The company that owns BBO also owns another bridge-playing platform, FunBridge. Some CBAI members already play on FunBridge, and the CBAI runs branded tournaments on it too, which raise a small amount of revenue for the Association. The number of CBAI members playing on FunBridge is small, but those that do seem to love it, and swear that FunBridge is actually better than BBO for games where you play with a robot. You can set up your own preferred system, for example, rather than having to play SAYC as is the case with the BBO robots. There are also a variety of types of play available on FunBridge (standard tournaments, with both IMP and MP scoring, challenges, teams matches, leagues, etc). Some are free; others require a subscription and an entry fee. The currency of FunBridge is “Diamonds”, the FunBridge equivalent of BB$s.
We are trying to see if we can expand the numbers of CBAI members participating on FunBridge. As indicated earlier, our own tournaments generate revenue for us; in addition, greater Irish participation will strengthen our standing with BBO generally, and might help in any future negotiations on behalf of our virtual clubs. To this end, we are making some changes to our arrangements with FunBridge, and have organised a special FREE tournament for the weekend of 13/15 January, which we are hoping might serve as a taster for anyone new to the platform.
From 16 January, the current daily CBAI tournament will be run over two days instead of daily as is currently the case, which we hope will facilitate a higher number of entries. The events will be scored on an IMPs basis for the Sunday/Monday tournament, and using MPs for Tuesday/Thursday and Friday/Saturday.
In addition, to encourage players who are not playing in the CBAI tournaments to give them a go, we’ve agreed with FunBridge to run a special FREE tournament over next weekend, Friday 13 to Sunday 15 January … “the Friday the Thirteenth Tournament”, hopefully fun and not at all scary. This tournament will be free to enter and will offer the following prizes:
- 1st Place: 300 Diamonds
- 2nd Place: 200 Diamonds
- 3rd Place: 100 Diamonds
- Closest to 40/50/60/70% thresholds (but not achieving them) 100 Diamonds each
This tournament will be open to all, but these prizes will be confined to registered CBAI members. As with our regular tournaments, this one will also award masterpoints in accordance with the standard CBAI scale.
We hope that these changes will increase the participation in the CBAI’s FunBridge tournaments, so please give them a try. If you have any ideas about how to enhance the CBAI’s offering on the platform, we’d be very happy to hear them. We plan to review developments with FunBridge at the end of April.