Bridge Base – Frequently Asked Questions

It says I'm barred from entering! What's happening?

If this is close to start time chat with the director or Tony (user name 'tonycherr'). We will hold the session till we can include you. It takes only a few seconds to add your name. We do not monitor emails close to start time.

You’ll need to register (just once!) here when you have a Bridge Base account.  We send a list with all authorised players to Bridge Base, you won’t be able to play in Caterham sessions until we've sent them your username.

I want to play in the next session. What do I need to do?

If you have already played you just need to join the Caterham game on Bridge Base as before. No need to register again. If it's your first online game complete the form here and follow the instructions.

I clicked the wrong button, Can I undo?

Undos are allowed for misclicks in all Caterham games. This may lead to unauthorised information. All undos should be accepted. If you have any doubt about the validity of the undo or worries about unauthorised information please call the Director as soon as possible. You can also raise any issues Tony after the session. 

To effect an undo click the 3 lines to the left of your screen and select undo as shown in the picture.

How should my partnership alert our bids?

The alerting system works slightly differently with online play. Rather than partner alerting your agreed system you should do so yourself.

When placing an artificial bid, click the text box labelled “Explain” underneath your available bids and type a short explanation of your bid. For example “12-14”, “game forcing” etc.

I don’t have a partner, can I still play?

We will attempt to match you with a suitable partner. After registering for a game, click “Partnership Desk”

Then click “Invite” to request to play with another waiting for a partner, or “Add your name” to wait for someone else.

Even if there is no one on the desk Tony or James will usually be able to play if no other suitable partners are available.

How do I ask the opposition what their bidding/signalling means?

To ask your opposition for clarification of a bid during bidding you can click the bid in question and click Explain. To access the Explain button during play, either click the card in question for signals, or see below for how to review bidding and click the bid in question.

Can I review bidding during play?

If allowed in the game, you can click the contract on the left of your screen to bring up the bidding.

How do I know who I am playing with/against?

If the player in question has chosen to enter their full name when registering you can click their username at any time during bidding or play and their profile information will appear to the right.

How do I add my name to my profile, so people can see who I am?

Select the Account tab on the far right and fill in the Real Name box. Click Save at the bottom of the page.

Why swiss movements? Can we play with different movements?

Unfortunately, we are restricted by BBO. There are two options available to us, either a two winner Mitchell movement with no arrow switch, or the Swiss movement we are currently playing. We have such a wide disparity of abilities playing in these sessions, with partnerships graded from Ace to 2. With the Swiss movement, it allows partnerships of similar abilities to play against one another. The downside to this is the computer is not smart enough to notice when players have met previously. We will continue to explore options in the future.

Why do we play at such a weird time?

Caterham BC has always held sessions at 10am and we would like to keep some semblance of normality during this time. For now, we’ll continue running daily pairs sessions at 10am but may add sessions in the future. The site is also considerably less congested in the morning - we've had a few reports of failed logins and disconnects during peak (US day time) times.

We have teams matches starting very soon that will run at 2pm, click here for details and to register.

My internet sometimes cuts out during play, what can I do?

We’ve had lots of reports of unstable connections during this and it can be particularly frustrating to get dropped back into a hand without knowing what’s happened. One solution would be to set up your computer/laptop/tablet to use your mobile phone’s internet connection.  Bridge base does not use very much data at all, but you should still be aware that data costs are high if you use anything outside your monthly allowance. Anything above 1gb a month or should be more than sufficient. Have a look here for Android or here for Apple for more info, and be sure to check 'metered connection' when setting it up to stop any updates happening while you're using the phone connection.

Any questions send an email requesting support to tonycherrettbridge@gmail.com and we’ll be in touch.

I have read there are security concerns with Zoom. Is it safe to use?

While it is possible for a determined attacked to gain access to an unsecured session, we have negated these risks by ensuring the meeting ID is randomly rotated and passwords are required for each session. The recent high profile attack through Zoom on the government was possible as they used an identical meeting ID that had previously been spotted on a live broadcast. As we use rotating IDs (and we are some way from broadcasting nationally!) our meetings can't be entered this way. We will continue to monitor this and adjust our methods accordingly.