We have some very exciting news to share with Virtual Clubs – there’s a new enhancement that many of you have been waiting for! More on that shortly, but first a couple of “housekeeping” issues.
We continue to see clubs running masterpoint® limited games that are not using the appropriate “hack” in their game setup. Failing to properly put in the +MPLIMIT=x+ where “x” is the upper limit of the game causes the game to award masterpoints as if it were an Open game. If you feel you MUST omit this hack in order to allow non-ACBL members into your Limited games, then it is imperative that you add it back in after the game begins so that masterpoints are awarded properly. Continuing to knowingly omit this is a violation of the CDR and can lead to dire consequences that we have no desire to be forced to impose on anyone.
Also, we continue to get requests to run other ratings of games beyond what is available through the Virtual Club program. You may even be aware that some clubs have done this in the recent past. For a number of reasons, this is not something that any club can do going forward. Games that are run on BBO need to remain as they are. Deleting them and recreating them in ACBLscore is not allowed.
Now on to the good news, and it is somewhat related to the above. Beginning TODAY, we have launched the new Masterpoint Engine. What this means is that ALL masterpoints are now calculated by our systems. We are no longer using anything that comes from BBO. The calculation of masterpoints is a complex process and, as we’ve spent these last few months online, we’ve found more and more that there are some issues with the data we’ve been receiving.
That is just the beginning of what this is going to do for us! In the near future, it will allow much more flexibility to use different game ratings rather than simply being “stuck” with running regular club games except for the times where we run a League-wide special event. There is one other very important part of this, and it is available effective IMMEDIATELY. Open games can now get credit for Limited games that are run concurrently!
If you run multiple games with different masterpoint limits at the same time, please continue reading CAREFULLY.
If you run an Open game (a game with no upper masterpoint limit) and you run Limited games at the same time, you can give credit to the Open game for the Limited tables by following the instructions below. Note that you can include Limited games that start within 30 minutes (before or after) of the Open game. Limited games that start more than 30 minutes from the Open game MAY NOT be included.
Also, if you run Limited games and run a Newcomer game (a game with an upper limit of 20 masterpoints or less), you may also give the Limited game credit for the Newcomer game’s tables by using the instructions below. Again, like the Open games, you may only include the tables from games that start within 30 minutes of each other.
To give the extra credit for tables, insert the hack +LT=x+ into your game’s description sometime before the game ends. “x” is the number of additional tables to give the game credit for. If there is a half-table that you don’t fill with subs, you should round up.
Some examples:
- You have an Open game starting at 12:30, and between 12:00 and 1:00 you have a 499er game and a 99er game running. If the 499er game had 10 tables and the 99er game had 8 tables, you would add +LT=18+ into the Open game’s description. You would not add anything into the 499er game – it cannot get credit for the 99er game.
- At 1:00 you have an Open game starting. Between 12:30 and 1:30 you also have a 299er game and a 0-20 game. The 299er game has 14½ tables, and the 0-20 game has 7 tables. You would add +LT=22+ into your Open game, and you would add +LT=7+ into the 299er game.
Please note that misusing these hacks (i.e., intentionally giving games credit for tables that they are not entitled to) is a serious violation. We will be monitoring this very closely over the coming weeks. If you have any questions or require some help, please message one of the VACB_TD’s that are online throughout the day.
One more bit of good news…while this may not happen for a few more days, if you have a robot pair in your game, they will be marked as ineligible to receive masterpoint awards.
Regards,
Greg Coles
Director of Operations
August 17, 2020
CC: ACBL Board of Directors, district presidents, unit presidents
