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TurnBasedGoServers
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Time Systems
    Keywords: Rules, Tournament

Time Systems limit the period of time available to each player. Common time systems are:

Less common time systems are:

See also [ext] the BGA website.

Description of selected Time Systems

[1] Fisher Time on turn-based Server

The Little Golem turn-based game server uses Fischer Time plus vacation days: 240 hours initially. Each submitted move adds 36 hours to that player's time limit. (Up to a maximum of 240 hours.) Additionaly each player has 20 vacation days (per calender year). If a game clock reaches 0 hours, that player's vacation counter is decreased by one day, and 24 hours are added to each of his current games.

[2] Hourglass

Everytime a second ticks off of a player's clock, a second is added to the opponent's clock.


Clocks

Chronos

One of the best clocks for playing Go face-to-face is the Chronos. See the ChronosManual. -- Matt Noonan

DGT

[ext] DGT sells two clocks: the DGT 2000 and the DGT XL.

2000

The older model. Main feature is that it has Japanese byo-yomi. (With a maximum of 9 periods)

Canadian byo-yomi can also be used, but only by manually adding extra time, like you do when you use analog chess clocks. This means you also must count the stones yourself during byo-yomi.

(Hint: The best timing method for this is probably the 3rd one. It does mean that, for each extra period, you have the specify the amount of extra time manually, but all the other time controls I tested do weird extra stuff that make them completely useless for this purpose. On the upside, you can see very easily when time has run out, at which point you can add extra time and start a new period.)

XL

New model. In a reversal from the 2000, the XL has Canadian byo-yomi, and not the Japanese. Since the Japanese method can't be easily simulated using one of the other time controls, this is a major disadvantage of this model.

Main advantages compared to the 2000 are a better user interface ("-1" button in addition the the "+1" for inputting time), and a buzzer.

-- uxs

Chronos vs. DGT

A friend wants to buy a go clock. He's considering Excalibur II. A recent r.g.g. post mentions Chronos and DGT. Any suggestions? The comparisons on the net focus on chess... -- RafaelCaetano

Chronos hands down, without a doubt. My 1st chronos lasted for 5 years under *extreme* abuse (it was always left in my car, well below freezing temps in the wintertime) Originally used strictly as a chess timer (accounting for the other half of it's abuse) As I began to play go, the byoyomi features were discovered by reading the manual. Around $100-$120 (US) the cost hasn't changed, ever. Well worth the price for all the flexible options. -- Joshual000

There is a [ext] comparison on www.chessreviews.com between the Chronos and the 2 DGT timers. It focuses more on chess than on go, but also more on ergonomy than on chess, which makes it interesting regardless. -- uxs

Miniban

If you have a Pocket PC, you can record games while simultaneously keeping the time with Miniban (currently, no overtime/byo-yomi time system supported yet). -- Sebastian 2003-09-15



This is a copy of the living page "Time Systems" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2004 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.