Bridgemate
… Not played
… Change hand record file when validating the lead

Adjustments to Bridgemate III (BM3)

Can you use BM3 and BM2 at the same time?

New BM3 settings
… Validate lead card
… Show score recap
… Provisional result at the end of the round

BM2 settings that almost fit BM3
… Show frequency tables… => Number of columns

New, and exciting, BCS setting

Technology
… Not implemented settings

BRIDGEMATE
… “NOT PLAYED”

All versions of Bridgemate allow you to, instead of entering a contract, select a board and say that it has not been played. There are settings that decide if the tournament director has to approve this or not. It is however not obvious how Magic Contest should interpret this.

Until now, Magic Contest has interpreted this as Pass. The reason is that when Bridgemate was released, 20 years ago, a lot of players used “zero” as Pass (instead of the green Pass button), while Bridgemate considered “zero” to mean “Not played”. Back then, the Pass interpretation was justified. In newer versions av Bridgemate, not so much.

This has changed in Magic Contest. Instead of Pass, it is interpreted as 50% to both pairs.

There is a setting in Settings > Bridgemate > Bridgemate Control settings that is called Import ‘Not played’ into Magic Contest as…, that allows you to choose if the import awards Pass, 40%, 50%, 60%, or bye. If you have already changed this setting, you need to do it again.

BRIDGEMATE
… CHANGE HAND RECORD FILE WHEN VALIDATING THE LEAD

Until now, lead validation has for obvious reasons not worked when the wrong hand record has been used. The only solution has been to start over a new Bridgemate database. This has now been fixed, or rather been provided, with a solution:

You cannot only change the hand record since the lead validation takes place in Bridgemate. The following short checklist will solve it:

Do this in Magic Contest:
… Clear the hand record in Magic Contest and import the correct one
… Select Contest menu > Bridgemate > Export hand record

Do this in Bridgemate Control Software:
… Select Session > Upload hand record
… Click Upload hand record

The lead validation should now work with the new hand record.

ADJUSTMENTS TO BRIDGEMATE III (BM3)

Let’s say that you change from BM2 to BM3. Then you can use the new terminals without any new Magic Contest settings, just like any other plug and play system.

Sometimes BM3 works slightly differently from BM2. This has nothing to do with changed settings, but rather that the functionality in the terminals have changed. Sometimes BM2 settings have completely disappeared in BM3, and been replaced by different functionality in the terminals.

The reason I mention this is purely technical. In Bridgemate Control Software (BCS), there are two completely different sets of settings; one for BM3 and another for BM2. In most cases you can place an equal sign between the settings, while in some cases there are small differences.

In addition to normal settings there are a number of BM3 settings that control how the terminal physically works, for instance display light, sound volume, language, etc. These are not implemented in Magic Contest; instead they are controlled by BCS. The reason is that they have nothing to do with Magic Contest and contests.

CAN YOU USE BM3 AND BM2 AT THE SAME TIME?

Yes. What is required is that you connect two BM servers, one for BM3 and another for BM2, and activate a setting.

Select Settings > Bridgemate and the Bridgemate Control tab. You will find the following setting that allows you to run both Bridgemate II and III simultaneously.

Run Bridgemate II concurrently with Bridgemate III

NEW BM3 SETTINGS

In Magic Contest, through Settings > Bridgemate > Bridgemate Control (settings), you can select options for a number of Bridgemate settings. Choose a setting and double-click, or click Change, to rotate between the available options.

Remember that the below description only gives you an overview. The exact details are best found in the BM3 manual. No other documentation than this list of changes will be written for Magic Contest.

If you choose a BM3 settings that doesn’t exist in BM2, and then go back to using BM2, Magic Contest will make sure that the BM2 setting is “reasonable”.

NEW BM3 SETTINGS
… VALIDATE LEAD CARD

Already in BM2 you could validate the lead card in case the hand records were sent to BCS. The same validation exists in BM3, but there is a new options that looks like this (along with the normal No and Yes):

Use the hand records to validate the lead
… No
… Yes, without exceptions
… Yes BM3, allow exceptions

The new option allows you to validate the lead card in the normal way. However, you can accept it even when it’s incorrect.

NEW BM3 SETTINGS
… SHOW SCORE RECAP

In BM2 you can choose to show the score recap all the time or not at all. In BM3 you can choose between not allowing it, allowing it all the time, or only allow it at the end of the round.

Show score recap
… No
… Yes, all the time
… Yes BM3, end of round only

Another BM2 setting, to automatically show the score recap at the end of the round, has no corresponding setting in BM3, but is handled differently in the terminal.

NEW BM3 SETTINGS
… PROVISIONAL RESULT AT THE END OF THE ROUND

It is possible to see the current standing in BM2 at the end of the round or end of the session. In BM3 it is possible all the time.

Provisional ranking at end of round or session
… No
… Yes, after every round
… Yes, at end of session
… Yes BM3, all the time

BM2 SETTINGS THAT ALMOST FIT BM3
… SHOW FREQUENCY TABLES… => NUMBER OF COLUMNS

BM2 allows you to show how results from other tables are shown; either as frequency tables, or as a list of all results. You can also select to show the result such as +90 or -420 in one or two columns.

For BM3, there is one single setting for number of columns. The BM2 selection, number of columns regardless of frequencies or all results, control the number of columns in BM3. Also, BM3 shows North-South’s percentage if only one column is shown.

NEW, AND EXCITING, BCS SETTING

There is a new and interesting setting called “Display of players > Wind rose (north up)”. This only exists in BCS, not in Magic Contest.

When entering player numbers in the BM3 terminal, four buttons are shown (top, bottom, left, and right). The advantage to showing North at the bottom is that North can look left ask East about their player number, while at the same time pressing the button to the left to enter the player number.

As a curio, I can tell you that in France, South has always been the one to write the traveller, not North like the rest of the world. In this case, the rest of the world is wrong 🙂

This is because the French federation, very early and before Bridgemate, used pre-printed travellers including the hand records for every board. Sometimes people put their cards back in the wrong slot. When South takes care of administration, South can look to the left and see West’s cards and compare with the cards to the left on the traveller, thereby finding errors early in the session. With North as administrator, everything will be upside down.

According to the same logic, I recommend that you change this BM3 setting permanently in BCS so that North is shown at the bottom. On the other hand, old habits die hard.

TECHNOLOGY
… NOT IMPLEMENTED SETTINGS

All new or updated BM3 settings that are bridge related are implemented in Magic Contest. More technical setting, e.g. volume and brightetness, for the terminals and the server are not. If you have access to the Bridgemate Developer’s Guide, you can read about the following settings that are not implemented in Magic Contest.

BM3ScreenDimMode
BM3ScreenOffMode
BM3ScreenBrightness
BM3SleepMode
BM3AudioVolume
BM3Language
BM3ConnectionMode
BM3PlayerView