Introducing DIDO
Hi Everyone
This is something I've been working on for a while, and it's finally got to the point where I can share it.
DIDO stands for "Drop In, Drop Out", and is a method of running duplicate bridge events without...
- Everybody being there at the Start
- Everybody being there at the End
- Any time pressure!
I find it invaluable both for non-serious holiday events, and for introducing learners to duplicate events (because of the lack of time pressure).
It is not intended to be a replacement for standard duplicate movements!
One of the interesting things about it is that it cuts waiting (non-playing) time in half.
For more information, see:
https://barndancecaller.net/dido.html
Some of you will, I'm sure, see no need for this. For anyone else, any feedback gratefully received.
Jeremy
Comments
DIDO has been used online at Bridge Club Live (BCL) for many years.
Indeed, I think it was in 2004 that it was introduced in BCL. I'm impressed that you have created a F2F version, Jeremy.
In BCL there are 96 boards available to play over a 24 hour period. Some members play all or nearly all the 96 boards! During afternoons and evenings, we get about 20-25 tables in play and each board gets played around 20-25 times, so plenty of comparisons. You need to play at least 16 boards to appear on the ranking list. You don't get drawn against the same pair again but you might play against the same player if he has a different partner to earlier. Waiting between rounds is either nil, or not many seconds on average during peak hours, but can be as long as minutes if well off-peak.
We tried a DIDO with IMP Pairs, but that didn't attract enough critical mass to make it work. I'm sure you'll find the same thing, Jeremy, that you need a fairly reasonable number of players overall for your events.
Barrie Partridge - CTD for Bridge Club Live
Well I never knew - and they picked the same name as I did!
As Barrie alludes to, it is (much) easier to run DIDO playing online, because multiple copies of one board can be used with no additional dealing overhead.
Out of interest, how does BCL manage the matching of pairs to boards? 96 boards is 24 sets so it can't be releasing one every hour. Are they effectively all generated for the day, then everyone plays the lowest set that neither pair has played before?
I wonder if such an event would be valid for masterpoints (I don't see why not) or NGS (that seems a bad idea)?
Thank you :)
The room closes at 8am and re-opens about 2 minutes later with a fresh supply of 96 boards and a new event. When two pairs are allocated to play each other, the server picks a first board randomly. Each round is four boards. If any of the four players have been exposed to a selected board (ie played it or spectated others playing it, the server will try the next board and so on. It's quite rare that I hear of a case when the server is unable to allocate a board that none of the four players have been exposed to.
BCL has a local system of Online Master Points, including for the DIDO room and these were EBU Master Points when BCL was affiliated to the EBU. Indeed, BCL started off in 2000 as the EBU Online BC. To award Master Points, Jeremy, you'd need to consult with Gordon. BCL used a special formula but I'm not at all sure how it might work with your DIDO.
BCL introduced a grading scheme in 2001 and it applies on a board by board basis so it was fine when we later inroduced DIDO. The NGS is based on the BCL grading scheme but the NGS works on a session basis but then takes the number of boards played into account. I think the problem with applying the NGS to your DIDO would be with establishing the Strength of Opponents, and that's before trying to work out how to program the NGS to include it. Otherwise, it's not a "bad" idea!
Barrie Partridge - CTD for Bridge Club Live
This was the arrangement we had with BCL for DIDO games:
2) Daily “Drop In Drop Out” (DIDO) tournaments that do not follow the normal regulations will have special regulations for awarding Local Points as follows:
a. Only players who have played at least 16 boards are eligible to earn master points, and the size of the field will be based on the total number of such players
b. BCL may if they wish adjust away from average the scores of all players who play more than 16 boards, using the “Square Root Formula”*
c. Awards will be based on the appropriate Individual Scale F at Club Rate for the size of field, divided by four with fractions rounded up to the nearest whole number.
50% + ((Score – 50%) x sqrt(number boards played)/sqrt(minimum number of boards played)),
which in the case of a 16-board minimum becomes 50% + ((Score – 50%) x sqrt(number boards played)/4)
Other discussions here that mention DIDO games:
https://forums.ebu.co.uk/discussion/comment/1500#Comment_1500
https://forums.ebu.co.uk/discussion/1554/change-to-ums-fees-structure
Thanks Barrie, Gordon.
Those who are interested in this subject may be interested in this topic on Bridgwinners.
Thanks, Gordon :))
Barrie Partridge - CTD for Bridge Club Live
This has prompted me to go back over my old emails and I see that Cheltenham Bridge Club ran a Bridgeathon on this principle in Oct 2018. Here is what they reported about it:
Our Bridgeathon was very successful and most importantly hugely enjoyed by our members. The drop in drop out was much appreciated by a good number of people who didn’t stay for a whole session. In order to provide full tables we successfully used the BBO robot rather than have a 5 board sit-out. With the swiss pairs it was really easy to bring the robot in and out of play as needed. I got the hand of how to manage the Ins and outs very quickly.
The highlight of the weekend was when two of our members aged 99 and 94 beat the Robot over a 5 board match. Wonderful! People were keen to play the robot and were very excited when they beat it. It was very successful and we intend to use it further both at Cheltenham and at Gloucestershire County. We have a pairs league where if a pair forget to turn up its a 9 board sit-out. The Robot is an excellent standby.