[modicum]

My bridge club isn't good at keeping our games on time, and we don't have one of those giant clocks used in tournaments. So I made a little computer program to show all users where we are in the movement, and how much time they have to finish their round.

• It shows everyone in the room what the round is, how much time is left, and what board they should be on.
  
• It uses giant letter so the screen is easy to read from across the room.
  
• It can make a verbal announcement telling users when it is time to move to the next round.
  
• The tournament director can add time to rounds or skip forward to keep pace with how people are playing.
  
• And it is written as a simple web-page, so any computer with a web browser can use it without installing any special software.

I know that there are other tools around that do similar things, but I don't think any of them can be run as easily as loading a web page.

If anyone wants to check it out or try it in your club, I would be interested in your thoughts. You can use the timer by going to timer.bridgelife.net. (I haven't tested it on many different computer or browsers, so if you have trouble running it let me know.)

[blackshoe]

Any computer with a web browser and an internet connection.

There's also a free round timer (written for windoze) that doesn't depend on an internet connection, and allows "admin time" between rounds and hospitality breaks, and will store various configurations. Sorry, I don't have the url handy.

That said, this looks like a good start.

[modicum]

Thanks for the feedback.

A web-based timer will require an internet connection, so clubs that don't have internet access will not be able to use it. But I expect this isn't a problem for many clubs (most places I play have internet access, and I only expect it to become more widespread).

I'll take a look at the features for the free Windows tool. It wouldn't be too hard to add support for admin time and breaks, or to let users store their configuration. There are also some interesting features that we could add because this is an internet application, like displaying the time on multiple terminals or controlling it from a mobile phone.

[blackshoe]

In the one location around here that uses a round timer frequently, they do it on a separate computer from the one used for scoring. I'd tried to do both on the same box, but it's a pain.

[barmar]

This looks pretty nice. We use a standalone Windows app at my club, but the board # in your app is a feature it doesn't have.

But in addition to adding minutes to the round, you should have the ability to subtract them. I know it's rare that the players are actually on time , but sometimes I add minutes and then realize I added too many and want to undo it.

[JoAnneM]

I would love the URL for the stand alone program. We don't have internet, and we have one of those big ACBL clocks, which have their own problems.

[modicum]

Thanks for all the feedback guys.

Blackshoe - You must play at bigger clubs than I do, I haven't seen one yet with multiple computers. But if this timer is expanded to play on multiple screens, then even if the players aren't looking that the scoring computer the director can use it to keep an eye on the time.

Barmar - Done! You can now add and remove time from a round.

JoAnneM - Interesting. I did a little digging after Blackshoe's first post, and I think I can turn it into a standalone program using a product called Adobe AIR. I'll look into this and if I find a way to do it I'll post a link here.

[blackshoe]

When we first started talking about round timers, one of the players here bought one from the ACBL, as a test, with the understanding that the local organization would buy it from him if the club owners accepted its value. They didn't, the organization didn't, and the player returned it and got his money back. Later, one of the clubs (and yes, it's pretty large) set up the Windoze RT - on an old laptop that isn't much use for anything else, which the owner of that club happened to have laying around. One other club (also pretty large) which plays at the same site uses the same computer for round timing - for one of its usually four sections.

ACBLScore seems to have two window sizes — full screen, and too damn small to read easily. So putting a round timer *and* the scoring program on the screen at the same time doesn't work out so well. Sure, if we had multiple screens, that would probably work, but many directors here carry a laptop to their games, and carrying an extra monitor as well probably ain't gonna happen. And in at least one case with a desktop computer it's not in the playing room. So the "multiple screen" thing probably won't work for us, except where there's multiple computers as well.

[modicum]

There is now a version of the timer that you can install on your computer and run without an internet connection. Hopefully this will help JoAnneM and others use it in clubs without internet access.

To install it you need to have Adobe Air on your computer. You can get it at http://get.adobe.com/air/. Then to install the timer go to http://timer.bridgel...BridgeTimer.air. I hope that works for you guys.

Blackshoe - those sound like huge club games. (By my standards, I've never seen more than two sections at one.) I guess with that many people it makes sense to have dedicated scoring and timing computers. I agree that few people have computers with multiple screens, and even if they do the screen is right by the computer. The idea is that eventually you will be able to display the current timer on as many different computers (or cellphones) as you want, and they will all follow the same clock. That way if you have a big room you can keep everyone in sync. It doesn't do that yet, but I would like to drive it in that direction.

[blackshoe]

Our Tuesday club seems to be getting around 30 tables these days. The Monday game (different club) gets around 16. That same club runs a Thursday afternoon game that seems to run about 7-10. The Friday game that I run averages about 5, and that's up from last year. So we run the whole range.

Interesting idea, about cellphones. Hopefully if foks are gonna use their cellphones to check the clock, they'll turn the ringer off.

[JoAnneM]

Thanks for all your help! I am going to try these out.

It never occurred to me to use my iPhone. I wonder if I can set the alarm to ring every 15, 21, or 28 minutes when I am directing..... Think I will check that out too.

[barmar]

The timer program we use at our club (sorry, don't know the URL offhand) makes a verbal announcement when the round changes and also a warning a couple of minutes before (I think it's 2 minutes in 15-minute rounds, 3 minutes in 21-minute rounds). Does your program have the warning announcement?

[modicum]

Blackshoe - agreed, I would hate to give people an excuse to have their phones distracting other players. Then again people are probably going to carry their phones whether or not they have a use for them, so hopefully they know how to turn off the ringer.

JoAnneM - Great! Please let me know how it works.

The iPhone does have a built-in timer (in the Clock program), but I don't think it will automatically repeat. I hope to get this program to the point where a director can monitor and control their timer on their phone while all the players watch it on a computer, but it won't get there for a little while.

Barmar - Currently the timer will announce all round changes if you select 'Verbal Announcements' when you start the round. It does not currently do warnings a few minutes before. That's a good idea; I'll try to add it one day this week.

[suprgrover]

blackshoe, on Oct 25 2009, 12:08 PM, said:

ACBLScore seems to have two window sizes — full screen, and too damn small to read easily. So putting a round timer *and* the scoring program on the screen at the same time doesn't work out so well. Sure, if we had multiple screens, that would probably work, but many directors here carry a laptop to their games, and carrying an extra monitor as well probably ain't gonna happen. And in at least one case with a desktop computer it's not in the playing room. So the "multiple screen" thing probably won't work for us, except where there's multiple computers as well.

In the DOS version of ACBLScore, you can change the font by right-clicking on the title bar (at the very top of the window). I use 18x10 for the font, which seems big enough for me.

Oh, and I think the Round Timer that barmar mentioned is found here: http://www.bridgeace...dtimersetup.exe

[modicum]

Per Barmar's request the timer will now gives you some more choices about how to warn people that the end of the round is coming.

You can set the 'Warning Time', which is the number of minutes before the end of the round that the timer will try to warn people. When this time is up the background will turn red. Also, if you select 'Announce Warnings' it will make a verbal announcement at this time.



Thanks again for all the ideas.

[shintaro]

Modicum thanks very much for this your ears must have been burning as we were discussing such a timer for use at Club level

[modicum]

shintaro - You're welcome, I'm glad it can help make your games better. If you end up adopting it at your club let me know.

[barmar]

FYI, the round timer we use at our club is the program written by Rich Waugh. It looks like his personal web page has disappeared, but you can download it from our club's site: http://web.mit.edu/m...ib.html#Manager

[Rain]

http://www.acbl.org/...hive.php?id=497

Reminded me of this. Any of you related to this article? Can put in BBO news

[badoosan]

I really like the way that this timer works on my laptop using Adobe Air and the non-web based version. Is there any chance that you'll create a version that can work on my iPad?