Tales from the North Devon Congress #3
North makes a call that is not alertable. South, intending to "not alert", pulls out the pass card (tiredness induced brain-fart).
South clearly didn't intend to make a call, so I likened it to knocking over the bidding box and deemed it a sort of "unintended call".
Any objections?
Comments
Bidding box regulations are clear there has to be intent, so it's not a bid.
I suppose once the facts are straightened out South has effectively said out loud to the table that the bid is not alertable, which could be UI. Although simply not alerting the bid has the same effect.
I think Blue Book 3M1 covers this – the card has to be removed from the bidding box with apparent intent to make a call, but that didn't happen here. It's comparable (ironically) to accidentally alerting with a pass card.
(Incidentally, it took me a surprisingly long time to find the rule in question – Blue Book section 3 is about system cards, and thus it's strange for the bidding box rules to be there. It's possible that the bidding box regulations are misnumbered.)
<Boring history>Bidding Box regulations were in the predecessor to the Blue Book. At some point there was a desire to make the book shorter, and lots was moved to the early part of the White Book, including the Bidding Box regulations. At some point later, a member of the (then) L&EC said that the Bidding Box regulations should be more accessible (easier for players to find) and they were moved back to the Blue Book. But the numbering (of the Blue Book) had become fixed and so the regulations were squeezed in as Part 3Z, between Part 3 and Part 4. At some point later they became section 3M (following 3L) in Part 3, but the page heading still belies the fact that it does not belong.
</Boring history>