Club policy is that the timing of rounds should be consistently controlled by a timer, using established times for each round. Directors will have discretion to suspend the clock if the room generally needs to catch up. Tuesday/Thursday timing is usually to be 14 mins per 2-board round and 20 mins per 3-board round. The requirement is to complete play by 10.45. On Wednesdays the timing is less problematic, as play begins earlier and only 24 boards are played: these are generally completed comfortably by 10.30.

A warning will sound 4 minutes before the end of the round. From this point no new boards are to be started. Any boards where the auction has started (i.e. one player has looked at their cards) should normally be completed unless the director intervenes.

Club policy is that any hands not played due to time problems are recorded as 'NOT PLAYED' . This should be recorded on Bridgemate handsets with a ZERO as the contract. This we believe is the fairest way to treat the hand, especially as it is difficult for playing directors to establish the contributory causes for the delay, which may have occurred on previous rounds. The director should say "Please don't start any more boards"  rather than "take an average".

There is some confusion on how this is calculated in Scorebridge. When a hand is not played your overall score is calculated over one less board thus retaining the average you scored on the rest of the boards. However, if you are awarded an Average for a board you will get 50% for that board; this will reduce your overall percentage if doing well and increase it if not. Without apportioning blame the directors and committee feel this is not fair.   

If the director intervenes and awards an average, A+ (60%) or A- (40%)  then this is a ruling for that board and a manual adjustment must be entered using the green correction form. The director should initial this before handing to the Bridgemate operator. As Bridgemate handsets cannot record averages, a temporary contract of PASSED OUT should be entered to allow play to continue (see below).

If a hand is PASSED OUT  (4 consecutive passes), rather than not played for lack of time, then a contract of PASS should be entered on Bridgemate.   There is a PASS button for this eventuality.

Trevor Purches
CCTD