Virtual screen

[YesHoney]

North and East can't see bids by the other side until both players behind the "screen" have bid.

[Fluffy]

As an option it could be a good option, but option nevertheless. For casual games it is not wellcome since it makes the play slower.

 

If you are at it you can push more and make it so that the 3 player's bids are hidden till your turn. And you can even more and use it in card playing defence as well. Again it makes the game dramatically slower so taken with real care.

[diana_eva]

This was discussed several times in the past - but the overall conclusion was that it would most likely delay the game a LOT, making things worse rather than improving anything.

 

Variants of this scheme have been proposed many times...

 

My normal rejoinder is the following:

 

As soon as LHO makes a bid or plays a card, I can start processing this information. By the time its my turn to play, I've had a lot of time to think about things. I'm in a much better position to be able to make an bid / play in tempo.

 

In contrast, using this system of virtual screens, I don't get any information until its my turn to bid. I need to immediately process LOTS of information. In turn, this will force me to spend a lot of time thinking about things (ESPECIALLY if I have any kind of problem hand)

 

Personally, I think that this type of system will make the whole situation worse rather than better.

 

I don't think that there are big problems with UI based on tempo... (Yes, that hitch might be based on a player thinking about the hand, however, its far more likely that there is a connection problem or he suddenly discovered a particularly interesting piece of porn).

 

Older thread here

 

And there are probably other variations, older than that.

[Rain]

You could also downgrade your internet speed. Get it slow enough and the lag may make other bids appear in bursts.

 

Sorry for tongue in cheek, but this doesn't feel like an area worth exploring when there are plenty of other things to do. The reason IRL tourneys have screens is their efforts to reduce UI. In our online setting, the games are not taken as seriously as the IRL tourneys in the first place, and even when it is, tempo UI is insignificant when compared to other possible UI means. So to solve or reduce UI problems, we should be targeting the main culprits.