[pescetom]

My hope is that the laws quickly evolve to a modular structure, with a kernel for the logic of the game and plugins for each method of play: cards without screens, cards with screens, online. Best practices to do with play (not tournament organisation) mandated in each plugin, as Nigel suggests.

[barmar]

pescetom, on 2019-March-04, 02:57, said:

My hope is that the laws quickly evolve to a modular structure, with a kernel for the logic of the game and plugins for each method of play: cards without screens, cards with screens, online. Best practices to do with play (not tournament organisation) mandated in each plugin, as Nigel suggests.

Keep dreaming. The Laws have been evolving much the same way biological evolution happens, by incremental changes. I doubt there's any interest within the WBFLC to do a wholesale redesign.

However, there's certainly no reason why they couldn't simply add a few clauses that specify bidding box use, since they've become almost universal.

[gordontd]

pescetom, on 2019-March-03, 14:28, said:

The bidding box was invented in 1962 (in Sweden [EDIT]), and became near universal soon after.

This feels like quite an overbid. When I played as a schoolboy in the seventies, they were virtually unheard of here. When I returned to bridge in the mid-nineties, they were fairly widespread but far from "near universal".

[Tramticket]

gordontd, on 2019-March-04, 10:10, said:

This feels like quite an overbid. When I played as a schoolboy in the seventies, they were virtually unheard of here. When I returned to bridge in the mid-nineties, they were fairly widespread but far from "near universal".

I began at a club in 1988 and no bidding boxes were used. Within a couple of years our players came back from competitions at other clubs (I remember Young Chelsea was mentioned), where they were now using bidding boxes. I guess that our club introduced bidding boxes in about 1990 (give or take a year or two).

[pescetom]

gordontd, on 2019-March-04, 10:10, said:

This feels like quite an overbid.

I thought it was only Italy that was so slow to adopt the bidding box - mea culpa.

It was invented in 1962 though, by Goesta Nordenson, husband of the international player Britt Nordenson.

[barmar]

I started playing in the late 80's. Bidding boxes were pretty common in tournaments, but not in clubs for at least another decade.