Kurnik
Encyclopedia
Kurnik also known as PlayOK, is a community-supported website of classic board and card games to play online against live opponents in real-time. It was created in 2001 by Marek Futrega, and was initially a Polish-only website. As of early 2005 it supported over 30 board and card games, and the site is available in 33 languages so far. The gaming platform is still actively developed by Futrega.
It is the most popular on-line board game website in Poland. Since 7 October, 2004 all game rules at Kurnik's web pages are available under the Creative Commons attribution-noncommercial
licence.
Other interesting technical solutions:
According to a gemiusTraffic research, in December 2004 the website was visited by 1.2 million unique users. The Polish version has about 100.000 registered users and, as of January 2007, an Alexa Internet
ranking of around 1,200.
Until 1 May, 2002 Scrabble
was also available at Kurnik, under the name Szkrable. After a threat of legal action from Cronix, the company with the rights to Internet versions of the game, Kurnik developed a similar game called "Literaxx" (Literaki ;-) in Polish), which differed from Scrabble only because of a different board, but Cronix considered these changes too minor for it not to be a copyright violation. Marek Futrega then developed Literaki ;-) into a new word-based game with different rules than Scrabble. The Literaki ;-) rules are public domain
. Similarly, a free equivalent of Monopoly
, "Blogpoly" (Netopol in Polish) is also available in the Polish version.
As of April 5th 2008 Kurnik.org changed its name to playok.com.
dictionary available for the Polish language
. Collaboratively developed, it was initially meant to be just a tool to help validate moves in word-based games, but it subsequently replaced basically all other freely available dictionaries used in free software projects. The dictionary is dual-licensed under cc-sa
and the GPL
.
It is the most popular on-line board game website in Poland. Since 7 October, 2004 all game rules at Kurnik's web pages are available under the Creative Commons attribution-noncommercial
Creative Commons licenses
Creative Commons licenses are several copyright licenses that allow the distribution of copyrighted works. The licenses differ by several combinations that condition the terms of distribution. They were initially released on December 16, 2002 by Creative Commons, a U.S...
licence.
Other interesting technical solutions:
- The live players are connected using Java appletJava appletA Java applet is an applet delivered to users in the form of Java bytecode. Java applets can run in a Web browser using a Java Virtual Machine , or in Sun's AppletViewer, a stand-alone tool for testing applets...
s. Hence the user only needs a Java -enabled browser. - The service collects extensive player statistics and maintains a complete archive of games played in the last 6 months. Games can be replayed or downloaded in popular formats (PGN, PBN, SGF and others).
- Fully automated online tournaments including private ones (organised by users).
- Guest mode for observing a game from the side.
According to a gemiusTraffic research, in December 2004 the website was visited by 1.2 million unique users. The Polish version has about 100.000 registered users and, as of January 2007, an Alexa Internet
Alexa Internet
Alexa Internet, Inc. is a California-based subsidiary company of Amazon.com that is known for its toolbar and Web site. Once installed, the toolbar collects data on browsing behavior which is transmitted to the Web site where it is stored and analyzed and is the basis for the company's Web traffic...
ranking of around 1,200.
Until 1 May, 2002 Scrabble
Scrabble
Scrabble is a word game in which two to four players score points by forming words from individual lettered tiles on a game board marked with a 15-by-15 grid. The words are formed across and down in crossword fashion and must appear in a standard dictionary. Official reference works provide a list...
was also available at Kurnik, under the name Szkrable. After a threat of legal action from Cronix, the company with the rights to Internet versions of the game, Kurnik developed a similar game called "Literaxx" (Literaki ;-) in Polish), which differed from Scrabble only because of a different board, but Cronix considered these changes too minor for it not to be a copyright violation. Marek Futrega then developed Literaki ;-) into a new word-based game with different rules than Scrabble. The Literaki ;-) rules are public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
. Similarly, a free equivalent of Monopoly
Monopoly (game)
Marvin Gardens, the leading yellow property on the board shown, is actually a misspelling of the original location name, Marven Gardens. The misspelling was said to be introduced by Charles Todd and passed on when his home-made Monopoly board was copied by Charles Darrow and thence to Parker...
, "Blogpoly" (Netopol in Polish) is also available in the Polish version.
As of April 5th 2008 Kurnik.org changed its name to playok.com.
Dictionary
Kurnik is also a host for the biggest free softwareFree software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
dictionary available for the Polish language
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
. Collaboratively developed, it was initially meant to be just a tool to help validate moves in word-based games, but it subsequently replaced basically all other freely available dictionaries used in free software projects. The dictionary is dual-licensed under cc-sa
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons licenses are several copyright licenses that allow the distribution of copyrighted works. The licenses differ by several combinations that condition the terms of distribution. They were initially released on December 16, 2002 by Creative Commons, a U.S...
and the GPL
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
.
External links
- PlayOK - international website
- Kurnik.pl - Polish website
- On-Line Checker Play Sites - includes a short review of the game of checkers on Kurnik