Conquer Club

Started a new game earlier in the evening, #403474. For a couple hours nobody signed up. Wasn't getting any signups - then I step away for dinner and when I get back the game is full all of a sudden. All are new recruits, so I look into the players and all 5 of my opponents are players from the US that signed up today. I'd like to give the benefit of the doubt within reason. But there are a lot of reports of cheating out there, and I'm wary of investing time into a game where something might be going on. I'm somewhat new so I really don't know what to think. I have played in 15-20 games, none of which had all players playing their first game except for my first game which was against friends.

Should I be suspicious of anything here?

I can't see any reason for someone to create 5 new accounts and use them against you.

I'd expect that new recruits tend to join the first game they see on the page (which would explain why they all joined yours suddenly - perhaps that is when your game reached the top of the page).

The link to Conquer Club was posted on the user-generated-content site Digg.com recently. Members on the site routinely joke about the tendency of sites linked to be overcome by the flood of visitors, calling it the "Digg Effect". I learned of Conquer Club from Digg.com today. No doubt the massive influx of New Users found their way here like me.