Hi!

I wanted to share with you my experience organizing X-Wing Events with the help of kitchen timers.

I'm organizing X-Wing Events of all size in Germany. I got the idea of using individual timers on every table since I experienced some very chaotic store Championships. I'm using these since the last 2 years, organizing Store Championships, 2 Regionals and the German Nationals with them. The tournaments were from 12 up to 64 players at once.

So far I have only good experience using kitchen timers. Usage is very easy: just put them on the table - everyone knows how to use a timer. I had never to explain them. Just project the new round pairings on the wall, the rest happens by itself. No announcements needed, no yelling, nothing. Players prepare their fleet and dials, then start the timer by themself.

The pros are:

* everyone plays exactly the same time.

* no one has to wait until all players are ready. Instead they can start on their own pace.

* players don't feel rushed.

* Players always know how long they still have to play wihtout the need of asking

* acceptance is very high.

* you can stop the timer if there are rule questions, someone has to go to the toilet etc.

* they double as table number signs

Now i heard some argue that tournaments could take longer, some could take breaks that are too long and similar. But I didn't experience any real problems in these 2 years since using timers. Tournaments don't take longer, in contrast they speed up a bit. But this isn't the main reason. It also makes the live for the tournament organizer easier. He/she doesn't have to think very much about the clock and can concentrate on more important issues. No yelling needed, no questions to answer, it just flows. This way I can handle 64 players with no help (for more important organized play we use deisgnated judges of course).

German National Championship 2015 using kitchen timers

These there the reasons why whe decided to use inidvidual timers at the German National Championships 2015. And this with great success.

The disadvantages are:

* it costs Money. You can get the timers cheap, but it still is an Investment for larger tournaments. But you can use them for years for any Kind of tournanaments

* you have to transport them. Not an issue if you have a car. But if your on foot this is an addtitional strain.

I modified the kitchen timers and cut the wire to the speaker. Sound is not needed.

So if you want to improve the experience for your players, or if your tournaments are on a tight time schedule, your playing area is scattered over several seperate rooms or the like, then try using individual timers. There is really no disadvantage. Be sure that your attendees will rate your events higher by using timers.

I had considered writing a phone app that basically served up the same, synchronized timer to as many clients as were subscribed to the service - since most people are using smart phones these days, and the app would be dirt simple. I never bothered, though.

We tried something like this with a master clock that was accessable to smartphones via WLAN. It didn't work quite as well as we hoped. And you still have the issue that all players have to start at the same time, if they are ready or not. It resulted in yelling again. No, the main idea is that players can start individually.

Stereotype of Germans being on time confirmed.

Great idea though. Elimination of yelling is definitely a big advantage. I'll definitely suggest this to TOs in my area.

Edit: p.s. cool lunchbox (?)

I don't believe that this is tournament legal. From what I understand, times are based off a master clock.

What I do at my FLGS is have a large master clock so all can see it.

If you want to drive the final stake into the heart of swarm lists, this is a good way to do it.

Edit - oops! Sorry, I thought this was a timer per player, not a separate timer for each match.

I don't believe that this is tournament legal. From what I understand, times are based off a master clock.

What I do at my FLGS is have a large master clock so all can see it.

As far as I can tell, the tournament rules are silent on this matter. The rules indicate that rounds should be 75 minutes and that players are to complete a round that has been started once time is called. I see nothing that indicates that all players must start and stop their rounds simultaneously.

The logistics of timing rounds appears to be the TO's prerogative.