When you first join a new game it can be a little over-whelming, so this page is designed to help new players (and experienced players) through HP. If you still have questions after reading this page, please email us at admin@horsephenomena.com or message any of the moderators. You can view the contacts page (link located in the footer) for more information about messaging/emailing us.
First and foremost you should read our Rules and our Terms of Service, HP is very strict about enforcing our rules to make the game suitable for all ages. After you have done that you are ready to play HP.
General FAQ
Q: What are moderators and how do I become one?
A: Moderators are players who are designated to help keep HP safe and make sure players are following our rules. Moderators are usually picked by the HP staff because they show the responsibility required to become one; however, sometimes, we will ask people to send in applications to become moderators if we are looking for them.
Q: What is the difference between a moderator and administrator?
A: Moderators can do things like reset pages, warn, ban, and suspend players who are not following the HP rules. Admins can do those things, but they have other powers such as being able to accept associations, reset and make clubs, add breeds, reset lost passwords, etc.
Q: What does TV or TV4 mean?
A: TV means trade votes, the number after the TV is how many votes the person has to trade. Upgrades often trade votes for each other when they are running in a club for that month's president.
Q: What does it mean when a player says they are offering services?
A: This means that they are offering things like voting, training, graphics, layouts, etc. to other players in order to make HPD.
Q: What does 100k or 210k mean?
A: This means 100,000 or 210,000. The k means thousand. Mill means million, and bil means billion.
Q: What is a premade?
A: A premade is a ready made graphic or layout. Once another player buys it, the person who made it will put the name of the player or animal that the buyer wants on it. These are often sold in auctions.
Q: What is Filter Dodging?
A: Filter dodging means that you purposely avoided the filters put in places to keep inappropriate words off of HP. Say, for example, the word fudge was filtered, filter dodging would be saying it anyway but adding in extra characters (such as f/u/d/g/e/, or f.ud.ge) or purposely misspelling the word (i.e. fuddge) so that the filters don't catch it. The only exception to this rule is if a word that is filtered is within another word that is appropriate, such as advertisement or essex.
Q: I changed the layout on one of my accounts and now that account and my main account have the same information. What happened?
A: You probably didn't completely log out of one account before updating the other one or had another internet window open with the other account still logged in. We cannot restore your layout (you have to make sure you save a copy of it), but you should message a moderator to see about having your breed specialty changed back to what it should be.
Account Types
HP has two types of accounts, basic accounts, and upgraded accounts.
Basic accounts are free when you sign up, they allow you to use all of the basic features of the game, showing, training, chatting in the basic rooms, voting in the popular vote in club elections, 75,000 HPD from the bank each week, hosting one public horse show and one public dog show per week, etc.
Upgraded accounts give players access to more game features and unlock extra privileges. An upgraded account costs $15 USD for a 6 month subscription, and $30 USD for a 1 year subscription. Players can upgrade their accounts through PayPal and once payment is received, the upgrade will go through automatically.
- Features included in an upgrade are:
- 400,000 HPD from the bank each week!
- Your own stable and kennel! You can board your own horses and dogs at your very own stable as well as offer boarding to other players! You can also feed your own horses and dogs rather than depending on someone else to do it for you!
- You can run for president of the official HP clubs - this also comes with a pay raise! - and vote officially for others who you think should win!
- You can also start your own official association which will be displayed on the Club page of HP! This is like starting and running your own club for whatever you choose!
- You get the option to enter 10 shows at a time while training your horses and dogs for your breed specialty!
- Upgraded players also get extra points if their animals of their breed specialty place in the top places!
- You can host one private horse show and one private dog show each week in addition to your public shows!
- Upgrades also get 50 horse tickets and 50 dog tickets to use or sell each month!
- You also get the ability to chat in the upgrade only chat rooms!
- Upgrades can also breed their animals of their breed specialty sooner! Mares can breed after 10 days and stallions can breed after 3 days!
Upgrade FAQ
Q: I upgraded my account and the upgrade didn't go through, why is this?
A: If you paid with an echeck, the upgrade will not be automatic, you will have to message us at account 1 or email admin@horsephenomena.com with your transaction ID or receipt number after the payment has cleared to get your account upgraded. If you did not pay with an echeck and your upgrade still did not go through, but money was deducted from your payola or bank account, please contact us ASAP with your transaction ID or receipt number so we can get your upgrade to you.
Q: I decided that I no longer want my upgrade, can I get a refund?
A: No player is entitled to refunds for any reason. We only give refunds in extreme circumstances (such as a game error caused you to upgrade twice or similar circumstances).
Animals
To buy an animal, you have a few options. First, you can go to the store (Atlas >> Store in the main navigation) and get a horse or dog from there. To do that, scroll down to where it says "Buy a Horse" or "Buy a Dog" and fill out the correct things, like what gender you want and what breed you would like. Then click the "Buy" button, and the horse is yours. It will automatically deduct the money from your bank account. Horses bought from the store will age every Sunday, and start out as the breedable/trainable age.
You can also buy horses that other players are selling. To look at horses for sale, go to Search >> Horse/Dog Search in the main navigation. Then fill out the form with what you are looking for (make sure you click "find only hoses that are for sale" for sale though!) and then hit search. Once you find a horse that you like, click on it to go to the horse's home page. A "Private" sale means that the horse is up for bid only, a "Public" sale means that you can either bid on the horse or pay the asking price. If you bid on a horse you must bid at least the asking price (you will not be able to bid lower than that) and then wait for the owner to pick a bidder. If you choose a horse for public sale, you may just click the "buy" button and it will automatically deduct the money from your account and give you the horse, if you think that it is too much money they are asking, you can bid below the asking price, but beware that they may not accept lower than what they are asking.
Your last option for buying an animal is to buy rescue animals from the Humane Place, these animals are animals that have been mistreated and kicked out of their stables/kennels because their owners did not pay their board. To buy one of these animals, go to the humane place account (you can search "Humane Place" in the player search) and scroll down the lists of horses and dogs with $ by their names. These animals will also show up when doing the horse/dog search for sale animals.
Once you have bought an animal, you can do lots of things like pick a name, put a picture on, and start training your animal. You can also sell your animal at anytime or breed with another animal. Some things to know about your animal is that if they are a "store" animal (meaning bought from the store originally, you can see this by going to their pedigree, and if it says store x store then it is a "Store" animal) it will age one year every sunday. If the animal was bred by a player, then it will age every week on the day it was born. You also must find a place to board your animal and take it to the vet/farrier/groomer every week. They will charge you for a healthy check up and put your anial's health back up at 100% if it's healthy or diagnose your animal and treat it if it is not healthy and your animals health will be temporarily lowered. To take your animal to the vet/farrier/groomer, go to the animal's page and below the picture where all of it's information is there are links to "Vet Horse/Dog" and "Bring Horse/dog To The Farrier/Groomer", click those and it will automatically vet/shoe/groom your animal.
All animals need food and shelter. Only upgrades can own their own stables and kennels. On HP, if you are a basic, you must find a place to board your animals that you can afford and that will feed. On your animal's page there is a section called "Boarding Information", then you can pick a stable/kennel from the drop down menu or input the ID of a player with a stable/kennel you would like to have your animals bordered at. You may also click the link to search for stables/kennels, this will take you to the "Player Search" page
Breeding
- On HP, there are certain things you should know before you breed your animals:
- It takes 5 days before a male or stallion can breed again.
- It takes 2 weeks before a female or mare can breed again.
- Health declines for both animals when you breed them, so you should make sure you do your breeding before you train that day, otherwise it may not let you breed if the health on one or both of the animals is too low.
- Breeding two animals together may result in twins or geldings/fixed males, although this is a rare occurrence. To avoid your lines ending if the foal/pup is a gelding/fixed, it's advisable to do a backup breeding a few weeks before your planned breeding just in case the last one is born a gelding/fixed.
- All horses can breed between the ages of 3 and 20.
- All dogs can breed between the ages of 2 and 15.
- It is best to plan your breedings ahead of time to avoid forgetting or accidentally training before breeding. For dogs, it's recommended to breed at 13 and 15 to get the maximum amount of points. For horses, it's 18 and 20.
- You can get a gelding horse or dog when breeding, this is the equivalent of any real-life birth issues. You can also get twins.
To breed your own animals, start by deciding which two animals you would like to breed. Then go to the stallion's/male's page and scroll down to the breeding section. There will then be a drop down menu of breedable mares. Select the mare you would like to breed and click the 'Request Breeding!' Button. Then the page will refresh and you will see a list of pending mates. Click 'accept' to breed or 'reject' to delete a mare from the list. To breed with another player's Stallion, you go to their horse's page and follow the same steps. but you must then wait for them to accept/reject your mare.
You can put your stallion/male up for stud. This means people will pay you to breed with your animal. Mares cannot be put up for 'stud' or 'lease'. Just go to the bottom of your stallion's page and update the Breeding part of his information. You put put in an amount greater than $0 HPD. You can put your stallion up for private stuff which means that mares will have to stay on a waiting list until you accept one of them to breed. You also have the option to put your stallion up for public stud. If your stallion is up for public stuff, this means that people can request their mares to breed with it and the foals will be produced immediately (so remember, you will not be able to choose who your stallion is bred with). The foal from a breeding goes to the account that the mare is on.
Breeding FAQ:
Q: I bred my two animals and got a gelding? Why does this happen? Animals are not born geldings in real life.
A: This is the HP equivalent to anything that can possibly go wrong with an animal when it is born. Since we cannot have all kinds of different possibilities, we just have some animals born as geldings. This is why many players choose to do a backup breeding. Also, the chance of a gelding being born is very, very small.
Q: What is the foal/pup point formula?
A: We have never officially told anyone the point formula for foals/pups. However, each foal gets a percentage of their mother's genes and a percentage of their father's genes. Our best advice is to train the parents as high as possible in order to get the highest pointed foal possible.
Q: Is there a possibility of twins on HP?
A: Yes, there is a small chance that twins will be born when two animals are bred.
Shows
You can show your horses or dogs in order to gain points on HP. The shows are judged randomly. In order to enter shows you have to first take your horse or dog to the vet and the farrier/groomer, you will have to do this once per week. Your horses and dogs must also be fed in order to show.
Once you've done this, you will notice an energy bar. This tells you how many shows you can enter. All players can enter 70 shows per week (this resets every Sunday), and upgrades can enter 80 shows per week with their breed specialty.
There are several types of shows on HP, Public Shows are shows that anyone can enter, Private Shows can be made only by upgrades and people who wish to enter must go onto a list for the maker of the show to accept (if they choose to accept a person). Clubs shows are public shows that are created by the official Horse Phenomena Clubs that anyone can enter and which reward double points, association shows are made by the official Horse Phenomena Associations and only horses registered with the association are able to enter the shows.
To enter your animal in a show, go to the bottom of your animal's page and click "Enter Shows", it will take you to a search page. Type in the specifications for the show you would like to enter and then click "Search!" (If you do not enter anything in before you click "Search!", it will automatically take you to the page of the following days shows). If you are an upgrade and training your breed specialty, you will also see an enter-all option. You MUST FILL IN A DATE in order to use the enter-all option, and then click cheapest first, most expensive first, or random, and it will enter your animal into 10 shows for that date.
Once your search results load, select a show and click the "enter show" button. You can enter 70 shows per week, but you can only enter 20 shows for any given date. For example, on Sunday you can enter 10 shows for Monday, 20 for Tuesday, 20 for Wednesday, etc. But you cannot enter 80 shows all set to run on Monday. The money for the show will be automatically deducted from your bank account.
To make a show, go to your home page and scroll down to the "Shows" tab. Then click "Create Show", this will take you to a page with a form to fill out to create your show. You can name your show however you would like and choose a price between $0 and $30 (this price is per class, not for the whole show), and decide when you want it to run, as well as what type of show it is. Basic players can create one public horse show and one public dog show every week, and upgrades can create the basic shows plus one private dog show and one private horse show every week.
To enter private shows, you must go to the creators home page or search for the show with the show search (found in the main navigation) and click "Request A Spot" then choose the animal you wish to enter. If you are an upgrade, you will need to accept people into your private shows in order for them to enter the classes. Go to the show's page (found under your show tab), and click "Request A Spot" where it will show you a list of animals waiting to be entered. It is up to you whether to accept or deny the entries. You may enter your own animals into your own shows.
Training Tickets
Another way to give your animals points is training tickets. Anyone can use training tickets, but only upgrades can sell them.
Training tickets give 75 points per ticket to the animal they are used on, but they are especially cool because you can use them on any animal as long as it is not over the retirement age (but you CAN use them before the breedable age) and they do not bring down health. To request a set of training tickets, go to the player search and search for players with tickets (there is a box you can check), and then pick a player with the tickets you would like and go to their homepage (if you already now a player has them, you can skip the search step). Scroll down to about the middle of the page where player points, money. etc. are listed and click on the "Request" button next to the Horse or Dog Ticket heading (you will also find the price PER TICKET here, there are 50 tickets in every set). This will take you to a page where you can select which animal to train and place a request. If you do not check the "Request All" button, it will only request 1 ticket for every time you click the "Place Request" button, if you do check it, it will request all 50 tickets. Then you must wait for the ticket owner to accept or deny the requests. You will get a message when they are accepted.
If you are upgraded, you will be able to buy training tickets from the store. In the store you will be able to select your price and if they are public or private. If you click public it means that anyone can request them, and if you click private only you can request them. You can get a new set each month (every 30 days), one for horses and one for dogs. When choosing a price, remember that you cannot change it until the next month. To accept training requests go to your home page and click on the "request" tickets link, and then under the spot where people (or you) can request your tickets, it will show you a list of animals waiting to be accepted. You can then accept/deny any animal that you would like.
Graphics and Layouts
On HP many players like to put pictures up on their animals and decorate their pages with layouts.
To put a layout on your page, go to the bottom of your page, there you will find a description box and some color boxes. This is where you will edit your layout. You can input HTML and CSS into the description box for your layout. On HP you are allowed to make layouts of whatever you want so long as they follow the rules.
To put a picture on your horse or dog, go to the bottom of your horse or dogs page and input the URL for the picture you wish to upload into the designated box and click 'save'. The picture must be 600 height by 800 width or smaller in order to be on your animal's page.
However, unlike many other SIM games out there, HP requires that a player puts picture credits on all of their images (on their animals and on/in their layouts). Crediting an image means that you are crediting the person who's photography or stock images you used to make your picture or layout.
Credits on HP must be written out in URL format; for example, if you use a horse picture from DA, you will put stockartist.deviantart.com somewhere ON the image for the person who provided the image. You cannot say stockartist @ DA, it must be the actual URL.
HP also requires that all players use stock images. Stock images are images put out specifically for people to use in photo manipulations. These can be free, but they often cost real money, so be careful. Many stock providers have very specific rules for what you can and cannot use their images for, so be sure to follow those or you will have to take them down. Google images is not a stock source. If you are having trouble finding stock that you can use, please contact a moderator or administrator on HP, we will provide you with more places to look.
If you need more details for what can and cannot be used on images posted on HP, please view our Rules as well as our TOS. If you do not understand something, please contact a moderator to help you out.
Auctions
On HP there are two types of auctions. There are the upgrade auctions and the graphics auctions.
The upgrade auctions are for players who want to have an upgrade on HP but who cannot or do not want to pay real money for it. It's also a way for those who want to make extra HPD to sell upgrades for it safely.
To sell an upgrade through the auctions, go to the upgrade page and click sell an auction. Here you will be able to set up your auction. Once your auction goes up, players will be able to bid HPD for the upgrade. When you have a bid you like, click 'accept bid' and you will be taken to PayPal to pay for the upgrade. If you do not accept a bid by the time the auction is up, then the auction will disappear and no money will be deducted from your PayPal account or the highest bidder's HP bank account. Remember that you are PAYING REAL MONEY for the upgrade. Once the upgrade is complete, the HPD will be automatically deducted from the other player's account and given to you. If you decide not to sell the auction after you have created it, go to the auction and click cancel auction. if you accept a bid on an auction, you are required to pay for it.
To buy an upgrade through the auctions, go to the upgrades page and take a look at what upgrades are being auctioned. Click on the 'BID!' button and then place your bid on the auction. Remember, you are bidding in game money. If you can no longer afford a bid, the game will catch it. Once a player accepts a bid on the auction, the auction will disappear. If you were the highest/accepted bid, the HPD will be automatically deducted from your account, and you will receive your upgrade instantly. Check the bids page to see your upgrade bids. Remember, please only bid on an upgrade if you really want it. If you decide you do not want it after you have bid, you may go to your Bids page and click cancel next to your bid.
If you have any trouble buying or selling upgrades via the auctions, please contact the Horse Phenomena Staff immediately.
The graphic and layout auctions are for players who make graphics or layouts and wish to sell them for HPD to other players.
To sell a graphic or layout, go to the graphics page and click 'sell'. Here you will be able to put your graphic or layout up for sale. You can accept a bid before the auction is over if you so choose, and if you do not accept a bid by the time the auction ends, then the auction will disappear. If you accept a bid on an auction, you are required to finish the auction.
If you would like to bid on a graphic, just go to the graphics page and take a look around. Once you have found something you like, you can bid HPD on it and leave a note to the seller for anything you would like to add. You can view and cancel bids from your bid page. If you can no longer afford a bid, then the game will catch it. Remember that if you bid on a graphic or layout you are saying that you would like to buy it, and will be required to pay the HPD for it if your bid is accepted.