[Grrbrr]

Why does BBO only let 10 people play in Robot duplicate (free) and Bingo Race (free) tournaments?

[1eyedjack]

Well in the extreme, if they allowed an unlimited number to play for free, no-one would ever pay to play.

So, if not 10, what number do you suggest, having regard to the fact that the primary objective of the free tournaments is to provide players with an experience from which to judge whether to pay to play in the tournaments that provide their revenue stream?

[Grrbrr]

After reading your answer, I did some research. I watched for a few days the number of people paying to pay robot or bingo race. I never saw it above 2 people. So I don't think that is the reason. Express bridge allows 80 people to play at once. Goulash is usually unlimited. Those are 2 very favorite ways to play. So, I think they should make it more than 10 people allowed to play Bingo or Robot Races....as it's almost impossible to get in.

[Bbradley62]

1eyedjack, on 2015-December-29, 10:13, said:

Well in the extreme, if they allowed an unlimited number to play for free, no-one would ever pay to play.

So, if not 10, what number do you suggest, having regard to the fact that the primary objective of the free tournaments is to provide players with an experience from which to judge whether to pay to play in the tournaments that provide their revenue stream?

If 16 is the appropriate number of table for score comparison purposes in the MBC, then maybe it is in robot tournaments also.

If the primary purpose of the free games is truly as you suggest, then it might be appropriate to clear some space for more individual players by limiting in some way the number or frequency of such games each member can play.

[1eyedjack]

I agree that 16 has some logical elegance, whatever the purpose of the event, without denting BBO finances. I expect it would fill up just as fast, having minimal impact on the ease of joining.

It may not be very effective in converting to paying customers, but that is not proof that it was not the intent. I suppose that I might have the purpose wrong, but it is hard to think of any other purpose.

[Bbradley62]

Grrbrr, on 2016-January-12, 16:22, said:

After reading your answer, I did some research. I watched for a few days the number of people paying to pay robot or bingo race. I never saw it above 2 people.

Robot games include ACBL Robodupes, which are frequently large.

[helene_t]

Robot reward and robot rebate are quite popular also.

Bingo is not popular but I seem to recall that it was more popular in the beginning when it was first introduced.

[mgoetze]

Bbradley62, on 2016-January-12, 22:45, said:

If 16 is the appropriate number of table for score comparison purposes in the MBC

It's not.

[barmar]

The race games are not scored duplicate style, so comparing them with MBC deals is apples/oranges.

And in the MBC, we don't use 16 as the number of comparisons, it's just the max times a hand is played before we retire it (we need to draw a line somewhere, to keep from remembering them forever, and this seemed like a reasonable number).

BTW, in f2f ACBL tournaments, boards are typically played 12 or 13 times in a section.

[mgoetze]

barmar, on 2016-January-13, 10:22, said:

And in the MBC, we don't use 16 as the number of comparisons, it's just the max times a hand is played before we retire it (we need to draw a line somewhere, to keep from remembering them forever, and this seemed like a reasonable number).

You'll note that "seemed" is in the past tense.

[Grrbrr]

Oh goodness, just let more than 10 people in!