As of Thursday, March 19, daily at 10 a.m., 5 p.m. and 7.30 p.m. Eastern time ACBL members can play with any other ACBL member in a specially created game on BBO and earn black masterpoints®. When you play in one of these games, the majority of your table fees will be given back to your club. This way, you can help to support your club while also having the opportunity to win black masterpoints.
What: Support Your Club ACBL Black Point Game (18 boards)
When: Every day at 10 a.m., 5 p.m. and 7.30 p.m. Eastern time
Awards: ACBL Black Masterpoints and BBO Points
Entry fee: 5 BB$
Limits: Open to all.
Where to find the “Support Your Club” ACBL Black Point Game (10 AM, 5PM and 7.30PM Eastern Time)
Click ACBL WORLD, and look for the Support Your Club ACBL Black Point Game (18 boards).
The Support Your Club ACBL Black Point Games are visible and open for registrations every day, with 2 hours before start time (from 8AM to 10AM, from 3PM to 5PM and from 5.30PM to 7.30PM Eastern).
There is a Search box at the top. You can use it to type “Support” or another key word to find the tourney faster.
How to register to the tournament
Now that you found your tournament, click on it. You will reach this screen.
Type your partner’s username in the Invite box, and click the Invite button. You both need to be online.
How will you know my club?
The ACBL will share the revenues to each club based on participants’ ACBL player numbers and their recent live sessions. See the FAQ for more information. Update your ACBL number to help BBO and ACBL link you to a club.
Other useful links and tips
Update ACBL number. This page allows you to add your ACBL number to your BBO account, and have your masterpoints reported to the ACBL.
Purchase BB$. BBO dollars are needed to pay entry fees for pay tournaments on the site. Most tournaments are free, but if you wish to play pay games that issue masterpoints, you will need BB$ to pay the entry fee.
Myhands, results, history. The Hand Records database allows you to access your hand records. Recent tournament results can also be accessed on BBO, in the History panel, to the right hand side of your screen.
If you need further help please do not hesitate to contact us.
Comments
127 responses to “Daily, 10AM, 5PM and 7.30PM EDT: “Support Your Club” ACBL Black Point Games”
does the game start at exactly 5 every day?
Yes. 5PM US Eastern.
Yes, promptly at 5pm EST
Is there a way I can play two days and designate one club on one day and another on the next day? I would like to support both of the clubs we have in Palm Desert, CA
pinotmar
All compensation is given to clubs in a prorated process. If you play in these games and usually share your playing time in a few bridge clubs, they will both share in your support. This is done automatically.
Is there a way I can play two days and designate one club on one day and another on the next day? I would like to support both of the clubs we have in Palm Desert, CA
…..the majority of your table fees will be given back to your club.
What percent will be given back to our club?
sjb
How will they know what “my” club is?
ACBL will look at where you played your recent games.
My partner is having problems getting BB$
Can she use iTunes cards?
They take paypal, credit card or mail in a check.
No. She will need to buy BB$. This would be the equialent of asking your local convenience store if they would take Euros instead of dollars.
Not sure about this, but in other tourneys you can pay both fees yourself.
Thank you, ACBL
I’m;
Can I play hands the next day?
how do I get BB$?
This will be my first time playing online
How many minutes per board or will it be like speedball?14 min for three boards.
Another question. We are playing against people not robots. Correct?
Thank you!
This is a great idea, but why so late in the day. Many older folks have to eat early so those on the east coast will have conflicts.
Agree with you on the time.
5 pm ET is tough, exactly dinner for many..would it be possible to set several game time options, perhaps using different common game hands to avoid cheating?
I would vote for later in the day. Say 7:00 p.m.
Totally agree about the 5pm start time for East Coast players. I understand BBO wants to accommodate Hawaii and West Coast players. But with so many people staying home, a 9 am Hawaii, 12pm West Coast and a 3pm East Coast would seem to be better for more people. Please reconsider the time. Thank you.
Can we register at 3:00 and then come back at 5:00 to play?
Yes, but probably a good idea to be online 5-10 minutes before start time.
Can I set up a game for my bridge club players to play in first to practice?
Is there a player pool? I need a partner.
yes, you can set up private tables for free
There are always players who volunteer to fill seats getting randomly dropped in. You’ll have a partner within seconds! You can set up your profile or chat with them to discuss and agree on your conventions before play starts.
There are always players who volunteer to fill seats getting randomly dropped in. You’ll have a partner within seconds! You can set up your profile or chat with them to discuss and agree on your conventions before play starts.
Yes, go to Play or Watch Bridge, and under Casual Games you can Start a Relaxed table, Sit at one seat and invite other BBO members to sit at the other EWNS seats, or put a robot into them if you don’t have four.
I’m having a difficult time figuring this out
Please answer how you know which ACBL club gets credit for a portion of the $5 fee.
This I found at ACBL Site:
Out of every $5 entry that is purchased, $4 will be distributed to the clubs.
The $4 per club will be sent to the ACBL, and we will run reporting on the players that have played in these specially formatted games to see what clubs they have played in over the past 12 months. Based on those reports, we will distribute the funds accordingly. If you had played 75% of the time in Club A and 25% of the time in Club B, then each time you play, Club A will get $3 and Club B will get $1. For players with no club history, we will be working on a plan for this as well, but the final details are not yet available.
5:00 is really inconvenient for East coast players. Can this be done at another time? Also, how long should the full session last?
The game is 18 boards, 6 rounds of 3 boards, around 6-7 minutes per board. It’ll take somewhere less than 2 hours, depending on how fast the players are.
Thank you
How do I purchase BBO dollars
HOW DO I PURCHASE AND HOLD
BB$ ?
I have the same question that’s already been raised…how is the player associated to the club?
Can I pay with my partner? How does that work?
I’m assuming you meant “pay” and not “play”—You can *pay* for your partner if you have enough BB$. When you click on the tournament to register, you can also type in your partner’s account name and there is an option to click a box that says “I will pay for my partner.” If you don’t click this, they will need enough BB$ in their account to cover the fee in order to accept your invitation and register.
I type in “support” in search and no luck!
I would like to know also how you are matching the player and the club?
Guessing here, but it is probably something you enter when you register.
If that’s the case why cant they tell us. BBO really seem to be dodging the question how to associate a player with a club.
See above.
ACBL will know who to send the funds to. Which club where you have played.
can I kibbitz (watch as a hand is played) ?
I don’t work for BBO but I’m very familiar with playing on here. I will try to answer some questions people have.
To buy BB$, you have to click “BB$” at the top right of the screen when you’re logged in. Someone else mentioned that you’ll need to use a credit card (or you can mail in a check…).
It was stated elsewhere in this thread that the game won’t be visible to sign up until 3 PM Eastern (so you have a two-hour window to register before the game begins).
I assume that there will be a Partnership Desk like there is for ACBL Speedballs. If you’d like to see an EXAMPLE of this, you can click on “ACBL World” and then click on one of the Pairs Speedball tournaments. You’ll see some “tabs” at the top of the window after clicking, and the very last one will say “Partnership Desk.” This is where you would add your name as an individual if you’d like to find a partner. You can also invite others from that list to try to see if they will play with you. Again, this is just an EXAMPLE of what you’ll want to do for REAL once the “Support Your Club” tournament appears for registration beginning at 3 PM.
I hope this helps! The one question I don’t know the answer to is how they will know which club you are supporting. It’s possible your ACBL number is linked to a home club.
unfortunately they closed registration at 300 pairs
They said above how the money is distributed. It’s proportional to how often you have played at brick and mortar clubs in the past. They know that from your ACBL number.
Where do I go to fill out a convention card? I don’t see anywhere to do this.
That would be my primary criticism. See my comment below.
On the right side are four tabs, one is “account”. CLick it. Now you will see your account window and at the top one option is “convention cards”. Click this. THen click on “personal card”, fill it out and save it as “favorite card”
Is there a tutorial, so I can learn the software before the game?
I would love to try this today!
My user name on BBO is SLPLearn.
I am not sure how to find a partner, though?
Can you assist?
Thank you!
Does each pair play against robots or against another pair of humans? Thanks.
Against pairs of humans
OK My partner and are now registered. When we log back on just before 5:00, do we just go to the “Support” tournament and we’re automatically paired????
I got knocked of my
I though I registeredand paid for two of us for the 3 PM game but can see no confirmation.
Is the game stratified? We’re both beginners, and would like to earn Masterpoints. We might do OK comparing results to other beginners, but not against Life Masters, etc.
You should have said that both player had to be online to register now its full
If this is limited to 300 players, it is almost impossible to register in time. We tried to register before 3:00 pm EDT and were to late. How soon can you register?
300 maximum in the tourney??????
how much time after opening registrations do I have to register tomorrow? Will the 300 limit exist for all days?
Dmikeblack
If you apparently filled about 315 edt, then surely you had time to set up another concurrent event?
👍
I am trying to start the game at 2 PM.
Beverly
Is this an open game or is it stratified? If stratified what are the points range
This is a GREAT idea
Tried to register for event. I suppose a learning curve is happening. The 300 pair limit is certainly too few. I suspect 3000 is a better number. Or, more than one game daily to give everyone a chance to play.
My other passion is hunting Retrievers and in that world trying to enter dogs at the Master Level Tests which are limited to 66 dogs per flight and most clubs only having enough water to have one flight. I tried to enter a dog in an event in February. Test filled in 30 seconds. I was number 52 on the waiting list.
Can players that do not have an acbl membership play? If yes, would any club benefit?
Where/how do we see the results of the tournaments
I think this is a great idea, and thanks to BBO & the ACBL for getting there so quickly. BUT… 5:00 EDT? What about dinnertime? What about family time? Kids online for remote classes are still free late afternoon. Presumably many people are trying to keep household routines as “normal” as possible. Early afternoon would be better imo.
Will try again tomorrow but started trying to register at 3:25 CST and couldn’t get in. Hopefully just Day1 problems.
Would be nice if there could be different games scheduled during the day to accommodate the different time zones. 300 limit for the first day was impossible for the many players who wanted to play. Appreiate the effort to help bridge addicts but it would also help to explain if this will be a stratified game to assist the NPM.
I give a big thumbs-up and a “hooray” to this idea. Thank you, ACBL and BBO for providing this way for me to support my local club. However, I will not be able to participate as I am homebound with a 5-year-old child on the U.S. east coast and I therefore have family obligations from 5-7 pm. May I suggest that there be a similar setup with a robot daylong event? I would participate in a daylong robot individual “support your club” game. That way, individual players could support their clubs at whatever time is convenient for them. I’m not suggesting taking away the “support your club” pairs game, but adding a second, “support your club” robot individual daylong game.
That a great idea, and I would fully support it.
Daylong online tournament with black points will help to supporr the club without 300 pairs limit
Please consider
Before typing your question, you might wish to take five minutes to read previous replies. The same questions keep getting asked over and over. Of course I’m preaching to the choir here (only the ones who DO read replies).
You can practice any time by going to the main bridge club and opening a table. You can reserve the seats for the other three players, but you need to know their BBO monikers.
I am sure it will be stratified, just like the speedballs. I don’t know the strats, but you can try it some time.
If you don’t need black points, and the two games continue to be filled before you can register, consider writing a check to your favorite club to cover their expenses until they are able to reopen. Otoh, I think you will enjoy playing!
These events will be different from speedballs, which are 4.5 minutes/board. Take your time! Also, go to Account, then Settings, and click on Confirm Bids and Confirm Cards, so the blue bubbly ball moves to the right and turns green. This will mean you have to double click on your bids and plays, but it will go a long way to prevent misclicks, which are really annoying!
Also at Account, you can find the place to make out a convention card. After you use a card once with a specific partner, it will automatically post when you play together future times.
Have fun!
I filled out a convention card and I never see it during the game. I click on cc and I see it in another window, but I don’t know if OPPONENTS see it. They need it more than we do. My card includes my partner’s BBO name and mine. What’s going on? I’ve not seen this question anywhere.
I am told then when you play, if you click on a player’s name, the option of viewing their convention card is available.
Treveur, click on the card you made, under Convention Cards, under Account. There’s a space that says Use with this partner, and then a blank space to put in the name of the partner you want to use the card with. Have you tried that?
Great idea but you do a lousy job of communicating details and marketing the concept. What testing took place? 300 limit? You are destroying BBO’s credibility by saying we are not connected to the internet when we can not get in to register.
My guess is that there is a software limitation on 300 pairs, 150 tables. Running more sessions is probably limited more by the human directors needed than by bandwidth,
Let’d use Bergen; and we do play Montreal Relay, right
It really hard to synchronize with the partner. Can we do a daylong format with the Black Points awarded?
I played in this game today. We registered very early. It went well, but I found it very slow. 7 mins per board (21 min per round) I know is standard timing for face-to-face club games. But on line, we don’t have to move to another table, we don’t have to sort the cards, we don’t have to score.
I would suggest changing the timing to 6 mins per board (18 min per round).
thanks
Some of us new to computer bridge need a little longer while we get up and running. Thanks.
How is the Support Your Club Black Point Game stratified?
21 minutes per round is a los, i would like 7 round of 16 minutes
I am temp member of ACBL
Must I be a current member to play for black points?
I played at 3 different clubs last week, and my ACBL address of record is hundreds of miles away. So, like others, I ask, how will the powers that be know what club to assign game revenues?
smittycity, it was explained once, plus there’s a link at the top to write to an actual person at ACBL. The answer posted previously is they look at the past 12 months of our playing history. Let’s say I played at Club A 75% of the time and Club B 25% of the time. Club A will get $3 and Club B will get $1 from the $4 that goes to my local club.
Do we get black points required to meet ACBL life master ; on line points so far van only account for A low portion
Black points.
Signed in for $5 tournament and had message that we were successful, then 2 minutes before it started
received message that we had been cancelled. What happened?
cant find it
If you are playing one game, and want to sign up for the next one, can you do that?
Why is the exchange rate for Canadians so high to purchase BDO dollars.
They charged 17.99 for 10 BDO dollars,the bank rate is 14.74.
I don’t find clubs, don’t find “search” , don’t find “support”
how can i register ahead of time when BBO keeps booting me off site after a few minutes We never have been able to get on ACBL black point game as yet. Tell me how to register ahead of time.
Are the games stratified? If so, how?
I signed on the BBO but did not put my ACBL number in when I registered. Can’t find where to put the number in now. Where/how can I do that?
I can’t get beyond the “support your Club” option under news feed. It just takes me to an information page that is a dead end. Is this because I am using the “old” system using flash?
Can you use old system “flash” to get beyond the “support your Club” option under news feed.
I don’t have a partner. How do I find one for these games. I have 0-100 points
I have registered with a partner for the game which begins in 10 minutes. Now how do I get to that game?
If I want to play with my partner who is also a BBO/ACBL member, can I sign up for the tournament for both of us, if willing to pay for my partner? My understanding is that the games are filling up fast and I’d like to be able for one of us to get online early without the other one having to commit to being on BBO two hours before the game.
When you sign up for a tournament, you partner MUST be logged in to accept your registration. If you sign up a few hours before, you both can leave and return about 5 minutes before the game is scheduled to start, too. YOU CANNOT register for another person without their consent and presence in BBO.
All this sounds great, but when the program will not let you register, that is a problem.
My partner and I have not been able to get onto any of these games. No matter how early or late, the registration is full. Very frustrating!
where do you buy these BB$, I would like to be ready before my first game?
Go to the BB$ symbol top right and add some money to your account using credit card or paypal.
HOW DO YOU SIGN UP TO PLAY TO GET POINTS ILUVBRDG
I have not yet had any luck loading a convention card in this system. (I’m not new to BBO).
Should I try to load it once registered but before we play?
Or after we start playing?
Or can only the player who has invited do the loading?
All I get when i click on load is a red symbol with a line through it.
Anyone else having problems?
My partner and I tried to register (First time) for the support your club game. message came up Registering please wait….. Nothing happened and I guess we missed out. Started this process around 2:10 Central time. See there were 244 tables thought there was going to be 300? What did we do wrong. Is there another game at 7:30 eastern when should we register?
Would be awesome to create a club game somewhat slower than speedball, but faster than paint drying
Useless for folks in Pacific Time with day jobs. Need a game at 10:30PM Eastern.
This registration has to improve. Getting 2 players online 2 hours before a game is a waste of time.Why can’t you register days in advance as long as you pay. I suspect that with everyone sitting at home you could get 10 times the revenue.
I’ve tried twice to play this game with no success. I registered early, and 15 min ahead of game time I logged in and couldn’t get beyond the list of tables. My partner got on and was assigned another partner! And, I lost 5BB$ each time!
Is it possible to change so I can select the club funds go to? I have been playing in 4 games at local parks that don’t need the money and 1 club that does.
How do you look at the results for a game that you didn’t play in?
I was charged $6 for a game I didn’t play. Why would that happen?
Why haven’t my black points from March Support Club not be on ACBL yet? Other ACBL.BBO games are showing.
Am I able to play in the 5:10 game with one partner and register at 530 for the 7:30 game with a different partner?