You can use the partnership desk to find a partner. Click the tournament you wish to play in. Choose Partnership Desk from the list (Register - Details - Entries - Partnership Desk) that appears across the top. To add yourself to the list, Click the blue button at the bottom that says "I will pay only for myself" and you will be listed as looking for a partner. Try to add some information to your profile about which conventions you prefer and general skill level. To choose a partner off the list, click the Invite button opposite the player with whom you would like to play and see if they accept. You can click on the players id tag to see their profile to check for suitability. Note: You are much more likely to get a partner with a filled out profile than with a blank slate. You can add information by clicking the ACCOUNT tab and typing in the OTHER box under where it says FULL NAME.

Robots are allowed in the Open games and the 0-1000 Pink games only. Please try to use the partnership desk first and choose a robot only as a last resort. Get out there and meet new people and make new friends.

BBO will unregister partnerships which have at least one offline player at the start of the game. Please watch the timer carefully and understand that BBO time is quirky. It may be a minute or two faster than you think it is. Our best advice is: 1. log back in at least 10 minutes before game time 2. keep yourself active within the last 2-3 minutes before the game starts. Chat with your partner privately to make sure you are both active. If you can't think of anything to say just type I'm awake back and forth. Even after all this, its possible that you could get bumped if you disconnect right at the wrong time. We do our best to get everyone registered in the game, but somethings are beyond our control.

If you get back on quickly, chances are you will return to the hand you were playing without interruption. If you are gone for a couple minutes or longer, the director may put a substitute in your place. You will be reseated automatically at the end of the current hand so stay online. It may take a few minutes for the table to finish the hand, so be patient.

BBO will not let you start a hand if the clock shows 3 minutes or less. The director has no discretionary power. There may be good reasons why you were late like a disconnection or other issue but the timer is the timer is the timer.

When the timer runs out, players are moved to the next table and the board is scored by the computer or the director.

If you did not start bidding the hand or did not get an opening lead made before the time limit, you are assigned average=50% Note: there is a bug with BBO in game scoring that shows one pair receiving 0% and one pair receiving 100% but when the scores are tabulated you receive 50%. You can verify by checking your scores through the website instead of within BBO If you did start playing hand and ran out of time, the compute will attempt to figure out what would happen. If there were only a few cards left, the computer can easily determine the final result and assigns it to the table. If there are too many possibilities for the computer to handle, then it leaves the decision to the director. Averages are assigned and the director has the option to adjust the score up until 20 minutes after the game. It's not always possible for the director to get to the adjustment right away. Its also possible that the result is too hard to determine and the director decides to allow the Average to stand.