FAQ
- How do I win prizes, and is it free?
- What are the point limits?
- Who is eligible to win?
- How can The Sidehatch afford to give away prizes?
- Will clicking ads help me win prizes?
- How will I know if I've won?
- What are you doing to prevent cheating?
- Do I have to pay taxes on what I win?
- How long does it take to receive a prize?
- How do I refer people?
How do I win prizes, and is it free?
First you need to earn points. You do this by signing up, and then doing what you'd normally do on a flash arcade- playing games (1 point every 2 minutes), leaving comments (1 point), and referring other people to the site (10 points!).
Once you have points, you can put them in the prize pots, which are found here. One winner is chosen out of every pot at the date specified on the prize page, and the more points you put in a certain pot the more likely it is for you to win! And of course, this is all free.
What are the point limits?
Players are limited to 75 points per day. This is on a 24 hour basis, meaning every time you earn a point we check how many you've earned in the past 24 hours. If it's 75 points, you'll need to wait until you started earning points the day before. Attempts to bypass this point limit by creating multiple accounts are easy to detect, and we ban users caught doing this without warning.
Who is eligible to win?
Anyone can play games on The Sidehatch, but only those over 18 and living in the United States are eligible to win prizes. People under 18 may participate if they have their parent's permission. You are accountable for any local, state, or federal laws prohibiting you from winning prizes.
How can The Sidehatch afford to give away prizes?
We're able to afford giving away prizes the same way any TV show can give away prizes; advertisements and sponsorships. As a matter of fact, that's how almost all website on the internet are able to afford being online in the first place.
And of course, the more people that come, the more money we'll get from ads, which means we'll be able to give away more costly and more prizes in general, so tell all your friends (pssst, you get points for doing so!).
Will clicking ads help me win prizes?
No, clicking on ads will not help you win.
How will I know if I've won?
Winners are announced on the main page every week. We will also send you a private message after we ship your prize.
What are you doing to prevent cheating?
We have a few systems in place to prevent cheating, the first being that you can only get a prize for playing a game and commenting a game every few minutes. If someone tries to cheating by 'referring' themselves to the website, we can track that too.
Lastly, when someone wins a prize we have the capacity to see all of the information about their points: when they won the point, what game it was on, the IP address of the computer, etc. Rest assured, cheaters will not prosper on The Sidehatch!
Do I have to pay taxes on what I win?
Yes, it's up to you to declare any local, county, state, or federal taxes based on the value of the prize(s) you win.
How long does it take to receive a prize?
Prizes could take 4-6 weeks to get to you, but that's a generous estimate. You should receive the prize within three to four weeks.
How do I refer people?
At the bottom of your profile is a link entitled 'Referral URL'. Send this link to whoever you want to refer, and you'll get a whopping 10 points for doing so!