6-17 Pairs

            For 6-17 pairs, the scoring is done with the Excel programs in the “Programs” subfolder of the HDB folder.  As explained in the “Downloading” webpage, an executable program called HDBC.exe or HDBD.exe is used to copy the program to a different name and call it up in Excel, although this can instead be done manually if desired.  What will immediately come up is the “Main” window, in which the date and player names are entered.  In this window one can go to groups of boards to enter their scores.  A current tally of the scores and resulting ranks is given in “Main”, and these scores can be in Imps, Victory Points (if available), or Match Points.  The “Color?” button allows a choice between giving the three best scores in color or not, with the latter perhaps being preferable for black-and-white printing of the data spreadsheets.  It is also possible to save the program directly from “Main”, rather than using that Excel function.

            There are three or four data spreadsheets which can be accessed after exiting from the “Main” window:  Imps, VP (if Victory Points are available), MP (for Match Points), and Ranks.  All of these can be accessed from each other, and they can be printed out (0‑20 copies, using the default printer) by clicking on the “Print” button on each spreadsheet.  One returns to the “Main” window by clicking on “Data Entry”, on each spreadsheet.

            To give an average score on a board, just enter 8000 (or anything higher).

            The Imps and MP spreadsheets both list the raw scores for the plays of each board, so that how each pair did in comparison with the other pairs can be seen.  They give the date and player names, and their total scores:  in imps and victory points (if available) on the Imps spreadsheet, and in match points on the MP spreadsheet.  The VP spreadsheet shows the calculation of victory points, if available.  Finally, the Ranks spreadsheet gives the pair ranking by match points, victory points (if available), and imps.  It may be important to note that the date, player names, and board scores entered through the “Main” windows are placed directly on the Imps spreadsheet, and the corresponding information on the MP spreadsheet is simply copied from the Imps spreadsheet; thus any changes to the scores, if not done through the “Main” window, must be done on the Imps spreadsheet rather than on the MP spreadsheet.

            Most of the Excel scoring programs in the Programs folder have a file name of the form “BrScxxxx.xls”, where “xxxx” gives the number of pairs and number of boards; for example, “BrSc0728.xls” is the scoring program for seven pairs and 28 boards.  (Also in this folder are three files, “BrIE1218.xls” etc. for scoring twelve individual players.)  There are also three special scoring programs, as follows.  One, “BrSc1526w.xls”, simply gives the Imps and MP spreadsheets on two pages rather than one page, for easier reading.  (These spreadsheets for 16 and 17 pairs must necessarily be on two pages.)  For six pairs and 20 or 30 boards, it is possible to avoid having the last round being a three-way sharing of boards, but this means that victory points can’t be calculated for the 20-board configuration and that three-board sets are used for victory-point calculation for the 30-board configuration.  These are the default configurations, but the three-way sharing is also given as an option:  “BrSc0620v2.xls” is for victory-point calculation, and “BrSc0630v2.xls” uses a six-board-set victory-point calculation.  (All these configurations are given in the table at the bottom of the “Introduction” webpage, with an asterisk marking those which do not allow victory-point calculation.)

            Besides the Excel scoring programs, there are Word documents for the movements and traveling-score slips.  In the Movement  subfolder of the Word folder (itself a subfolder of the HDB folder) are these Howell movement files, of the form “BrHwxxx.doc”, with again “xxxx” giving the number of pairs and the number of boards; two others, “BrHw0620v2.doc” and “BrHw0630v2.doc”, are for the optional 20-board and 30-board movements for six players.  And the files for constructing the traveling-score slips are given in the Travelers subfolder of the Word folder, of the form “BrTrxxx.doc”, with again “BrTr0620v2.doc” and “BrTr0630v2.doc” used for the special six-player movements.  These traveling-score files are meant to be printed out on both sides of each sheet and then cut into four slips per sheet; Word can print out the odd pages and even pages separately, for printers which don’t make two-sided copies, and it can reverse the printing order if necessary.  (A paper cutter with settings at 8¼", 5½", and 2¾" makes this task easy.)

©2009 by David Jette