Search found 30 matches

by tcarlaw
02 March 2026, 04:28
Forum: Spades
Topic: 1st rule of trick (trump games) - Lead Spades!
Replies: 10
Views: 483

Re: 1st rule of trick (trump games) - Lead Spades!

It is pretty much common sense that you will be lucky to win the third time a suit is led unless you are the one trumping. Opponents are also likely to have expected to win a trick with their short suit by trumping which you can protect against if you clear out spades early. To eliminate bags and en...
by tcarlaw
08 December 2025, 01:23
Forum: Spades
Topic: Quitting playing In the Arena because It's unfair.
Replies: 16
Views: 729

Re: Quitting playing In the Arena because It's unfair.

It shouldn't be that people should quit Arena, but Arena should not match people with large differences in ranking and elo. Ideally, you could go into the matching process by flagging an interest in either social and/or arena. If you are paired with a 'beginner,' it should default to social. There i...
by tcarlaw
22 November 2025, 13:17
Forum: Spades
Topic: Quitting playing In the Arena because It's unfair.
Replies: 16
Views: 729

Re: Quitting playing In the Arena because It's unfair.

Do you know a good place to play bridge online? I'm interested in learning bridge-now.com lets you play with bots and declare your conventions. When you hover over your bid it gives a brief summary of what you are signalling with your bid. It is all bots, but it is duplicate bridge and gives you a ...
by tcarlaw
11 November 2024, 12:36
Forum: Spades
Topic: Make "Give up" option clearer
Replies: 5
Views: 540

Re: Make "Give up" option clearer

The give up option shouldn't really be part of the bidding. Anytime a partnership wants to propose giving up should be acceptable. I still would like to see the option of giving up/quitting without the Karma penalty but a caution that frequently using that option can lead to your account being sanct...
by tcarlaw
05 August 2024, 15:23
Forum: Spades
Topic: Make "Give up" option clearer
Replies: 5
Views: 540

Re: Make "Give up" option clearer

It would be worthwhile to let people who decide to give up the option of taking the elo and arena ranking hit if their partner doesn't want to give up but skip the Karma hit for giving up. Statistically if it happens to often with dummy accounts or accounts colluding it should be pretty obvious. I h...
by tcarlaw
28 May 2024, 05:58
Forum: Spades
Topic: Mute Feature for Chat
Replies: 1
Views: 497

Re: Mute Feature for Chat

It would be a nice feature although it would be nice if you had the option of choosing whether to do it anonymously or announcing it. I have seen people repeatedly ignore people's request to stop offering advice and criticism and being openly muted might be a wake up call. Personally at a certain po...
by tcarlaw
15 May 2024, 16:18
Forum: Spades
Topic: Arena and New Accounts!
Replies: 1
Views: 405

Re: Arena and New Accounts!

The idea of a minimum number of games before Arena has some merit. I really don't think BGA goes to enough effort to randomize deals to cater to new players. I think a rule where the maximum difference in ELO is 100 might be a better approach although ultimately I think ELO is as much a reflection o...
by tcarlaw
26 April 2024, 00:48
Forum: Discussions
Topic: Permissibility of Using Multiple Accounts
Replies: 17
Views: 1347

Re: Permissibility of Using Multiple Accounts

On the other hand, there are many cases where no action is taken by BGA admins. For instance, I've noticed that it's a quite common (and some would say rather endearing) tradition in the Terra Mystica community for experienced players to create alternate accounts with humorous names to compete in e...
by tcarlaw
12 April 2024, 11:53
Forum: Big Two
Topic: Possible Tweaks! Great game.
Replies: 2
Views: 974

Possible Tweaks! Great game.

1. This doesn't apply to only this game but it would be good if the table allowed you to configure it counter-clockwise or clockwise for individuals. I find a lot of games of Asian origin go counter-clockwise but feel more comfortable playing clockwise. 2. If there is a line break in the hand it wou...
by tcarlaw
30 January 2024, 12:01
Forum: Official announcements [en]
Topic: CLASSIC COLLECTION 2: Games you may already know or not!
Replies: 48
Views: 7494

Re: CLASSIC COLLECTION 2: Games you may already know or not!

What I'd like to know is what the "& More!" references in the header? The header lists those 5 games, and then they list those 5 games below but nothing is said about the more part. There are many other classical games on bga, like checkers and chess, they are probably in the "mo...

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