How to Set up Kiwi Teams Matches on BBO

1. It’s not hard to set up matches on BBO but it’s a good idea to have a practice beforehand if you’re a first timer.
2. Click on “click to play or watch bridge”, then “Team Matches” then click on “create match” and a box comes up for you to complete. Call the match “Kiwi Teams Match 1” (or whatever number it is). You don’t need to fill out “description” or “director”. Change the number of boards to 12. Tick the “barometer” and “allow undos” boxes. Then fill in the team names and players BBO names. Take care to spell everyone’s name exactly right. Take care to ensure you have the correct pairs playing as team mates (team members should be together in either the "Team 1" or the "Team 2" box). Then check everything and then click “create match” (bottom left). You will see everyone accepting and then after a little while the match magically starts. You sometimes get an error message that someone is not online. This usually means (for me anyway) that you have not quite got their name right but it may mean that they have logged off for some reason.
3. I recommend that you start on the set up process about 5 mins beforehand so that when 8 o’clock comes around all you have to do is click the “create match” button. It is also a good idea to make sure that all of the players in your match are on your friends list. That way you can “see” everyone and check in advance that they are all logged on. To add a person to your friends list when they are not online click on your own name when you are in the lobby, then click the friends tab, complete the friends BBO name in the box provided then click “add”.
4. If any player in your match is not online and available to play by 8.00 pm then you should arrange for a replacement. The quickest way of doing that is to call for participants from the lobby. Do that by using “the lobby” option in the chat box and sending a message like “need one adv + player for 12 board teams match – please message me”. This usually brings at least one response within short order. Choose the person you think most suitable, let them know that they are in and include their name in the team list. It is generally polite to then send a message to the lobby that the team is full.
5. BBO has further instructions about the “create match” function as part of its help site. This is the link to get there: http://www.bridgebase.com/help/3/common/text/index.html. Click on “contents” then “team matches” then click in the “create a match” area to get information specific to setting up team matches.