How do I call the Director? (And when?)

We find the Director's called much less frequently in online games. This is mainly because the most frequent errors no longer happen – you can't bid or play out of turn or revoke, for example. Problems with alerting and claiming are also more easily dealt with 'at the table' – see All about alerting and When & how do I claim? on earlier pages. 

What does occasionally happen online, of course, is a 'misclick' in the auction or play, but this is not a matter for the Director – see below.

Director calls online are usually to do with a player being disconnected and running out of time at the end of a round – of which more below.

And finally, the answer to the first question: to call the director, you click on the large blue button top left – the one with the three horizontal bars. This offers you various options ...

... including  Call Director , which you select – bringing up this pop-up box.

It's best if the Director has an idea of what the problem is in advance, so there's a space to type in a reason before you press the  Call Director  button. Here the problem is that your partner seems to have been disconnected – more on this below.

Do I talk to the Director privately or publicly?

Unless you have a particular reason for privacy, it's best to keep it public – so just say what you have to say to the  Table , as normal.

What happens if I lose my connection?

You'll know something's wrong if your BBO screen 'freezes' and you're no longer able to bid or play a card.

Very occasionally, at very busy times, BBO can become temporarily clogged up and the whole system may grind to a halt for a short while, but usually it's just a problem with your own individual connection.

Sometimes the situation will simply right itself, but if it persists try logging off BBO and immediately logging in again. 

If that doesn't help, just make sure you're signed in to BBO and wait. Your partner (or opponents) will have called the Director and a substitute will play in your stead until you're back up and running.

As soon as the Director sees that you're reconnected and available to play, you'll find yourself back in your seat.

What if my partner is disconnected?

Someone should call the Director, as discussed above. 

If it's not possible to get your partner reconnected straight away, you'll find yourself playing with a substitute, who may or may not be someone from Bath BC.

Unusually, your new temporary partner may be a BBO 'robot' – of which more later.

Whichever it is, continue to play and do the best you can! Your partner will be back at at the table as soon as the Director can manage it.

What if we run out of time?

It's a good idea to keep an eye on the clock at the top left of your screen. The brutal fact of the matter is that when time runs out, that's it: the hand disappears and you're on the next round, greeting your new opponents and giving them a summary of your system ...

That seems a bit abrupt?

Well, the Directors do their best to help avoid that happening. They keep an eye on progress at the various tables, and sometimes send out a warning – eg Only 3 minutes left in this round – please hurry or claim. If several tables are running late, they'll sometimes add a couple of minutes to the round. But in the end, it's up to you to finish in time.

And if we don't manage it?

BBO have a neat little gismo that checks out where you were when the lights went out and assigns what it calculates to be an equitable result.

How can I see what's happened?

Make sure you've got your  History  tab * active, as shown right. At first you'll be given an Average – you'll see 'Ave' in your 'traveller' on the right.

Then a pop-up will tell you the allocated result, which will appear in your traveller. To see your % for the hand, press the  Refresh  button.

What if the result seems wrong?

Most of the time it won't be – the gismo's pretty accurate. But if you want to query it (or if your result hasn't appeared after a few minutes) you should call the director.

* See the At the BBO table page.

What happens if I make the wrong bid or play the wrong card?

You can't bid or play out of turn on BBO, but you can accidentally click on the wrong bid or the wrong card, especially if you're tapping on a tablet rather than clicking with a mouse. So the obvious question is:

Can I undo?

The short answer is No. BBO does have an 'undo' feature, but most competitions, including those run by the EBU, don't allow it, because in a competitive game it's more trouble than it's worth.

What you can do, however, is make 'misclicks' less likely to happen by changing your BBO settings.

The default setting is that when you click/tap on a bid or a card, that's it: the bid's made or the card's played. But you can add a 'confirmation' stage to bids and plays so that you choose your bid/card and then confirm it when you're happy you've made the right choice. Two clicks/taps instead of one. Up to you!

How do I change the settings?

When you're logged in, choose  Account  from the side-bar on the right of your screen and then 'Settings' (from the choices along the top). Among the 'play' settings are options to switch on a confirmatory stage in your bidding and play.