QUEUE TO PLAY & PRACTICE

Those are the two new features that are introduced in this new version of Leo. Queue to Play is the new way for opening tables and play live bridge with other players. Practice is a brand new feature that allows you to do some practice in bridge and improve your play. 

Let’s have a close look at both of them, starting from Practice.

Screen 1: Two new buttons are available in the new version. (1) QUEUE TO PLAY (2) PRACTICE

PRACTICE

A new button has been added in the left menu of the lobby, (Screen 1, 2) allowing Leo players to practice bridge! More specifically, you can do some practice in declarer’s play with best hand deals.

How it works

By hitting the button PRACTICE you enter a practice table. 

  • At practice tables, you can practice making a contract against computer opponents (robots or “bots”).
  • You always get the best hand of all four players
  • You see your cards and the cards of your partner (dummy)
  • FIRST THING TO DO is to decide what’s the FINAL contract you can make with those cards and pick it in the bidding box. (Screen 2, 1)
  • You are always the first to bid and you have one, and only one, pick to finalize the contract. Everybody else just passes!
  • So, you are always the declarer and you play your cards and those of the dummy
  • You can play as many games as you wish – this is not a 4-game table.
  • While practicing you can always join the queue for playing live bridge or leave the queue if already queued (Screen 2, 2) (regarding queuing see next topic below) or check the Tables (Screen 2, 3) that are already open, including the waiting room (i.e. check how many and who have already joined the queue) 
  • Each time you finish a board, you decide whether you want to continue or end your practice and the results are shown at the right side of the screen. (Screen 2, 4)
Screen 2: Practice Table
  • At the end of your practice, you get your total score and a new type of master points (“practice points”). (Screen 3) 
Screen 3 – End of Practice – Practice Points

Separate ranking for PRACTICE is available, making it an interesting and competitive process! (Screen 4)

Screen 4: PracticePoints Ranking

However, since we don’t want to ruin the socialising part of Leo Bridge, practice will be available mostly during non-peak hours and certainly not on Tuesdays which is Leo’s Competition day.

QUEUE TO PLAY – The new way for creating a public table

Queues are introduced in Leo as the new way for creating public (non private) tables. Queues work on a first-come-first-served basis, so the earlier you enter the queue, the sooner you will be playing!

Ηοw it works

  • You press the button “Queue to Play”
  • You enter a Waiting Room. Waiting Rooms are listed at the top of the list of tables. So, at any time, you can see who is more likely to play with you!
  • When the waiting room has 4 players, a confirmation window pops up for the 4 players to confirm that they are ready (Screen 5).
Screen 5: Confirmation Dialog for forming a table
  • When all players click “I am Ready”, you enter a Leo table and play as usual!
  • If a player presses “Abandon Table”, this player leaves the queue and gets a short ban (1 minute at the time of writing). The rest of the players are placed back to the top of the queue. If there are other players waiting in an incomplete waiting room, they fill the gap of your room and the confirmation window appears again for all four to confirm that they are ready.
  • If the confirmation dialog times out because some players did not press any button, these players are kicked out of the queue – the rest are placed back to the top of the queue.

Some more tips you need to know

  • If you are in a waiting room (i.e., the queue) and you decide to leave the queue you can do so by clicking “Leave the queue”. Obviously there is nothing wrong with that, so no ban is imposed unless you leave a full waiting room.
  • You can enter/leave the queue from the Lobby, a practice table, even a normal table if you are just kibitzing!
  • You can practice or kibitz while you are waiting in the queue!
  • Even if you have run out of silver coins, you may enter the queue. In this case, you can only replace a player that left a table and you are not visible in the waiting room
  • Sometimes you may see more than one waiting room in the list. The reason: we have put checks in place to identify co-located players. If 2 players are co-located (and they have not cleared it out with the game masters), they will never play together in a public table. The same applies to kibitzing!

It is true that queuing is a big change (no “Sit Here” anymore), but it has its merits (less idling time, less waiting time on average, better control of “cheating”, etc.)

Greater power to the community

Last but not least, greater power to the community is given in this new version, by automatically penalizing inappropriate behaviors that have been widely discussed in the past, such as leaving the table in the middle of a game, refusing to sit on a table while in queue, delays in playing etc. 

We have prepared a long list of FAQ for you. Please have a look at them and if you still have questions, don’t hesitate to drop a message in Leo Team.

We hope you will enjoy this new version! 

Wednesday September 29th, 2021in BridgeBy leonardo