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An idea to reduce variability of playing time in matches

Posted By: Tom Keith
Date: Tuesday, 6 May 2014, at 1:11 p.m.

In Response To: An idea to reduce variability of playing time in matches (Bob Koca)

Setting the board takes some time. There may be a few seconds added due to doublets on opening roll, retrieving dice that go off the table, and illegal plays to be corrected.

I forgot about the time between games. That makes this idea less attractive because there will be times when it is in one player's interest to get the match resumed as quickly as possible and not in the other player's interest. That could lead to friction if one player feels the other is not setting up the board quickly enough.

Let's say a total of 2 minutes wasted. If the full 10 seconds are taken per move then one player gets 114 moves.

38 minutes (2280 sec) / 10 = 228 moves, or 114 moves per player.

A short sample of 7 randomly chosen 7 point matches from dailygammon showed me making 225, 100, 134, 178, 152, 96, and 147 moves.

I looked back at this post http://www.bkgm.com/rgb/rgb.cgi?view+523 and found an average of 173 contact rolls in a 7-point match. That might translate to 200 total rolls, or 100 rolls per player. But this number will depend on the playing styles of the players and, in any event, will vary a lot.

So if you are playing this and get behind on time, the chance of losing at the buzzer looks to be definitely significant.

You're right, 40 minutes is too little time. Thinking about it some more, maybe 55 minutes or even an hour would be a better limit for a 7-point match.

Messages In This Thread

• An idea to reduce variability of playing time in matches
  Tom Keith -- Monday, 5 May 2014, at 1:58 p.m.
  • A good side event/there are other ways to solve the problem
    phil simborg -- Monday, 5 May 2014, at 3:10 p.m.
  • An idea to reduce variability of playing time in matches
    Bob Koca -- Monday, 5 May 2014, at 7:56 p.m.
    • Sounds like you need a baffle box
      phil simborg -- Monday, 5 May 2014, at 9:35 p.m.
    • An idea to reduce variability of playing time in matches
      Tom Keith -- Tuesday, 6 May 2014, at 1:11 p.m.
  • An idea to reduce variability of playing time in matches
    Albert Silver -- Tuesday, 6 May 2014, at 5:58 a.m.
  • An idea to reduce variability of playing time in matches
    garyo -- Tuesday, 6 May 2014, at 8:47 a.m.
    • An idea to reduce variability of playing time in matches
      Bob Koca -- Tuesday, 6 May 2014, at 12:03 p.m.
      • An idea to reduce variability of playing time in matches
        garyo -- Tuesday, 6 May 2014, at 4:05 p.m.
        • An idea to reduce variability of playing time in matches
          Bob Koca -- Tuesday, 6 May 2014, at 7:15 p.m.
          • An idea to reduce variability of playing time in matches
            phil simborg -- Tuesday, 6 May 2014, at 8:20 p.m.
    • An idea to reduce variability of playing time in matches
      Tom Keith -- Tuesday, 6 May 2014, at 1:23 p.m.