Turn Times

Darkson · Post by **Darkson** » Sun Oct 20, 2002 9:07 pm

Havng spent the day at the Spiky Open (

) I noticed that no-one timed their opponents turns. Is this something which is frowned upon in BB tourneys?

This was my 1st tourney experience and my mate and myself noticed this, haveing just come of a season where we timed it regiously (if this is wrong we were only following the rules we knew

)

Zombie · Post by **Zombie** » Sun Oct 20, 2002 9:55 pm

It's the rule that's most often disregarded in leagues. Didn't know it was also disregarded is some tournaments, but it doesn't surprise me.

longfang · Post by **longfang** » Sun Oct 20, 2002 10:13 pm

It's left to the coaches to complete their games in 2hrs, some turns can be over in a minute but some turns take a little more time to think it out. This seems to work fine and is good for the game. Games do over run, some coaches do play slowly, but the majority of games are over within the time.

Ixnatifual · Post by **Ixnatifual** » Sun Oct 20, 2002 11:38 pm

One bad thing about timing turns is that your opponent can intentionally slow down any choices he has to make during your own turn, such as if you block him with low strength. "Duh, should I choose both down or pushback? Hmmm... I think I'll go for.. no wait... hmmm.. Ooops, turnover, you took too much time."

Khail · Post by **Khail** » Mon Oct 21, 2002 12:18 am

We just stop the clock whenever the opponent's doing something on your turn...

Well, that was an easy fix

-Khail

Zombie · Post by **Zombie** » Mon Oct 21, 2002 2:17 am

Chess clocks would really be the best way to go if they weren't so damn expensive. Then you could just set one hour per coach for the whole game, or alternately half an hour per half. It would allow you to take your time a bit more on crucial turns while still keeping the game short.

And when the opposite coach has a decision to make during your turn, you could just hit the clock so he does it on his own time!

Ghost of Pariah · Post by **Ghost of Pariah** » Mon Oct 21, 2002 3:16 am

Why are they so damn expensive?!
I looked into buying a couple for my league and $50 was the cheapest I found! Yeesh! And the really weird thing is that the digital clocks were more expensive than the analog! What the hell is that about?

Zombie · Post by **Zombie** » Mon Oct 21, 2002 3:26 am

There aren't many companies that make them (chess clocks is a small market), so they drive the prices up at will.

The worst thing is, they're not only expensive, but they break just looking at them. If you buy the cheapest one at US $50, you'll find that you'll be reparing them about 3 or 4 times a year. Total rip off.

Snew · Post by **Snew** » Mon Oct 21, 2002 5:27 am

I thought about chess clocks but dismissed them. I doubt many coaches would use all their time before the half was over but having a turn or 2 left with no more time would be a crappy way to lose and for the other guy to win.

Nagash · Post by **Nagash** » Mon Oct 21, 2002 8:41 am

... just tried the 4 min limit this weekend.... imo it made the game much more exciting - forcing the coaches to REALLY focus on the important moves....

but still .... the clock only ran out once in the game - thus - forcing a turn-over.... Everyone shoud try it.... great fun!

Nagash

Marcus · Post by **Marcus** » Mon Oct 21, 2002 10:05 am

We often use 6 minute (by stopwatch) in the ECBBL but haven't used them for ages. It was mainly to use against 1 or 2 coaches who took the piss to the extent that if you started playing them at 7 you'd miss the last tube home.

In tournaments I haven't seen timers. You have a certain amount of time to play each match and the Refs will usually enforce hurry ups with appropriate penalties. Besides, deliberate timewasters will get marked down on sportsmanship.

I'm happy to play in tournaments without timers (yes, I take more time than most) mainly because I want my opponents best game and if they're fretting about the clock as well as fretting about their position in the tournament I don't want to be having to administer CPR in the middle of a match.

At the Spiky tournament there were only a couple of games that ran over. Longfang and I ran a little over in our first game. Mostly because we're so closely matched and were determined to play it out without hurrying our turns even if it meant missing lunch. My semi final vs Zy-Nox ran on a bit but I reckon we could claim semi-finalists' rights to take our damn time

martynq · Post by **martynq** » Mon Oct 21, 2002 11:59 am

We used to use 2 minute turns in the league I played in with friends. Truly manic and any sense of real tactical play went thoroughly out of the window. Just go for the ball and hope you survive! I managed to persuade the die-hard lunatics up to 3 minutes, but haven't yet got them to move to the normal 4 minutes.

Cheers,
Martyn

SBG · Post by **SBG** » Mon Oct 21, 2002 5:46 pm

Hi guys !

We always play with the 4 minutes rule in our league, and I think it's better that way. Otherwise, games never end !

We use cheap timers ($8 CAN !!) that we found in a sports apparels store.

You start the clock when you declare that your turn is over and warn your opponent when he has one minute left in his turn. Simple and clear !

Fred

Zy-Nox · Post by **Zy-Nox** » Mon Oct 21, 2002 8:49 pm

At spikey I had a game done in about 1 hour, no riots or anything just incredibly quick play.
As for timers, most mobile phones have got a countdown function on them, I thought of using that,but I cant actually remember the last time I used a timer.

Grumbledook · Post by **Grumbledook** » Mon Oct 21, 2002 8:52 pm

Not that you can count anyway Zy-Nox.