Points and the shop
AW points were one balance shared by every AW-NET game. You earned them by playing on an online cabinet and spent them on the website, mostly on extra characters and colours.
Earning points
Members got 100 points when they joined and 100 more at the start of each month. The rest came from playing. Every game paid a little for starting a credit and a little more for winning, and only on an online cabinet. Offline play earned nothing.
The October 2004 and March 2005 FAQs give the rates:
| Game and mode | Points per credit |
|---|---|
| Guilty Gear Isuka, against the CPU | 10 to start or continue, 1 per 10 survival levels (up to 5), 5 for clearing: 10–20 |
| Guilty Gear Isuka, free-for-all | 10 to start, 5 for each opponent beaten: 10–25 |
| Guilty Gear Isuka, 2 v 1 and 2 v 2 | 10 to start, 5 for a winning pair, 10 for a winning solo player: 10–20 |
| Guilty Gear Isuka, 2 v 1 v 1 | 10 to start, 5 for a winning pair, 15 for a winning solo player: 10–25 |
| Salaryman Kintaro | 10 to start, 10 for a win: 10–20 |
| KOF NEOWAVE, versus | 15 to start or join, 5 per win up to the fourth win in a row: 15–35 |
| KOF NEOWAVE, against the CPU | 15 to start and 20 to continue, though the same FAQ gives 15 as the maximum |
| Victory Furlong | 10 to start or continue, 10 more for winning a race: 10–20 |
| NeoGeo Battle Coliseum | 10 to start, 5 for a CPU clear, 10 to continue, 10 to challenge, 5 for a versus win, 4 for a perfect, plus a streak bonus |
The NeoGeo Battle Coliseum figures come from its September 2005 guidebook; the others are from AW-NET's own FAQs.
Campaigns handed out larger amounts. New members who registered a card before the end of June 2004 got 1,500 points, and an autumn 2004 campaign offered existing members and anyone who joined by the end of November a further gift: 3,000 points according to the website's banner, 3,500 according to Arcadia, which tied it to Geese Howard's release.
What points bought
Every price that survives:
| Item | Points | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Isuka EX character | 1,500 | Outlive Encyclopedia, April 2004 |
| Isuka EX colour | 300 | Outlive Encyclopedia |
| Isuka starting-level setting | 1,000 | Outlive Encyclopedia |
| NEOWAVE extra fighter (Kim, Vanessa, Ramon) | 3,000 | Arcadia No. 54, November 2004 |
| NEOWAVE Geese Howard | 3,500 | Geese command sheet, December 2004 |
| NEOWAVE extra colour | 600 | Arcadia No. 54 |
| NEOWAVE phone wallpaper | 15 | Arcadia No. 54 |
| NEOWAVE ringtone | 30 | Arcadia No. 54 |
| NeoGeo Battle Coliseum: Mizuchi, Shishioh, NEO-DIO | 1,000, 1,500, 2,000 | Master Guide, September 2005 |
| NeoGeo Battle Coliseum extra colour | 100, or 500 for the eighth | Master Guide |
| NeoGeo Battle Coliseum victory message | 300 | Master Guide |
| NeoGeo Battle Coliseum title | 100 to 8,000 | Master Guide |
Kintaro sold packs of preset chat messages and titles, and Victory Furlong sold items for your stable and a breeding simulator, but no prices for either have been found. The shop catalogue lists every individual item.
Buying and using an item
Buying something and using it were separate steps. For Isuka, you bought an EX character or colour in Web Garage's shop, switched it on in that character's settings, and then held Start on the character-select screen at an online cabinet until the EX emblem appeared. NEOWAVE's Geese and NeoGeo Battle Coliseum's colours worked the same way: buy online, then pick with a button combination at the cabinet.
Anything bought on the site only worked on an online cabinet.
Phone extras
Points could also buy phone wallpapers and ringtones. Isuka's Guilty Gong let players spend points as votes on which ringtone or wallpaper would be released next. The first winner was a ringtone of "Exceptional Routine Work". None of the actual phone files have been found.
What points weren't
Several games had their own counters that are easy to confuse with AW points:
- Fight Money and rings in NEOWAVE's events were separate event scores. See Events.
- Fighting Level in NeoGeo Battle Coliseum measured experience. You couldn't spend it.
- Ranks, titles and company positions came from playing. The only titles you could buy were in NeoGeo Battle Coliseum's shop.
Physical prizes such as card albums, plush toys and posters came from giveaways and arcade events.