[joat2]

It seems like it takes a long time for a new player to replace a player that leaves during a game. Sometimes, it's a robot, sometimes a real person. Is there a certain protocol for replacing someone? For example, does a new player have precedence for a new game over a game in progress? Why is the replacement sometimes a robot and sometimes real person?

[Gerardo]

joat2, on 2026-January-18, 12:44, said:

It seems like it takes a long time for a new player to replace a player that leaves during a game. Sometimes, it's a robot, sometimes a real person. Is there a certain protocol for replacing someone? For example, does a new player have precedence for a new game over a game in progress? Why is the replacement sometimes a robot and sometimes real person?

In certain tournaments, a temporary replacement robot is automatic.
In the rest, it dependes on directors making the substitution, usually using a person.

[diana_eva]

To complete on what Gerardo explained, for social play at a table, the rules are like this:

- if a player leaves mid-hand, a robot hops in, finishes the hand and leaves*
- if a player leaves at the end of the deal, the seat remains open until someone else sits to play

You can expedite this by leaving all seats open (ie, do not use "permission required to sit"), however this might mean more "table hoppers"



*at peak usage hours, when there are lots of robot games in progress, there might not be robot subs available so the seat remains available until a human player sits, even if the previous player left without completing the hand.

[jillybean]

diana_eva, on 2026-January-19, 01:36, said:

*at peak usage hours, when there are lots of robot games in progress, there might not be robot subs available so the seat remains available until a human player sits, even if the previous player left without completing the hand.

Interesting, I would have thought the availability of robots was infinite. System capacity I guess