Frequently asked questions
How does booking work?
Find a venue, pick a time, and book a seat. You can book a whole table, or a spot in a shared (pooled) game. A short hold reserves your seat while you pay; staff confirm the payment and you're set.
What's the difference between a whole table and a pooled seat?
A whole-table booking reserves the entire table for your group. A pooled seat books one or more seats and lets the venue seat you with other players to fill the table, often at a lower price.
What do ranked and casual mean?
Every session is ranked or casual, set before the first game. Ranked games count toward your season leaderboard standing; casual is a relaxed way to gather with friends and play, with nothing on the line. If someone at the table isn't ranked-eligible, that game is recorded as casual. Play to compete or just to unwind over a game.
How is scoring done?
The venue's confirmer (owner or an appointed moderator) enters each game's points as per-player deltas that must add up to zero. Ranked games update your season points. Mistakes are fixed by voiding and re-entering, never silently edited.
Is this gambling?
No. Chow Social is a skill community, not a gambling service. You cannot bet or wager, points are game scores (never money, credit, or debt, and never redeemable for cash), and any prize is a complimentary non-cash reward. See the Fair Play & No Gambling page.
How does my venue partner with Chow Social?
Venues join by partnership. Tell us about your venue on the Partner page and we'll set you up with a dashboard to manage tables, bookings, floor operations, and scoring.
How do I delete my data?
Ask us to anonymize your account: your identity is scrubbed while de-identified game history is conserved for the community record, per our Privacy Policy. Anonymizing is permanent and cannot be undone, and re-registering with the same identity may be restricted.
Manual and automatic tables
New players often do not know there are two kinds of table. It changes the pace and feel of a session, so it helps to know what you are booking.
Manual table
How it works
Players shuffle the tiles by hand (washing the tiles) and build the walls together before each hand.
Feel
Traditional and tactile. The shuffle is part of the ritual and the conversation.
Automatic table
How it works
A machine inside the table shuffles the tiles and raises a fresh wall from the centre for you.
Feel
Faster and smoother. More hands per session, less setup between them.