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Quitting playing In the Arena because It's unfair.
Posted: 26 July 2025, 02:29
by Jorgito78
The fact that In some tables, there are 3 players with High ELO and one who is a begginer, makes the game unfair for the player who gets the begginer as a partner. Unless Something is done about this by BGA, I suspect that others Will do the same. I Have talked with other players that share the same feeling.
Re: Quitting playing In the Arena because It's unfair.
Posted: 26 July 2025, 03:55
by SirRhyno
Arena probably isn’t a great place to learn spades…
Re: Quitting playing In the Arena because It's unfair.
Posted: 26 July 2025, 10:13
by Waspq
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Re: Quitting playing In the Arena because It's unfair.
Posted: 28 July 2025, 15:24
by PaigeBueckers
I see both sides here, and I just wish the Elite league score increase/decrease better reflected this. If I am top 5 and get matched with someone who is very mediocre at spades, and we lose to two other top 5 players, I should see a negligible drop in arena score, not pretty much the same drop I would get if I was partnered with a top 5 player and lost to two mediocre players.
I think that is what causes people to get upset by players who aren't very good at spades being allowed into arena, and rightfully so. When you get the mediocre partner and lose, it often takes 3 wins to overcome that drop in arena ranking. When realistically, you never had a chance of winning that game because your partner had no business being in arena to begin with.
Re: Quitting playing In the Arena because It's unfair.
Posted: 28 July 2025, 15:35
by FrankJones
PaigeBueckers wrote: ↑28 July 2025, 15:24
I see both sides here, and I just wish the Elite league score increase/decrease better reflected this. If I am top 5 and get matched with someone who is very mediocre at spades, and we lose to two other top 5 players, I should see a negligible drop in arena score, not pretty much the same drop I would get if I was partnered with a top 5 player and lost to two mediocre players.
I think that is what causes people to get upset by players who aren't very good at spades being allowed into arena, and rightfully so. When you get the mediocre partner and lose, it often takes 3 wins to overcome that drop in arena ranking. When realistically, you never had a chance of winning that game because your partner had no business being in arena to begin with.
Agreed. Spades is an inherently frustrating game, and the arena matching makes it all the more so.
I had one such game in which I bid last and made it a 13 bid, and my partner allowed the opponent to take a trick with the Jack of spades. Well, I didn't realize my partner had "allowed" this to happen until the final card, when my partner played the ace of spades.
I understand that people will not always see every clever play, but ..... that's a play so obviously bad in any situation, it's difficult to imagine how it could have been anything other than a misclick. (If we had set them, we win, and bags were a non-issue.)
Re: Quitting playing In the Arena because It's unfair.
Posted: 29 July 2025, 07:14
by SirRhyno
Waspq wrote: ↑26 July 2025, 10:13
SirRhyno wrote: ↑26 July 2025, 03:55
Arena probably isn’t a great place to learn spades…
I don't know if you are specifically talking about yourself but in my opinion anyone has a right to play arena and their rank/winrate will more or less show their skill level. Yeah it sucks sometimes matchmaking is very imbalanced but it evens out. It's a team game so people may get frustrated, depends how thick your skin is. I think I played maybe 20 normal games before playing arena. People used to give me shit too but I also learned a lot from the advice I was given.
For reference, I’m merely suggesting that it’s a really skilled subset of players. I’m rusty, having played a LOT of spades but virtually none in the past 8-10 years. I was a very good duplicate bridge player, and now I’m a below average Arena Spades player. If, like you say, one has the willingness to take some flak (I do, thankfully), it’s a great crucible to learn the game. But there are conventions here that people expect (probably for good reason), and learning the atmosphere and how people bid and play is going to require some learning by losing at times.
There’s no shallow end of the pool, and that’s fine.
Re: Quitting playing In the Arena because It's unfair.
Posted: 29 July 2025, 08:48
by FrankJones
SirRhyno wrote: ↑29 July 2025, 07:14
Waspq wrote: ↑26 July 2025, 10:13
SirRhyno wrote: ↑26 July 2025, 03:55
Arena probably isn’t a great place to learn spades…
I don't know if you are specifically talking about yourself but in my opinion anyone has a right to play arena and their rank/winrate will more or less show their skill level. Yeah it sucks sometimes matchmaking is very imbalanced but it evens out. It's a team game so people may get frustrated, depends how thick your skin is. I think I played maybe 20 normal games before playing arena. People used to give me shit too but I also learned a lot from the advice I was given.
For reference, I’m merely suggesting that it’s a really skilled subset of players. I’m rusty, having played a LOT of spades but virtually none in the past 8-10 years. I was a very good duplicate bridge player, and now I’m a below average Arena Spades player. If, like you say, one has the willingness to take some flak (I do, thankfully), it’s a great crucible to learn the game. But there are conventions here that people expect (probably for good reason), and learning the atmosphere and how people bid and play is going to require some learning by losing at times.
There’s no shallow end of the pool, and that’s fine.
That's odd.
Compared to Duplicate Bridge, Spades is kind of a joke of a game. But, as you said, you are rusty.
Re: Quitting playing In the Arena because It's unfair.
Posted: 29 July 2025, 15:56
by memphl
Irony, you said you were quitting arena spades and going to another site yet I see you have been playing a lot nonstop since you posted this.
Also arena is random set, it should be individual play in that manner. When all 4 players are random it's almost guarantee one of the players will get upset at his random partner because it is total random and seldom played as a team. When at least 2 players are preset it is likely that the other two players preset or not will work hard as a team knowing there is a challenge at hand. just my thoughts right or wrong
Re: Quitting playing In the Arena because It's unfair.
Posted: 30 July 2025, 04:06
by SirRhyno
FrankJones wrote: ↑29 July 2025, 08:48
That's odd.
Compared to Duplicate Bridge, Spades is kind of a joke of a game. But, as you said, you are rusty.
It feels awkward to suggest seriousness, but the expectations for how people play are very different. Thus making an adjustment. Playing spades with people who don’t come from a bridge background is weird for me, still.
Re: Quitting playing In the Arena because It's unfair.
Posted: 30 July 2025, 05:36
by Jorgito78
memphl wrote: ↑29 July 2025, 15:56
Irony, you said you were quitting arena spades and going to another site
Where?