[prescot_td]

I have been given 1 month free Premium . . . .
I have seen 'chat' suggesting that FREE BBO is ending but I have not seen anything anywhere with any posts on what is happening / why / when and how much.
BBO has been a great 'gift' for many for many years and who ever owns this has my thanks for that and I hope that he/she is not going to let greed kill the goose that lays the golden eggs?

What is happening, when is it happening and how much is being asked and for what?

[prescot_td]

It looks like FREE ends in 17th August and after that it's $10 a month (plus (for me) UK bank charges of whatever the currency conversion is plus £5 for each transaction)

[Rfulrabbit]

Just buy sufficient Bbo dollars to avoid fee per transaction.

I usually do annual subscriptions of various things.

[diana_eva]

prescot_td, on 2026-August-17, 15:02, said:

I have been given 1 month free Premium . . . .
I have seen 'chat' suggesting that FREE BBO is ending but I have not seen anything anywhere with any posts on what is happening / why / when and how much.
BBO has been a great 'gift' for many for many years and who ever owns this has my thanks for that and I hope that he/she is not going to let greed kill the goose that lays the golden eggs?

What is happening, when is it happening and how much is being asked and for what?

There is more info here:

https://news.bridgeb...a-members-club/

And this Help file explains in more details exactly what each membership plan covers:

https://doc.bridgeba...elp_Center.html

The cost will be, from September 17 in your case, 5.99 USD per month converted to your currency. Note that you are not enrolled automatically, so in September you simply fall back to free Basic membership unless you specifically sign up for the paid Premium plan.

If you join from the BBO web page, not in the mobile application, you get another month of free trial. So I suggest don't do anything until the free month is close to expiration, and only then, if you want to get the premium membership, go to the web platform to continue it and get the extra free trial month.

[prescot_td]

diana_eva, on 2026-August-19, 03:19, said:

There is more info here:

https://news.bridgeb...a-members-club/

And this Help file explains in more details exactly what each membership plan covers:

https://doc.bridgeba...elp_Center.html

The cost will be, from September 17 in your case, 5.99 USD per month converted to your currency. Note that you are not enrolled automatically, so in September you simply fall back to free Basic membership unless you specifically sign up for the paid Premium plan.

If you join from the BBO web page, not in the mobile application, you get another month of free trial. So I suggest don't do anything until the free month is close to expiration, and only then, if you want to get the premium membership, go to the web platform to continue it and get the extra free trial month.

Thanks for the helpful reply

[Who_he]

6 hands a day for Basic is a stupid restriction.
Obviously set by some accountant rather than a Bridge player.
Make it 24 hands a week, so we can at least have one decent session and it might get some use.
6/day is bye bye BBO

[prescot_td]

Who_he, on 2026-August-20, 09:37, said:

6 hands a day - Make it 24 hands a week, so we can at least have one decent session and it might get some use.

That would be sensible - no one is going to join at table, play 6 hands and leave, that would be disruptive

[Lyn R]

For many years, since Covid to be precise, BBO is the only website in my life that crashes. It feels as if the tech infrastructure is very frail. Recently, in the space of an hour, my partner lost connection and then I did.

Seems to me that the tech should be sorted and stable before charging to use the platform. I already pay for a couple of platforms that provide far stronger learning tools than BBO and cannot justify further significant fees. I like to play in the 10-boards per day women's tournament. Under your current proposals, this will now be denied to me.

It's extremely disappointing and I feel that there must be a better way to monetise the site in a way that recognises usage levels rather than a flat fee regardless.

Look forward to hearing some constructive feedback.
Thanks
Lyn

[Lyn R]

So there I am, minding my own business in a lovely contract, BBO crashes, bots move in and mess up the contract!

BBO crashes are just too frequent to justify paying to use this platform.

Please sort out your tech before charging for use.

Thanks

[eivind1]

For several days now, the Free Just Declare Daylong has been Full at around 9 AM GMT. I've never seen that happen before. What's happening?

[TordN]

eivind1, on 2026-September-22, 04:17, said:

For several days now, the Free Just Declare Daylong has been Full at around 9 AM GMT. I've never seen that happen before. What's happening?

I think this is the tournament for the day previously. E.g. I logged on to BBO now and the Daylong for 21.9 is now full.

The problem is that I don't really know when the tourneys are posted, as I've played in for several years in the middle of the day (living in Central Europe), but now the this is never available when I look for it. Just one of a number of instances recently that BBO unfortunately is not in a good state and that no one competent is involved in running the site.

[EugeneLS]

You can continue to play as a 'basic' member with your six-a-day, severely hampered. But be aware of this TRAP.

If you're playing a hand in the Social area, but decide to quit after the board's been played, you must click on the three horizontal bars in the corner, and then check "this is my last deal" - before the deal is played out. Otherwise, the next board will be dealt immediately after the last trick played, and you will be docked TWO deals from your allowance when you thought it was only going to cost you one.

I got caught this way. Once! VERY underhand conduct in my opinion.

[TordN]

EugeneLS, on 2026-September-22, 05:52, said:

You can continue to play as a 'basic' member with your six-a-day, severely hampered. But be aware of this TRAP.

If you're playing a hand in the Social area, but decide to quit after the board's been played, you must click on the three horizontal bars in the corner, and then check "this is my last deal" - before the deal is played out. Otherwise, the next board will be dealt immediately after the last trick played, and you will be docked TWO deals from your allowance when you thought it was only going to cost you one.

I got caught this way. Once! VERY underhand conduct in my opinion.

I think by now we just have to accept that BBO has been taken over by people whos sole interest is squeezing as much money as possible out of its clients and that until a viable competitior emerged they will be just as awful as they now have become.