time-based / turn-based HYBRID
Posted:
May 28, 2026, 6:38 PM
Very few people have the availability and interest for Live games... and since all the poor masters are so afraid of losing games and their ELO and have to spend hours analyzing every move, exploring every combination, before making a move, I have an idea for a new mode.
It combines elements of Live with the Turn-Based -- so you get say 2 days to make your move, but at the time you open a game to see your opponents move a timer starts and you have to make your move within X minutes (1...2...5... whatever).
It could be for normal games but perhaps would be best suited for tournaments.
It would be challenging to enforce, I think, unless games were set to private, with only the two player names having access to them. Could be good, though it might change strategies up a bit (not necessarily a bad thing).
Never gonna be perfect... I mean, we dont lock people out of the database either, so it is what it is. If someone wants to go through that trouble they'll just have to live with a less satisfying win Not like we're competing for money anyway.
Your idea of private game is good too, then once game is finished change it back to public. Though also fun to watch people's games as they unfold.
That sounds like a good idea. But there might also be another issue: if my opponent makes a move that I consider critical, and I still have the option to play a pointless extension move afterward, then I could use it to gain as much extra thinking time as the turn-based part of the game allows before responding to that critical move (but as you said, "never gonna be perfect").
I’m a bit surprised though, are you sure that only a few people are interested in live games? I always assumed turn-based games were more common simply because there are too few players online at the same time to maintain a live game room with enough activity so that players do not have to wait too long between games.
That said, if enough players are interested in live games, we could perhaps organize regular live sessions (for example, once per month) lasting, let’s say, one hour. We would just need to check people’s availability beforehand and choose a date and time that works for most players. I think this could be a good way to bring the live games section of the site back to life.
PS: Congratulations on your victory in the Pente Open 2026 (if I understood the rules correctly, this was the last round, wasn’t it?).
Fun idea mumix. I think a lot of people already play like that, just go off intuition. Sounds stressful imagining a bunch of sets of that game mode haha.
bej_49 - I would be interested in that. It seems to me the issue is a lack of interest in live games, hopefully i'm wrong. I'll start sitting in the live room again, feel free to join me and play (goes for anyone)
Not like we're competing for money anyway.