[darla]

In the fall, BBO announced the formation of the Prime Bridge Club. Recently I asked how many members had joined the club. Before I decide to spend $4.99 USD per month for the dues,

I would like to know that at least a few hundred people had joined. I have not received a reply to my question. Does anyone know if the Prime Bridge Club is up and running.

Thanks.

[pilowsky]

Yes, I joined. I find the robots very handy for practice.

[BabsG]

I've been a member of Prime for a couple of months. I joined primarily to use the advanced robots when practicing with my partner.

Last week I noticed a substantial reduction of Prime symbols in people's profiles. I assumed that those who had not asked for the 30 day trial had been 'unpurpled" leaving just those who were Prime members and those on trial memberships with the Prime symbol in their profile. Then yesterday the purple was back for nearly everyone again. I can't figure out what is going on. So it is hard to know how many members there actually are.

[diana_eva]

BabsG, on 2020-January-29, 14:58, said:

I've been a member of Prime for a couple of months. I joined primarily to use the advanced robots when practicing with my partner.

Last week I noticed a substantial reduction of Prime symbols in people's profiles. I assumed that those who had not asked for the 30 day trial had been 'unpurpled" leaving just those who were Prime members and those on trial memberships with the Prime symbol in their profile. Then yesterday the purple was back for nearly everyone again. I can't figure out what is going on. So it is hard to know how many members there actually are.

We renewed the free courtesy Prime membership for long time BBOers with many friends for another two months. That's why the badges came back.

[BabsG]

Thanks Diana

So I assume that the 'purple' people now showing are either Prime members or BBOers who have not had their 30 day free trial.

Just wondering.

[pilowsky]

For what its worth, at least 2 of my friends have joined as paying customers, and we practice together or alone regularly. My play has improved a lot as a result.

[barmar]

BabsG, on 2020-January-31, 10:28, said:

So I assume that the 'purple' people now showing are either Prime members or BBOers who have not had their 30 day free trial.

Purple people are all Prime members. There's no way for you to tell the difference between paying members and the ones we've given complimentary memberships to.

[diana_eva]

barmar, on 2020-February-01, 11:28, said:

Purple people are all Prime members. There's no way for you to tell the difference between paying members and the ones we've given complimentary memberships to.

You can't tell because they all have the purple badge, but courtesy membership does not include all the benefits full member receive.

[jnquick]

I joined yesterday and find that there is a distinct lack of games to join. It seems like there are usually only 6 or 7 tables and most have one player and 3 robots. I guess that there must be a significant number of people who are members and want to play. It seems like a chicken or egg problem. Nobody wants to join when there aren't enough people to play. So nobody joins and as result there aren't enough people to play.
I didn't find any instructions and so started a table. I reserved a seat for myself but left the other seats open. If I were to populate them with robots, could no one else join? Is that why there are so many tables with one member and three robots. I guess that robots are minimally all right for practice, but I don't think that they provide an accurate indication of performance and so prefer human partners and opponents.

[pigpenz]

look at it this way you are renting adv robots for a month not 1$ a day

[pilowsky]

I have been a (paying human) member for a few months now. It is excellent practice. My play has improved a lot. No they don't pay me. In fact you are playing against other humans in the same way that you would be if you participated in a daylong robot tournament. If you check your history after playing 8-12 hands, you will generally find that the other humans are also playing against robots. The big difference is that you get to play as defender more often, so I find that it is much better real-world practice. If anything, it would be great if the prime admin used this info to create a series of rolling tourneys or leader boards in the club. I haven't given great thought about how this would work. Just an idea 🙂