Game Clock Rule

General Go Discussion
1

How do I read the clock rule, such as 3d+ 1d up to 1wk?

Is there an instruction some there on OGS?

2

That is Fischer timing. It means that the game clock starts at 3 days, increments by 1 day for each move played, and maxes out at 1 week.

I don’t know if there is a user guide to explain these things anywhere.

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3

Hello, there is several time control types. They are not really specific to OGS, and arguably the best definition is found here: https://senseis.xmp.net/?TimeSystem

We have a “simplified” explanation of basic time controls here: https://github.com/online-go/online-go.com/wiki/Finding-(starting)-a-game#basic-time-controls-explained

It is still under developement though, so not sure it is helpfull enough, but any feedback is appreciated :slight_smile:

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4

Max out at 1 week means the game ends in a week regardless?

I am curious then how the win/lose is determined.

Sorry for the basic question, I never played formal games and never studied those kind of rules.

5

Thanks, I will take a look. Never felt the needs to learn this. :joy:

6

In fisher the max means you can never have more than 1 week (or whatever the maximum is) at your clock. Every time you make a move your time increases by whatever the increment is, but never over the maximum time. If you fail to play within the time left on your clock, you lose by timout.

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7

I take it back, after a quick peek at the time rule.:joy:

8

Is the GitHub wiki the official user guide now? I thought I remembered another website being used as the Documentation/FAQ in the past, but now the name of it completely escapes me.

Wherever this documentation is located, I think it should be linked to from the main site. Perhaps on the main menu.

9

Not yet, is is still far from finished, I just linked it for the convenience.
When it’s done we will re-link it somehow, yeah :slight_smile:

10

I am new to timing systems as well—can anyone tell what is the expected time span for a standard 19x19 game with the Fisher timing referred by the OP (3d+ 1d up to 1wk), which seems to be the default for correspondence games?

Is it in the months range? Or even longer?

11

Plan on multiple months. Sometimes you and an opponent will both be on at the same time and you knock out many moves quickly, but if everyone is taking 1 move per day you’re looking at ~200 days to finish. The tournaments that use these time controls commonly take multiple years to finish.

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12

Yeah, it really depends who you play with… I often knock the off within a month or two, but if you play someone less active, it can last for a while, as illustrated.

Obviously, people usually have several of those games running at once, to keep them busy :slight_smile: just do not go too overboard :smiley:

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13

Advertisement :smirk:
This group is quite active:


The time settings are faster but also most of the members tend to play faster than the clock requires.

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14

Thanks for the Fast Correspondence link. It seems it’s exactly what I was looking for.