As you will have seen from the banner on the main page the site has been shut down completely.

I paste below the email that was received with regards to this.

I know this will be as much of a shock to all of you, as it was for me. Please decide if you wish to move your stats etc, to another Ladder where this might be.

Please remember before using the move tool to take a screen shot of you stats first, just in case an error occurs.

In the meantime please rest assured that I am here to help you all.

TiggyT, OpManager
Case's Ladder

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I have some really bad news to pass along. We have been contacted by Activision and have been told that they own the rights to the gaming software at Hoyle Online, and they want the site shut down immediately.

Encore owns the rights to the Hoyle name/brand, but the rights to the gaming software were not included, so Activision/Vivendi still owns the gaming software. The rights to use the gaming software have expired and cannot be renewed. We (along with Encore) have tried to work out a deal with them so that we can keep the site up, but we have been unsuccessful.

Inquiries from players can be sent to hoylefeedback@igl.net

Please do not encourage players to contact Encore or Activision, because unfortunately, the decision is final this time.

I'm really sorry for this sudden notice without any advance warning, but it was completely out of our hands. The programmers are in the process of replacing the gaming site pages with a message to the players, but the Hoyle forum will not be available.

Sincerely,
Rhonda