A button for thinking / need time

[harikannan]

Sometimes the opening leader or any defender needs a couple of minutes to figure out the card to play. He starts thinking while others wonder after a while if he is aware of his turn to play. Typing in chat either derails the thought process or is difficult when you play on mobile. How about a button for "thinking" next to the claim and undo buttons which made life much easier?

[Huibertus]

Sometimes the opening leader or any defender needs a couple of minutes to figure out the card to play. He starts thinking while others wonder after a while if he is aware of his turn to play. Typing in chat either derails the thought process or is difficult when you play on mobile. How about a button for "thinking" next to the claim and undo buttons which made life much easier?

 

A great tool for regular partnerships! "I need time to think" means you need to do something unusual later partner, or similar agreements...

[harikannan]

Isn't that message conveyed willy-nilly when you take a long time to play?

[pescetom]

Isn't that message conveyed willy-nilly when you take a long time to play?

Not exactly.

The button as proposed adds a range of new potential messages, for example play in time or 'thinking' plus play in time, slow play or 'thinking' plus slow play.

 

That said, I do think it is an inevitable and desirable future development of bridge, but it should work differently. Maybe when the system decides that normal decision time has expired it could prompt the player to either call or ask for a BIT: if he decides for a BIT opponents are notified, if he does not reply the Director is advised and/or the system auto-calls.

[jillybean]

Not exactly.

The button as proposed adds a range of new potential messages, for example play in time or 'thinking' plus play in time, slow play or 'thinking' plus slow play.

 

That said, I do think it is an inevitable and desirable future development of bridge, but it should work differently. Maybe when the system decides that normal decision time has expired it could prompt the player to either call or ask for a BIT: if he decides for a BIT opponents are notified, if he does not reply the Director is advised and/or the system auto-calls.

I assume you will be using Artificial Intelligence. If I'm at a very difficult play or bidding decision I can simply wait until the AI makes the decision for me, this could definitely be an improvement but drastically changes the game.

[pescetom]

I assume you will be using Artificial Intelligence. If I'm at a very difficult play or bidding decision I can simply wait until the AI makes the decision for me, this could definitely be an improvement but drastically changes the game.

No AI, if not perhaps in deciding an auto-call (rather than just pass). You get 10s (or whatever) after a jump, maybe something less (WBF 2027 decide) after some other "unexpected" calls in the circumstances, otherwise a few seconds (the system will hide your actual tempo from your partner, using side of screen times and/or random delays).

 

If your worry is that any AI might play better than your opponent, I think that can easily be tuned to the level of the competition. Obviously it should not play at Bermuda Bowl level even in Bermuda Bowl (at Bermuda Bowl level, you could also just start the BIT clock automatically, it's unlikely they went to the fridge or are just messing around). In the average BBO tournament, an automatic pass or the cheapest forced bid would suffice.