[pilun]

I'm keen to have a go at the new Swiss Teams, which apparently works like this:
https://news.bridgeb...ms-tournaments/

Restrictions seem to be:
- Odd number of teams means a long sit-out
- A bit awkward to enter a team (I invite my partner, you invite yours, then I invite you two)
- Never at the same table as your teammates
- Standings only at the end
- It's Danish, not Swiss

Quite clunky compared to RealBridge (which also can't handle odd numbers) but it's a start.

To counter, BBO has self-alerts, (BBOALert) an interface less prone to mis-clicks, plus robot fill-ins, which are useful.
Would be good to avoid the fatal sit-out issue via a robot team. Is that the way it works?

Say I have 9 pairs. (Let's ignore single players) Some have pre-arranged teammies, some match up as they enter, some are swept in with random teammates.
Maybe one pair misses out entirely (??), which is okay. Who? Does the system randomly drop one of the last three wallflowers?

Say I have 11 pairs and the game starts. Now I have 5.5 teams. Or do I? I'm hoping I can simply slot in a robot pair to make up to 6 full teams. Is that right?

Say I have 10 pairs. Starts with team 5 (say) sitting out for ages. Again, I am hoping I can slot in 4 robots as a TEAM. Is that right?
Back to 9 pairs. Can I slot in 6 robots to make it a 6-team game?

[diana_eva]

pilun, on 2020-December-25, 00:08, said:

I'm keen to have a go at the new Swiss Teams, which apparently works like this:
https://news.bridgeb...ms-tournaments/

Restrictions seem to be:
- Odd number of teams means a long sit-out
- A bit awkward to enter a team (I invite my partner, you invite yours, then I invite you two)
- Never at the same table as your teammates
- Standings only at the end
- It's Danish, not Swiss

Odd number of teams means a team of 4 sitouts is used to fill in. You can replace the sitouts with robots if you wish, or sub them with humans.

Registration is a bit awkward but it allows ad-hoc teams to form easier. Unclear what a better way would be other than also add a way to sign up as a full team directly, in addition to the two-step method that exists.

Not sure when in a different type of tournaments you would ever land at the same table withy your team mates. I probably don't understand what you mean with this.

Players see their standings while playing. There is a Rank indication after each round, as well as end of round summaries. The TD does not see these, but the players do, they know their rank and partial scores at all times.

Movement is Swiss not Danish (replays are avoided as best as possible, it's not same a the Swiss Pairs).

Quote

Say I have 9 pairs. (Let's ignore single players) Some have pre-arranged teammies, some match up as they enter, some are swept in with random teammates.
Maybe one pair misses out entirely (??), which is okay. Who? Does the system randomly drop one of the last three wallflowers?

Say I have 11 pairs and the game starts. Now I have 5.5 teams. Or do I? I'm hoping I can simply slot in a robot pair to make up to 6 full teams. Is that right?

Say I have 10 pairs. Starts with team 5 (say) sitting out for ages. Again, I am hoping I can slot in 4 robots as a TEAM. Is that right?
Back to 9 pairs. Can I slot in 6 robots to make it a 6-team game?

System attempts to fill in for odd numbers, it doesn't drop a pair or a team that is available to play.

So if you have a team where one player is missing, it drops the incomplete pair, but keeps the full pair in the game.

If you have an odd number of teams, one full team of sitouts is used to allow your single team to play.

If you have pairs not matched in teams, they are randomly teamed up when the game starts, to get everyone in the game.

Only players and pairs who are unavailable are discarded (offline, busy playing elsewhere).

[pilun]

Thanks for that, Diana.

I will give it a go

[patr1cks]

pilun, on 2020-December-28, 15:09, said:

Thanks for that, Diana.

I will give it a go

It works well, I've used it a number of times.

[jdempsey52]

Another follow on question, if a pair are dropped from the start because one or both of them are offline, can they be subbed in once the tournament starts - assuming that they reconnect and that there are empty seats/sit-outs to put them into?

[barmar]

jdempsey52, on 2021-February-24, 10:49, said:

Another follow on question, if a pair are dropped from the start because one or both of them are offline, can they be subbed in once the tournament starts - assuming that they reconnect and that there are empty seats/sit-outs to put them into?

Yes, you can sub them in just like any other players.

They won't be subbed in automatically, though. The server discards their original registrations, it doesn't reserve the seats for them like when you're disconnected in the middle.

[McBruce]

barmar, on 2021-February-25, 10:27, said:

Yes, you can sub them in just like any other players.

They won't be subbed in automatically, though. The server discards their original registrations, it doesn't reserve the seats for them like when you're disconnected in the middle.

If a pairs player loses connection just at gametime (and +allavail+ keeps it open but the TD gives up after a minute or two), accommodating them when the disconnected player returns is possible but only if there is a half-table. If this happens in a Swiss to a player who is set to play on a team, will the system now match the team’s other pair with another unmatched pair?

[paulg]

McBruce, on 2021-March-10, 21:23, said:

If a pairs player loses connection just at gametime (and +allavail+ keeps it open but the TD gives up after a minute or two), accommodating them when the disconnected player returns is possible but only if there is a half-table. If this happens in a Swiss to a player who is set to play on a team, will the system now match the team's other pair with another unmatched pair?

+allavail+ is not currently available for Swiss Teams (that is, it can be used but is ignored), but you are right that the team's other pair is match with an unmatched pair if available or with sit outs if not. For larger events, where more players are likely to be missing, this has caused two or three teams to have their lineups changed.

As long as everyone is aware of this, there will be fewer complaints.

[McBruce]

paulg, on 2021-March-11, 02:07, said:

+allavail+ is not currently available for Swiss Teams (that is, it can be used but is ignored), but you are right that the team's other pair is match with an unmatched pair if available or with sit outs if not. For larger events, where more players are likely to be missing, this has caused two or three teams to have their lineups changed.

As long as everyone is aware of this, there will be fewer complaints.

Thanks. ACBL did a Zoom meeting on Swiss Teams earlier this week for Virtual Club TDs, and the following day I saw a few tried with not too many takers. It would seem that the best way is to get players interested by plugging the game for a week or two first, learn as much as you can about the difficulties they may face, and be available to help in the registration period. So all of this info is helping.