[bd71]

Played recently in a Mitchell movement with 8 tables where we played 4 boards per round for 6 rounds. Playing 4 bds/round rather than 3 made things move much faster, and we finished the 24 boards in 3 hours flat, a good 30 minutes shorter than the 3 boards/8-round sessions I recall at this club. Frankly, it didn't feel like we should have been done.

My question...given that 4 boards per round seems to be fast enough to finish 4x7 in roughly the same time period it takes to do 3x8, is there a simple movement option where directors can plan from the start to play 7 rounds/28 boards with 8 tables?

I asked this and was told that playing a 7th round in this movement would have caused some pairs to repeat boards. But I sensed that there was either uncertainty or prevarication in the response.

So did I get the right answer?

If it matters, EW pairs skipped a table in the middle of the session.

[hotShot]

If what you call a Mitchell-Movement is that what we call a Mitchell-Movement around here, than the EW pairs moved up 7 tables skipping one and the boards moved down 6 tables.
It should be no (movement) problem playing 7 rounds.

[Siegmund]

No problem at all to play 7 rounds in an 8-table skip mitchell. 7x4 is far and away the most normal choice of movement for an 8-table game. 6x4 is strange (and is nothing more than the 7-round game with a round omitted.)

It is possible to play all 8 rounds in an 8-table mitchell but it's rarely done unless you have more than one set of pre-made boards, since it requires the sharing of boards between two tables.

There are various other options too (e.g. 13 two-board rounds with three stationary pairs and one overall winner) that aren't all that popular because they require extra moving rather than lesson moving.

It sounds to me like you just have a club management that is fixated on always playing exactly 24 boards. IMO it's a gyp to play so few boards whether the movement is fast or not, but not everyone likes playing bridge as much as we do...

[campboy]

Siegmund, on Feb 3 2010, 12:07 AM, said:

It is possible to play all 8 rounds in an 8-table mitchell but it's rarely done unless you have more than one set of pre-made boards, since it requires the sharing of boards between two tables.

Sharing isn't really a problem if you have 3-board rounds. But it is possible to play all rounds without sharing if the number of tables is a multiple of 4, with a double weave Mitchell.

[NickRW]

In my experience 7x4 boards takes about the same time as 9x3 boards (and less time, perhaps surprisingly, than 13x2). For a club that is used to and actively wants 24 boards, this can be seen as being too much (rightly or wrongly).

You're right that 6x4 will go slightly quicker than 8x3 and seem to be a little on the short side to some people - but the director will usually prefer to satisfy the will of the majority.

There is a movement for 8 tables with 8x3 rounds. This is lifted from the help text in Scorebridge (the commonest scoring program in use in Britain I think) (Quite what ACBL score calls it I've no idea):

Quote

PAIRS -   TWO WINNERS       8 TABLES       8 ROUNDS

TYPE OF MOVEMENT
Double Weave Mitchell

SET OUT BOARDS
8 sets.   No relays, no sharing.

Board movement
In the first half, odd board sets ( 1,2&3,  7,8&9,  etc. )
move down one table and even board sets
( 4,5&6,  10,11&12,  etc. ) move up one table

At the half-way stage, all boards move up 4 tables
In the second half, odd board sets (1,2&3, 7,8&9, etc.) move up one
and even board sets ( 4,5&6,  10,11&12,  etc. ) move down one

PAIR NUMBERS      As table number,

PAIR MOVEMENT
NS pairs are stationary,
Odd-numbered EW pairs move up one table,
Even-numbered EW pairs move down one table.

COMMENT
This is a method of playing a perfectly balanced Mitchell movement
without any sharing if the number of tables is a multiple of four
The board movement is less complicated than it appears
except for the half-time move, neighbouring tables always exchange boards

I've never actually tried using this one - it looks quite OK for the keener director to manage.

You could also try a Blackpool style movement - 10 board sets with a spare set between 4&5 and at the opposite end of the room between 8&1. No sharing, no skips - boards just circulate as per a normal mitchell.

It will play for a ninth round when the E/W pairs return to their starting table - at which point it is a "revenge" movement. Some people don't like it stating that the revenge element creates imbalance - which it does - but no more imbalance than a skip mitchell where you miss a pair out.

Nick

[ggwhiz]

The by-stand relay with 8 3-board rounds is the most popular here as all E/W pairs play a round against all the N/S and all players play exactly the same 24 boards.

Not much fuss to run, takes no or little extra time if the Director manages 2 quick pairs for the relay and makes for a much better post-mortem in the bar regardless of which direction you sat.

[Elianna]

ggwhiz, on Feb 2 2010, 07:10 PM, said:

The by-stand relay with 8 3-board rounds is the most popular here as all E/W pairs play a round against all the N/S and all players play exactly the same 24 boards.

Not much fuss to run, takes no or little extra time if the Director manages 2 quick pairs for the relay and makes for a much better post-mortem in the bar regardless of which direction you sat.

Don't forget a NS that can play the bystand boards in the correct order. That's the hardest to find IMO.

[whereagles]

with 8 tables I think you can run something called "Interwoven Howell", which is one of the best movements in the book for that nr of tables

[Vampyr]

bd71, on Feb 2 2010, 11:54 PM, said:

Played recently in a Mitchell movement with 8 tables where we played 4 boards per round for 6 rounds.

Was this intended to be duplicate bridge?

[blackshoe]

I like the double-weave Mitchell. It's not that hard to run, it avoids curtailing the movement, and for 8 tables, 3x8=24 boards is good, particularly if that's what your players like.

[Rossoneri]

A Howell sounds good for 8 tables. And like what hotshot said, yes you can play 7 rounds of Mitchell for 8 tables, in fact that seems more normal to me!

[JoAnneM]

As our players get older/slower using the bye stand/relay 8 round 3 board movement is a welcome break when we have 8 tables, as most of our movements use 27 or 28 boards. Once in a while we get to go home early. And they are really good at relaying and using that bye stand.