier to delete Conversation Messages! -- We've added a 'Delete' button right on the Conversation page, to make this more convenient.

August 5, 2010: Improved targeting for trades in Slot Social! -- When you put your mouse over another players board in Slot Social, a larger image of the piece your mouse is on will appear. This should make it easier to accurately target your trades.

July 14, 2010: No more Thumbs Down! -- After much study, comment, and discussion, we decided to eliminate the Thumbs Down rating entirely. Now you can rate your neighbors either Thumbs Up or No Rating. Only your Thumbs Up count will appear to other players.

Thanks to everyone who sent in comments about this feature!

July 14, 2010: 'Smart Highlighting' added in Slot Social! -- Now you can play Slot Social without having to click where your next piece will go! The highlight will automatically move around so that it will eventually fill up your board with five of a kind if you just keep spinning.

You can turn this feature on and off using a checkbox on your 'My Info' page. (You can get there using the 'My Info' button on the left of your 'My Stuff' page.) Check the box that says "Allow smart move of highlighted board slot in Slot Social" to turn it on.

Note that this is automatically turned on for new players (Newcomers), but NOT for current players as of this date.

July 14, 2010: For non-Members: Commercial break timer! -- Now you get a two minute countdown warning until your next commercial break, so the ads won't take you by surprise. The timer will appear at the top to the right of your game.

Also, a notification ("Watching Ads!") will appear on your neighbor's screens so that they will know why you appear to be taking a break!

July 14, 2010: New automatic chat phrases! We've added some new phrases to the automatic chat buttons, including "Thank you all!", "Hold?" and "Keep!". To use these, click on the '+' chat button and hold the mouse button down, then select the phrase you want.

May 12, 2010: Trophy Awards added! -- Now you can earn Winster Trophies, which are displayed on your Profile page! Each Trophy is awarded to you for completing certain actions, which range from simple -- like your first Chat -- to hard -- like earning one hundred million Winster points. (And yes, many players HAVE earned that many points!)

All the older-timers will automatically receive the Trophies they have already earned. But when you earn new Trophies, Winnie will pop-up a notification of your award on your screen, and will also broadcast an announcement to everyone!

For some of the Trophies, you will have the option to let your friends who are not on Winster know as well, either by adding a notification to your Facebook Newsfeed or by sending them an email invite to a special web page that commemorates your achievement. This page is unique to you!

In case you don't want to take the time to notify your friends right when you earn the Trophy, you can also send these invites at any time by clicking "Share" under each Trophy on your Profile page.

A hint for Winster Hosts: Note that Newcomers are likely to receive several Trophies on their first visit. These include one for their first Chat, when they accept their first five Trades, and when they offer five Trades that are accepted. Bear in mind that when they earn these Trophies, they will need some time to read the pop-up notification, which will also explain how they can earn their next Trophy. You can tell that this is happening, because their "BRB" sign will appear and you will see a message about their award appear in the Announcements window.

As always, please let us know of any bugs, or if you didn't receive a Trophy you have already earned!

May 12, 2010: Quick Notes expanded -- In response to many suggestions about the Quick Notes, you can now enter up to 150 characters, and replies to your Quick Notes will pop-up in your room, so you don't have to turn away to read the replies!

April 15, 2010: Quick Notes! - Want to contact a Friend who is currently playing in a game room? Go to your Friends list and click on the 'Quick Note' link to the right of your Friend. (Or, go to your Inbox, click on 'New Quick Note' at the left, and type in their name.) Your message will pop up on their screen while they are playing.

They can send you a reply, which will appear in your Inbox. Or wait on the page displaying the Quick Note you just sent, and it will automatically update after your Friend replies (if they do)!

If you want to have a longer conversation, please use the 'New Conversation' button. This way, you won't disturb your Friends while they are playing, you can include a lot of others in the Conversation, and either you or your Friends can contribute to the Conversation at any time.

Note that Conversation messages are also sent by email to your Friend(s), but Quick Notes are not emailed.

April 15, 2010: Results of our Ratings survey! - Wow, did we get an earful on the question of whether Thumbs Down should be eliminated!

With over six thousand comments, a slight majority believe this is a valuable feature and we should keep it (51%), while 49% think it should go. But the biggest complaint is that there are a few sneaky players who give Thumbs Downs to other people when they aren't even playing, or encourage their friends to also give negative ratings at a later time. (Can you believe such a thing could happen on our happy web site??)

So, several players made the clever suggestion that we simply eliminate the 'Rate' button from the Profile page. This way, you must be in the same room with a player to Rate them. Hopefully this will discourage abuse, while still allowing you to see what other players think.

April 15, 2010: Hey, where did my Profile go! - It's still there - we moved it to underneath My Stuff to clean up the menus a bit!

April 6, 2010: Conversations! - There's a whole new way to send Private Messages, that we call 'Conversations'!

A Conversation is a series of messages that you exchange with up to four of your friends at the same time, about a particular Topic. Your Conversations are managed and organized in your new Inbox. To view your Inbox, click on 'Inbox' at the top menu bar. If you see a number after Inbox, this is the number of new messages you have.

Each entry in your Inbox is a Conversation. To see all the messages you have received in that Conversation, the latest one at the top, click on the Topic of that Conversation. You can reply here as well.

To start a Conversation with one Friend, click on 'Start a Conversation' on your Friends list, then type your message and click 'Send'. Their replies will go into your Inbox. Or to start a Conversation with more than one Friend, click the 'New Conversation' button at the left of your Inbox, then type their screen or first name into the 'With' box, then select them off the drop-down list.

To drop out of a Conversation, check the white box to the left and click "Delete Selected". Note that other participants may continue the Conversation without you.

If you are logged in when a new Message arrives, Winnie will notify you and a green alert will flash at the upper right of your window. In case you are not logged in, all Messages are also emailed to you. If you don't want to receive Messages by email, you can turn them off by clicking 'My Stuff' then selecting 'My Info',and checking the box under Preferences that says "Don't email Conversation Messages to me".

As always, please use the "Comments" button to let us know your thoughts and suggestions!

March 23, 2010: A bunch of new changes! - We fixed up a bunch of stuff on the web site today, thanks for all the suggestions! Here's a quick rundown:

• The Private Message tabs in the chat area now 'flash' when you have a new Private Message. Also, we changed the format of the Private Chat windows so that it's more obvious who you are chatting with.
• Your current points and current spins now appear on your 'My Stuff' Page.
• In the extended Friend List display, it now tells you how long you have been friends. Please note that any friends you made before today will simply be listed as 'Old Friend', because we weren't tracking when you became friends until now.
• We are now asking you to verify or correct your email address (and get 100 spins for doing so). When you have only 60 spins left, Winnie will pop up with instructions. Once you click on the verification link in your email, this won't appear again.
• We took out the changing game icons on the top menu - they were causing problems on some player's screens.
• We added a '>' in front of each announcement so that it will be easier to read.
• You should no longer need to click to put your cursor into the chat window before you chat - it should stay there all the time.
• Certain gifts you give will now be from 'you', rather than from 'A Secret Admirer'.
• If your screen resolution is too small, Winnie will prompt you to make your browser window 'full screen' when you log in.
• 'Out of Spins' should no longer appear while you are waiting for the game to load.
• Lots of little bug fixes and other improvements!

You probably also noticed that we are taking a poll regarding the 'Thumbs Down' feature. More on this soon!

March 10, 2010: Thanks for the comments! - OK folks, we've already received hundreds of comments on the new screen layout. Some good, some bad. The ticker-tape announcements are quite unpopular - some people said it is making them seasick! So our engineers are going to try the original scrolling-window approach, but in a different place on the screen.

Another common complaint is that the chat area may be 'off the bottom of the screen' for some people with smaller screens (people with low resolution displays). Here's a hint that may help: press the 'F11' key at the top of your keyboard, and your window should expand to take advantage of all the available space. Pressing 'F11' again will restore your window to its original size. Or, click on 'View' on the browser menu and select 'Full Screen'. This works in both Internet Explorer and Firefox.

The people who figured out how to engage in private chats liked it, but it's not yet clear enough to everyone how this works. We'll work on fixing the announcements first, then see how we can improve the private chat. Thanks for your patience while we refine the changes. Two steps forward and one step back, I guess! :)

March 7, 2010: New in-game private chat! - As a first step toward improving ways to communicate and stay in touch with your friends, we've reorganized the way chat works in games! Now, everyone in the room (including non-Members) can chat privately with each other player in the room by clicking on the tab with their name at the bottom of the screen. There's more room for chats, and the "Announcements" now scroll by just below the Spin button. Hint: If you want to pause the scroll, just put your mouse over it!

March 7, 2010: New site launched! - Wow, I'm can't believe I'm so tardy in bringing the news up to date! A while ago we launched a new, improved web site which loads the games faster, is easier to navigate, and contains so many new features I can't even list them all here (like a way to reach customer service or send us a comment right from the menus) ... but you probably already know this!

October 15, 2009: Members can now have Private Messages emailed! - Want to send a message to a friend but they aren't online? Now you can optionally have your message emailed to them! (Hint: If you don't want to receive Private Messages by email, edit your profile and check the box that says "Don't email private messages to me when I am offline.")

September 10, 2009: Hosts can go "on" and "off" duty! - By popular demand, our Hosts have asked that they be able to take a break now and then to play quietly with their friends. We added a special button on their Winster Home page for this feature!

August 12, 2009: Messages no longer pop-up over the Spin button! - Private messages and invites will now pop-up on the left side of the screen, so they won't interfere with your playing.

August 12, 2009: Private Room invites from your Friends List! - For members, you can now click "Invite" on your friends list to invite friends to your private room.

August 12, 2009: Surveys added - collect points for participating! - For non-member players who see a 'news player' on the right of your screen, we've added fun, short surveys. You will get 10 points for each question you answer! (Members can optionally turn on this feature as well - Just click "Show Surveys".)

July 20, 2009: Replies to Private Room invitations! - Now you can reply when someone sends you a message responding to a private room invitation. This way, you (or they) can discuss when they are free to join you!

July 20, 2009: Improvements to your Friends list! - Now you can Hide/Show friends! Go to your profile and click on friends you want to hide, then click "Hide" at the top of the column. Click it again to show all your friends. Also, you can now see your friends' first names (in addition to screen names) in your friends list! You can also click on the column heading in your friends list to sort your friends alphabetically!

June 24, 2009: Reversed the order of Chat and Announcements! - You know the Player Chat and Announcements windows? Well, a player suggested that we put the latest ones at the TOP, instead of the bottom, so you wouldn't have to scroll down or look at the bottom of your screen to see the latest. This may take a little getting used to, but we think it's an improvement - hope you agree!

May 5, 2009: Ad-Free Week option added to the Gift Shop! - Don't like watching ads? I sure don't! Lots of people have asked if we can turn them off. Problem is, this is how Winster pays for the prizes. So we've just added a way for you to BUY a whole week with no ads in the Gift Shop. Just 99 cents for Members, and $1.49 for non-Members! Click on your 'Home' in the brown menu bar at the top, then 'Gift Shop' on the left to check it out!

April 22, 2009: Spin performance improvements! - We're trying something new to reduce 'lagging' when you spin. You should see the spinner start immediately, but it's possible that it will spin longer than usual if there's a delay in communicating from our servers to your computer. Hope you like this!

April 3, 2009: Chat buttons added! - Check out the new 'canned message' buttons above the player chat area. If you click quickly, they will say "Thank you!", "Thank you very much!" "You're welcome!", or "No problem!". Click and HOLD, to get a list of player's names to personalize the message. There's also a "+" button with some more messages.

March 12, 2009: Changes to Thumbs Up and Down! - In response to comments about the "Thumbs Up/Down" rating system, we decided to make a few changes. Before, all ratings expired after 60 days. Now, Thumbs Up ratings never expire, but Thumbs Down ratings expire after 7 days. Anyone can still give Thumbs Ups, but only Members can give Thumbs Downs (a Day Pass player counts as a Member). Hope you approve!

November 13, 2008: Room Introductions now optional! - By popular demand, we've added a way for you to 'turn off' the room introductions if you don't want to see them. Just click "edit" on the menu above to edit your profile, then check the box near the bottom that says "Don't Show Room Intros".

November 4, 2008: Room Introductions! - To make joining a room a little more friendly, Winnie now 'introduces' each player as they are seated. She uses your first name and state if available, or your screen name if not. You can also add a personal quote for her to include as well, such as "I love kittens and puppies!" - just edit your Profile (click on the menu above), and enter the optional "Room Intro" text near the bottom. If you prefer not to see the room introductions just click "Don't show room intros" at the bottom when you edit your Profile.

November 4, 2008: First names displayed in rooms! - Ever wonder why the other players are calling "Supermom199" Nancy? That's because they know her first name. Now, first names are displayed under your smiley. To see a player's screen name, just hover over their smiley - it's at the top. If you don't want your first name displayed, edit your profile and either mark it as "Private" or uncheck "Display in games".

October 14, 2008: Display of room numbers! - Ever want to join a friend but can't figure out what room they are in? Now it's easy. Hover over their name in your friends' list on your Friends page, and it will tell you what game and room they are in before you click to join them. Ever wonder what room YOU are in? Look in the Announcements window at the lower left. When anyone joins or leaves your room, it now tells you the room number!

October 14, 2008: Announcements appear on login! - Now Winnie can send you a message that will appear in a window when you log in. In most cases, this will appear only once - so please be sure to read it carefully!

October 14, 2008: Prize changes! - We've added a new prize. By special arrangements with American Greetings, the greeting card company, we now offer a six-month subscription to their online e-card service. Note that this is not available elsewhere, even on their web site. Even if you are currently one of their subscribers, you can win this prize and use it to extend your current membership with them! At the same time, we revised and simplified our Amazon gift certificates prizes. We replaced the product-specific ones with more generic ones, mainly in five dollar denominations. (No more "Burts Bees" - (sob)!) Note that the $15 Amazon prize is the same number of "points per dollar" as the old $5 Amazon prize, while the larger denomination Amazon prizes are better deals (and the smaller ones are worse deals)!

September 20, 2008: Fancy New Home Page! - Our graphics wizard Simon has built a completely new home and related pages for us. Among other cool things, it will show which Hosts are currently on line and available to welcome Newcomers! Be sure and look around at all the improvements, like an easier-to-use FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page. But of course, if you're reading this, you already saw the new Home page - it's the only way to get here! :)

September 20, 2008: Apply to be a Winster Host! - Now you can apply to be a Host online. Just go to your Home page (click "Home" on the menu), then click on the "Apply to be a Host" on the left. It will instantly tell you if you qualify or not, and if not, why. Once you qualify, you can become a Host any time you want!

August 28, 2008: New Enhanced Gift Shop! - If you visit a player's Profile page (or your own Home page or Profile page), and click on the "Gift Shop" button at the left, you can purchase several types of Gifts for your friends (or for someone whom you would like to be friends with)!

Probably the coolest new thing is that you can buy 300 extra spins right away for yourself or another player - even if you (or they) are already a Member. If you run out of spins, want to keep playing, but don't want to upgrade your membership, you can purchase additional spins whenever you want.

You can also select a nice Gift picture to put on your own Profile page or someone else's Profile page along with a note from you. If the recipient is currently playing, a Private Message will pop up on their screen telling them of your generosity, and a note will go in their Personal Messages on their Home page. You can make your note public for the whole Winster community to see, or private so only they can see it, or even anonymous - so it appears to be from "a secret admirer"!

Instead of cashing in points for Hats, you can now purchase them in the Gift Shop - for yourself or a friend's Hat Closet! Also, you no longer have to 'unlock' a level of hats by reaching a certainly number of lifetime points, so you can buy any Hat you want. Note that some of the Hats are scarce, so you can wind up with some very rare ones to wear. (Hint: You can get to your Hat Closet to change which Hat you are wearing from your Profile Page, by clicking on 'Select a Hat to wear' right underneath the display of your Hats.)

July 17, 2008: Members Earn Points for Surveys! - Members can now get 50 bonus points for each survey question they answer. To participate, just click "Show News" to the right of your game. Every few minutes between stories, a survey queston will appear. You have 30 seconds to answer - and get your points!

July 17, 2008: Winnie Speaks! - Winnie appeared on "View from the Bay" (Channel 7 ABC in San Francisco) on 7/16/2008! Check out this Video Link.

July 17, 2008: Only Members can give "Thumbs Down" Ratings! - Based on community reaction, non-members can now only give "Thumbs Up" ratings.

July 3, 2008: Member Referral Bonus Increased to 25,000 Points! - Members now get 25,000 points for each successful friend referral!

July 3, 2008: Change to Non-member Daily Free Spins! - Back to the future! Non-members now get 200 free spins each day they visit, but can get 50 more each day by referring 3 more friends. Oh those marketing geniuses!

June 26, 2008: Refer-a-Friend Reminders! - Did you refer a friend,but they didn't get the message? Now you can send a reminder email - just go to your Friends list, click Show Referrals (on the left), then click on Remind. It will send a message to YOU, suitable for forwarding to your friend!

June 26, 2008: 1000 point monthly Bonus! - The first time you log in each calendar month, you now get a 1000 point bonus as a thank you for playing!

June 5, 2008: New Player Rating System! - Now you can compliment your friends with a "Thumbs Up" (or ding them with a "Thumbs Down")! Click the "Rate" button on their profile, or when you hover over their smiley. Your rating is displayed as a fraction (example: "5/8" means that 5 out of 8 other players rate you Thumbs Up). Note that ratings expire after 60 days, so you can work your way out of pergatory if you get poor reviews!

June 5, 2008: Increased Daily Spins for Non-members! - Non-members now get increased to 250 spins each day they visit!

May 16, 2008: New Game: Bingo Bash! - Our latest, greatest game is ready for you to try! First, select a Bingo card, then spin the mixer to pick Bingo balls. Fill the shaded pattern on your card to win. But as usual, there's a Winster twist: You can switch your Bingo card any time you want, as well as trade Bingo balls with your neighbors to win faster!

May 16, 2008: Increased points! - Back by popular demand - we've increased the points in some of our games - Poker Pals, Spell Squad, and Facets - by 15% to 20%!

May 16, 2008: Day Pass! - Enjoy playing with your Winster friends, but not quite ready to sign up for a monthly membership? Now you can get 300 extra spins, four times the points, no video ads, and enjoy all the benefits of membership for a whole day - any time you want. This is a great new option if you are too busy to play every day, but want some Winster 'quality time' when you do. Best of all, each Day Pass only costs 99 cents!

May 16, 2008: Gift Shop! - We're just getting started on this one, but first up is that you can buy a Day Pass for a non-member friend! Just click on 'Buy a Gift' on their profile, or click on 'Gift' in the detail panel that pops up when you move your mouse over their smiley. They get 300 extra spins and all the benefits of membership for a day! This is particularly useful if you want to continue playing with a friend who runs out of spins!

May 16, 2008: Profile photos! - Now you can display a photo of yourself in your profile, for your friends to see. Just click on the silhouette on your profile to get started, and earn an extra 500 points!

May 16, 2008: Video news feed! - Members now have the option to turn on a video news feed that shows a selection of short news features, entertainment news, and fashion tips right on their computer screen. Look for a 'Show News' link to the right of the game. You can skip to the next story or turn it off at any time. To acquaint you with this feature, you may occasionally see a short example that will run automatically. If you don't want to view it, simply click 'Stop News' to turn it off!

April 23, 2008: Now play for free! - Don't like to pay to play for prizes? Now non-members can claim prizes as well! But you don't get the membership benefits, like four times the points, private rooms, more spins each day...and more!

April 23, 2008: More spins for your membership! - We've increased the number of spins you get for your membership, so you can play more for the same price! (But we had to reduce the scoring in the games...)

March 27, 2008: Private Messages are here! - You can now send a private message to your friends - even if they are in a room that is full or is a private room. If you go to your friends list, click the button in the "Status" column labeled "Send Message"; Or, you can go to a friend's profile page and use the "Send Message" button at the upper left; Or if you are in a game room, you can send a private message to anyone in the room by hovering your mouse over their smiley face, them click the "Message" link. When you send a private message, it will pop up on your friend's screen, and they will be able to enter a response and send you a reply. Note that only Club Winnie members can send private messages, but anyone can receive and reply to them.

March 27, 2008: Chat Area Now Expandable! - If you click on the little "+" at the top right of the chat area, it will now expand to fill any available space!

March 5, 2008: Doku scoring increased! - We have increased the scoring for Doku Deluxe to 1000 points, and 2000 points for a properly colored board!

March 5, 2008: Quicker prize claims! - We used to send the prize claim emails overnight. Now we send them out right away (except for those that are held for manual review for some reason)!

March 5, 2008: Removing players from Private Rooms! - Want to kick someone out of your Private Room? Check out the "Evict Player" link if you hover over their smiley!

February 21, 2008: Pizza Pizza Pizza! - Hungry? We've just added gift certificates for Papa John's Pizza. Enjoy!

February 17, 2008: New look for games! - We completely revamped the look of our games, and added all sorts of features too numerous to list here - check it out!

January 28, 2008: Back by popular demand - a Wal-Mart Gift Certificate! - We describe it as good for $10 off any toy, but regular Winster players already know you can use it for anything you want to buy at Wal-Mart online!

January 23, 2008: Personal News feed in your Profile! - Now your friends (and you) can see your latest accomplishments in the Personal News section at the bottom of your Profile. Items marked "Private" are visible to you only, "Public" items are visible to all your visitors!

January 23, 2008: More points in Match Maker and Slot Social! - We've raised the scores, so you can earn prizes faster!

January 4, 2008: New Game: Match Maker! - Love to mix and match jewels? You'll love our latest game - Match Maker! The more jewels of the same type that you line up, the more points you score. Don't like your jewels? Spin again or trade with a neighbor!

January 1, 2008: Scoring adjustments! - To avoid issues caused by certain playing strategies, we changed the number of bonus points awarded when all players in a room match across their spinners, to 1000 points each. Also, matches now occur only on the center line of the spinners. Sorry about that!