Originally posted by RickLoweHello, welcome to the site.
just joined, clicked on coquette to be my guide on first game, first moves very slow, then Nada.....no chat box on my screen page so couldn,t ask for help...HELP somebody?
This is a correspondence chess site, so expect moves to be slow.
On the other hand you can have several games in parallel.
You can message people ingame using the "send message" option at the right hand menue of the game. BUT you can send messages only before submitting a move.
You can message people at their "home" by clicking on their name and finding "message player" in the menue.
You can play Blitz by clicking the Blitz symbol at the top of the menue.
Red Hot Pawn and its sister sites redhotchess.com, chessatwork.com, timeforchess.com and playtheimmortalgame.com, are mainly "turn-based" chess. You make your move at your convenience, then when your opponent is next at the site they make their move, and so on. If you want to play through a game with an opponent who stays on the site with you until the game is finished, you use the Blitz option in the top row of headers to find the opponent and play out the game as if it was a live game.
Some people on the site only play turn-based, others only blitz, others both. You choose.
Contacting an opponent can be done in the game only while it's your turn - you make your move, type your message in the "message opponent" popup box, and only then click Submit Move. While the game has "opponent's move" status you won't see the "message opponent" option. If you want to send a message at that time you can use the private message system (go to the opponent's profile page and click on Message, or click on the greyed-out Messages symbol on any page).
Your greeter coquette is US-based, so you can figure out when she's likely to be available for multiple moves. I'm based in Australia, and by my clock Americans disappear around 2pm and Europeans start appearing around 5pm, so I don't expect to move during my afternoon period.
As has been mentioned, you can have several games in progress at the same time.
If you want more games one option is to check the "open invites" link at the top of the page. Check the time settings and find one that suits you, and click the "play as black/white" link to play that person.
Or you can create your own game and wait for someone to accept it. When someone accepts the invite the game will appear on your "my games" page. You will also receive an email message to let you know someone has accepted your game.
Or you can send a challenge directly to a specific member by clicking on their username, which will take you to their profile page. On the left side of their page you will see where you can send them a message, or send them a challenge, etc. A direct challenge may not always be sent, depending on that person's challenge settings.
If you have questions about the time options or anything else, ask here in the help forum, but do take a few minutes to read the FAQ section as well. There is a great amount of good information for you there!
I hope this information is helpful, and that you enjoy the site!