New Dealing Scoring Machines
Hi,
About a year ago there was a development of a new dealing and Scoring machine which sits on each bridge table and immediately deals the appropriate cards for the next round. Also the cards were fed back into the machine to record the actual play of the hand. I believe the EBU were trialing it.
Could anyone give me an update and/or a link to information please.
Many thanks Steve
Comments
https://bridgeplusmore.com/
They include these links at the end of their marketing e-mails.
bridgecompany.com
bridgeplusmore.com
bridgeplusinfo.com
Sorry, they didn't copy as hyperlinks.
https://bridgecompany.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9a2066cdf8718775d71c4ec10&id=8bcebf39ca&e=87beef4957
https://bridgecompany.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9a2066cdf8718775d71c4ec10&id=5c6c91ab57&e=87beef4957
https://bridgecompany.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9a2066cdf8718775d71c4ec10&id=6531821334&e=87beef4957
Thanks Gordon, Vix.
Can you comment on their success at all
I’ll try to get an idea of costs.
I thought the hardware was very well designed and intuitive to use. I had two reservations about using them:
1. The cost;
2. They only work with their own software. I would have liked to use them with our existing processes and software, but it seems this does not fit in with their plans.
I have been in touch with BridgeCompany and they say they have these units in 26 countries. Some small clubs in the UK and hopefully a larger club in the UK shortly. I’m still awaiting a response to which clubs have them and whether the file output is compatible with the EBU format.
If anyone knows who has them I’d appreciate some contact details please.
Our local club has been looking into them. As I understand it, the cost is about £14K plus ongoing license and support fees. If you get in now, there's a discount on some of the ongoing fees for some time period which I've forgotten. I think someone mentioned two years.
My own reservations are, as Gordon mentions, that they use their own software. We've just spent over a year getting the scorers comfortable with EBUScore, after a transition from ScoreBridge. Whether their software is as versatile and comprehensive as EBUScore, I don't know. Another software change is likely to leave us with some revolting scorers in the club.
Apparently, it sends results off into the cloud and I don't know what happens if you lose Internet connectivity during a session. Equally, I don't know what happens if a motor goes on the fritz during a drive.
A pack of cards, I believe, costs around £7.50 to replace.
On the plus side, you no longer need to duplimate and (I think) you can easily run barometer events in the club, since you can have each table playing the same hand.
Something just occurred to me... Law 7C. Since it's one of the Laws, I don't believe that the regulating authority, i.e. the club, has the power to ignore this law, yet players will be required not to shuffle, in order that the software can give you the order of play of the cards.
Imagine the late revoke claims if a card gets out of order.
Law 80B2
This law is used to allow screen regulations which change the way bidding and play laws operate. It is reasonable that this law could be used to change the way Law 7C operates for other technologies. None of Law 7 can operate as written, as there is no board.
Another aspect to these devices crossed my mind yesterday and that's the electricity requirements of them. Apparently, both the main device and the associated tablets do need regular charging. Does anyone know whether they'll carry enough power to survive through an all-day two-session event.
Someone at the club also mentioned a charging trolley but I've not seen any references to such a thing. Having to put a dozen or more of these devices and their tablets to charge after each session seems like a bother. Does anyone know how long they can sit on the shelf after a charge and still hold enough power to see them through a session?
with some questions below and their answers are interspersed.
I have a few questions please.
Do you have any Bridge Clubs in the UK who use them at present? You mention possibly a large Club in April. Would it be possible to speak with any of them?
We have a number of private users in UK and the first club have just started to use.
I have asked the person handling the acquisition of our solutions in a larger club nearby – you are welcome to contact him.
Do the units produce compatible file formats required for submission to the English Bridge Union EBU?
We have been able to report game details when we handled tournaments for EBU and an update of the features (and export to Bridgewebs / Pionola / access to EBU member database details) will be part of the process we are preparing together with the above mentioned club – and other interested UK clubs as well. I do not expect it will be an issues as we already exchange data with a number federations
Do you need to charge them up after every Bridge session.
The dealer’s battery last 150 to 180 boards.
The number of boards the tablet can handle depends of the tablet type – we offer a 7”, 8” or 10” Huawei T3 tablet (7” included in the solution’s price). The 7” handles around 60+ boards, the 10” around 75+ and the 8” 90 – 100 boards. Remember a tablet can easily be charged – also at the table – from a power bank (the dealer as well)
I see a Huawei Tablet comes with each Dealing unit. Can these be replaced with iPad or Android Tablets if one became faulty.
The Huawei tablet included – all 3 mentioned above – are Android tablets. You can use any Android tablet with OS 4.4.2 or later and Bluetooth 4 or later
For a club buying a number of solutions we offer a rebate and we will be adding one extra blue and one red deck of cards for free and will also supply special 10 ports USB charges for the club’s convenience.
We also offer purpose built transport cases - for both one or two solutions – see link for our one solution case solution - http://bridgeplusinfo.com/bridge-case-information-specification-weigth/)
Many thanks, Steve
Another consideration might be the possibility of gaining information from an adjacent table, given all tables would be playing the same deal.
That's an issue with any barometer event. We find it helps to put the boards out in a different order on each table, and I think Bridge+More has that as an option.