[stu23]

I can't find this covered anywhere

If I try to run a Howell tournament with a Format of 27 boards in 3 board rounds (for 5 tables), but omit to remove a string saying "+rounds8+", will BBO resolve this by running only 8x3, ie the string overrides the format [I am concerned this string could cause a problem were we to get 7 tables, as the overide would take us from an intended 26 (2x13) boards down to 16 (2x8)]

I am hoping a discrepancy between descriptions in the Format and this string is resolved by the system somehow

[biometrics]

stu23, on 2020-October-11, 02:41, said:

I can't find this covered anywhere

If I try to run a Howell tournament with a Format of 27 boards in 3 board rounds (for 5 tables), but omit to remove a string saying "+rounds8+", will BBO resolve this by running only 8x3, ie the string overrides the format [I am concerned this string could cause a problem were we to get 7 tables, as the overide would take us from an intended 26 (2x13) boards down to 16 (2x8)]

I am hoping a discrepancy between descriptions in the Format and this string is resolved by the system somehow

+roundsX+ means that you do not run a full howell but one with X rounds.

Given 5 table a full howell is 9 rounds. using +rounds8+ you get only 8 rounds.

if you do not specify a special number of rounds you will get a full howell

[stu23]

Forgive me please for seeking clarification, but the Format Box says Total Boards, Time per Board, Boards per Round. In this example if I were to put in 27, t, 3 whilst leaving in the rounds8 string (in the Description Box), the system would resolve the issue by reducing it to 24 boards, ie 8 rounds of 3 boards?

[pescetom]

stu23, on 2020-October-11, 04:40, said:

Forgive me please for seeking clarification, but the Format Box says Total Boards, Time per Board, Boards per Round. In this example if I were to put in 27, t, 3 whilst leaving in the rounds8 string (in the Description Box), the system would resolve the issue by reducing it to 24 boards, ie 8 rounds of 3 boards?

From what I have seen happen, yes (24 is closer to 27 than 32 and it will not disregard the +rounds hack).

[barmar]

If you don't use +rounds8+, the total boards you specify will be treated as an approximation. It will run a full Howell, and adjust the boards per round to come as close as possible to the total.

If you do use +roundsN+, it will divide the total boards by N to get the boards per round. If it doesn't divide evenly, it will round to the closest number (.5 rounds up).

[0 carbon]

In Howells, is the number of boards per round respected?
AND
is the total Boards To Play respected as a limit?
eg:
10 entries
Boards to Play: 22
Boards/round:2Does this result in boards played: 18 or 22 - Rounds: 9 or 11 or 18 ?

20 entries
Boards to Play: 22
Boards/round:2Does this result in boards played: 19 or 22 - Rounds: 19 or 22 ?

[mycroft]

If I'm reading this right, you put in boards, boards/round, maximum section sizes, add any hacks, and:

• Without any hacks, it looks at the number of tables and tries to give you a good Mitchell of boards/round that approximates "boards";
  
• With +howell+, it will try to give you rounds = boards/(boards/round), but will do a "all-play-all, with appropriate round length" if that calculation is more than "all-play-all";
  
• Unless you also give it +rounds#+, in which case it will give you that many rounds in a "Howell", with boards/round set, rounded to the number of boards.

I'm guessing - only guessing - that you will get 9x2 is 18 in your first (all-play-all, closest to board count, because you can't play 11x2), and you will get 22 in the second, 11x2, unless you don't ask for a Howell, in which case you probably get 7x3.

Best to have an alarm set for 3 minutes before game time, just like you do IRL, to look at the room and set a movement.

Disclaimer: I do not work for BBO, nor do I run games on BBO on a regular basis. I'm guessing PaulG will have better answers.