[whisp]

The Prime Club is advertised as where to go to find the friendlier players. Upon arrival, everyone is playing against robots. So rather than being a social club, my impression is it's a GIB discount club. Am I missing something?

[HeavyDluxe]

Right now, the only benefit of the Prime 'area' is the ability for people in Prime to use the Advanced Robots for free.

I think that's a pretty good benefit, mind you. But there's no other reason to START a table in the Prime area other than to put a filter on the available players. And given that there's nothing else (or little else) drawing people into the Prime club right now, filling an empty table is a painstakingly slow process.

So, I'm doing the same thing.

[pilowsky]

I do not work for BBO. But, here is what they actually wrote. it is true that the word 'friend' appears in the documentation. This word should not be confused with its grammatical colleague 'friendly': the two are different in the following way, you have to pay $4.99 a month for a BBO friend (remind you of another sort of 'friend'?). and they aren't that friendly. Hope that helps. On the plus side, It is excellent practise for playing against the robot GIB system. There are two grammatical errors in their documentation. Perhaps they should start paying me: $0.05/error.

Make friends and socialize in the BBO Prime Bridge Club, get a cool badge in your profile, enjoy daily and weekly original articles and other benefits, all for one low fixed monthly fee of $4.99 .

Try it for free for 30 days.

BBO Prime benefits:

• Access to a new Prime Bridge Club offering an enhanced playing experience to people who enjoy casual and social bridge;
• BBO Prime badge in your profile;
• Access to exclusive daily and weekly bridge articles;
• Free advanced robots in the Prime Bridge Club;
• No advertisements;
• One month free trial.

Prime Bridge Club

• This new private club offers an enhanced playing experience to people who enjoy casual and social bridge.
• It is also a safe environment for players new to bridge who are reluctant to venture into playing with other people for fear they will upset the more experienced players.
• You can use advanced robots for free in the Prime Bridge Club.
• Access to the Prime Bridge Club is a privilege, not a right. Rude players will lose access to the club, even if they paid for a BBO Prime membership.
• Some BBO members in good standing will automatically qualify for free access to the Prime Bridge Club for a limited period of time.
• If you have received free access to the Prime Bridge Club and enjoy the experience you can always upgrade by clicking "Join the BBO Prime Community" in the BBO Prime menu.
• There is a new "Report abuse" button in each player's profile. Use it to report obnoxious players. Reporting bad behaviour helps us keep the club civil and enjoyable. You can also email us at abuse@bridgebase.com

Badge in profile

• This is what the badge looks like:

Exclusive bridge articles

• We will publish daily and weekly original articles from talented authors. You can access them by clicking "Exclusive Bridge Articles" in the BBO Prime menu.
• At the bottom of each article there is a comment box. You are welcome to discuss and provide feedback.
• We have not made an excessive effort to block and protect these bridge articles. Please refrain from sharing them outside of BBO.

Free Advanced Robots

• Place robots in the empty seats when playing in the Prime Bridge Club.
• Replay hands or let the robots replay them, to see what they would have done.
• Use the robots to fill in while waiting for your friends to show up.
• Play or practice any time.
  Contact Us
  • Feedback is welcome as usual. Use the "Contact Us" form in the BBO Prime menu, or email us at support@bridgebase.com with comments and suggestions
  • We will improve the BBO Prime community and keep adding more awesome features to your subscription. Don't hesitate to let us know what else you would love to see on BBO in general, or in the BBO Prime community in particular.

[661_Pete]

I'm sorry, but I'm not impressed. I fail to see any advantages.

* Access to a new Prime Bridge Club offering an enhanced playing experience to people who enjoy casual and social bridge;
I can get that any evening in the Acol Bridge Club

* BBO Prime badge in your profile;
So what?

* Access to exclusive daily and weekly bridge articles;
I get plenty of those in my bimonthly EBU magazine.

* Free advanced robots in the Prime Bridge Club;
I don't use robots. If they could be configured to bid Acol (the only system I - and many other British players - use), I might consider.

* No advertisements;
You can still get that by spending 33c per week on an 'instant tournament'. Which is less than the cost of Prime.

* One month free trial.
Big deal!

* This new private club offers an enhanced playing experience to people who enjoy casual and social bridge.
So does the Acol club.

* It is also a safe environment for players new to bridge who are reluctant to venture into playing with other people for fear they will upset the more experienced players.
An experienced player should never get upset just because they're playing with a beginner. Indeed that's the mark of an experienced player: not getting upset.

* You can use advanced robots for free in the Prime Bridge Club.
My comment above.

* Access to the Prime Bridge Club is a privilege, not a right. Rude players will lose access to the club, even if they paid for a BBO Prime membership.
This can happen in any part of BBO. Of course 'banned' players have a habit of coming back under a new ID!

* Some BBO members in good standing will automatically qualify for free access to the Prime Bridge Club for a limited period of time.
Big Deal (again).

* If you have received free access to the Prime Bridge Club and enjoy the experience you can always upgrade by clicking "Join the BBO Prime Community" in the BBO Prime menu.
OK

* There is a new "Report abuse" button in each player's profile. Use it to report obnoxious players. Reporting bad behaviour helps us keep the club civil and enjoyable. You can also email us at abuse@bridgebase.com
I have, a few times, reported abuse via E-mail. Of course I never get feedback on what was actually done, but that may be because of privacy laws. Presumably the same if one uses the "report" button.

So I'm not going "Prime" any time soon, sorry. And I really could do without the 'badges' showing in the table lists, elsewhere on BBO. Needless clutter!

So: is there going to come a time when the whole of BBO goes behind a paywall? If they really need the dosh, so be it: after all I pay £3 table money for each session of live bridge. But it will put many good players off.

[pilowsky]

The single tremendous advantage of the robots in Prime is that you can practice defence alone or with a partner. This is not possible with Solitaire - or maybe I have misunderstood?

[pescetom]

Prime blurb said:

* There is a new "Report abuse" button in each player's profile. Use it to report obnoxious players. Reporting bad behaviour helps us keep the club civil and enjoyable. You can also email us at abuse@bridgebase.com

The button is new but is not exclusive to Prime - and quite rightly so.

[pilowsky]

Mind you, as the British say Musn't Grumble 🦀