Survey: Preferred Playing Times

By Gayle Andrews Co-Manager The Heavenly Regional

70% Chose 10:00 a.m & 3:00 p.m.

There are constant discussions among tournament planners as to the best playing schedule. Do the players prefer the 1:00 & 7:30 schedule (or a close alternative) or the 10:00 & 3:00 schedule (or a close alternative)? Most advocates of one or the other are fairly outspoken about which time slots they prefer. Indeed, the president of the Western Conference maintains that attendance drops when a tournament goes from 1:00 & 7:30 to 10:00 & 3:00. The Heavenly Regional must have been an anomaly, as our attendance increased by 194 tables (up 13%).

Orange County tournament planners decided to ask the players. Attendees at the recent Heavenly Regional tournament held at the Westin Costa Mesa were asked to fill out a mini-survey when registering, to ascertain preferred playing times. Registrants were asked for their masterpoint range: 0-300, 300-1000, or 1000 plus. They were also asked which games they typically played at a regional, with choices being: Knockouts, Open Pairs, Senior Pairs or 299er.

Finally, they were asked for their preferred playing time slot: "10:00 & 3:00," "1:00 & 7:30," or "No Preference."

Now I have to tell you that my sister, the PHD in statistics, would say that the survey was skewed because we only surveyed players that were actually at a tournament being held at 10:00 & 3:00. Looking around the playing area, it seemed to me like most of the local “regulars” were there, but about half of the tournaments held in Districts 22 and 23 are at the 10:00 & 3:00 time slots, so maybe those that ardently prefer the 1:00 & 7:30 schedule have just given up. All that being said and acknowledged, my sister, the PHD in statistics, would say that we surveyed a relevant sample of the attendees that were at this tournament, as 457 out of approximately 1300 attendees filled out the survey. (It wasn’t that the others declined - we just had a limited number of surveys printed.)

Of those surveyed 91% were either from District 22 or 23 (Southern California):
9% were outside D22 and D23
45%  had 0-300 masterpoints
27%  had 300-1000 masterpoints
25%  had more than 1000 masterpoints
45%  normally play in Knockouts
17%  normally play in Open Pairs
 8%  normally play in Senior Pairs
18%  normally play in the 299ers
12%  apparently “play around” as no box checked
70%  prefer the 10:00 & 3:00 schedule
12%  prefer the 1:00 & 7:30 schedule
18%  had no preference

We further analyzed the data to see if what games they preferred to play in or how many masterpoints they had materially affected their choices:

As you will note, the only groups that varied much from the overall total were the senior pairs (who normally play at 10:00 & 3:00 at all tournaments) and players that have over 1000 masterpoints. As these players are also the ones that are usually planning the playing times of the tournaments, perhaps this should serve as a "watch sign." if not a "warning sign." In order to assure that the results of this survey were not highly skewed by attendance, we would suggest that the same survey be done at a regional tournament with a 1:00 & 7:30 playing schedule.