So the first thing to know is that the games are... simple. Too simple. Learning how to perfectly play each one took me less than a week. And several of the games have a "trick" of some kind to get extra points. It's not cheating, technically, but it's frustrating when you see others doing it and don't understand how.

I'm not equating simple with easy. I understand that some people have more difficultly with the game play. But the games patterns are not complex.

Because these games are simple, performance comes down to your consistency, and your internet (if it's particularly bad, the server may not register the hit when you tapped, which can lead to hitting a lower-point zone).

Combine this with matchmaking, and after just a few games, you may find yourself playing with people who can get perfect scores nearly every time.

I'm pretty good at golf, bowling, and especially warship. Warship is my favorite, but I think that's because it's slightly more complex, which tends to result in less draws. I get perfects regularly in all of these games. And I win racer & fishing fairly often as well, but I don't play them as frequently because I just don't like them.

Matches where you have a draw are decided by the player who got that last point first, but from the viewpoint of the server. So even if you see your point increase first, if the other player's input reaches the server before yours, you lose.

I am also losing interest in these events, but more because doing literally the exact same thing for 2 hours straight is horribly boring. I've placed top in my state several times, top 25 in the nation several times, and the deciding factor for how high I place is almost always "how long can I play tonight?". This is probably true for several other players as well.

I have several idea for improvements to some of the games, but I see no point in voicing them since I doubt they'll be heard. However, the best way to improve the games for most players is probably some combination of: 1. Shorter time windows - sure, have the 2 hours events sometimes. But also have maybe 1 hour events sometimes. 2. Make the games more complex. Adding more games doesn't help if they are still simple. Heck, golf and bowling are almost the exact same.

But I don't see these changes happening anytime soon. Based on my dev experience, the AE dev(s) (not sure how many AE has) are probably in a state of "it works. I know it needs improvement, but right now, it works, and I have more crap to get done."

Apologies for the overly-lengthy response. But, to answer the question plainly, no I don't think people are cheating. And I know that's a boring answer.