Some of the biggest buzz that comes out of the OSCF State Championship is generated at the Bughouse Tournament on Friday night. The game itself is fast, crazy, creative, and requires an ability to see what you want the chess board to look like—not what it is. This team event is cooperative (each competitor has a partner and team name) and so it brings a uniquely social aspect to the game. And on top of all that, we add contests for the Craziest Chess-Themed Hat and the Most Popular Bughouse Team Name. Even the losers don’t suffer too much—we take the sting out by letting them eat worms….gummy worms, that is.

For those of you who need a refresher on bughouse rules, here they are. Most importantly, Bughouse is “clock move,” not “touch move.” We’ll review briefly on Friday evening before the event.

How do you get to participate in this Amaaazzzzzing activity?  Here’s the scoop:

Here’s how to get yourself and your team onto the pairing sheets for bughouse to win one of those coveted awards.

1) Register online for Bughouse (if you haven’t already). If you registered for Bughouse, you will be listed here. If you’re not on that list and think you should be, check your emailed receipt and then contact us. Otherwise, you may register online.

2) When you arrive Friday, find your teammate and submit this Bughouse team check-in form at the check-in desk before 5:30pm. We will have plenty of copies of the form onsite. If you don’t have a teammate we’ll help you get one.

A) I have a teammate.

Make sure you have a team name. Come to the Bughouse desk in the foyer at Seaside. If you did not bring it, we will give you the Bughouse team check-in form to complete with player names, cell numbers, and team name, and you will turn it in to be paired. Do so before 5:30pm (sooner is better) on Friday. By checking in, you commit that both you and your partner will be there. If you aren’t sure, check with them, because mistakes can require us to re-pair EVERYONE! If you check in, and your partner doesn’t show, OR if you or your partner try to re-register with a different team, we reserve the right to ignore all team preferences, and re-match you and your partner at the TDs’ discretion so that we can get play started.

B) I don’t have a teammate.

That’s OK, and part of the fun of Bughouse. Come to Seaside, stop in at the Bughouse – Blitz check-in table before 5:30 pm (sooner is better), and we will put you on the Find a Partner Board — a list of people looking for a teammate. If you find one on that board, you can let us know by completing a team check-in form by 5:30 pm. (Everyone still looking should come at 5:15 to meet). If you don’t find a partner before 5:30 pm, and are still on the “singles” list, we’ll match you up with someone appropriate at 5:30 pm.

3) OK, I registered and checked-in with a teammate.  When and where do I go to play?  And what’s the process?

By 6:00 pm on Friday, come to the large playing room in the Convention Center for Team Name and Crazy Hat competitions just before actual play starts. As you’re gathering, we’re cross-checking our data and pairing all teams who were checked in as of 5:30 pm. As soon as we’re able, hopefully about 7:00 pm, we will post in several locations a list of players sorted alphabetically by last name. The list will tell you what playing group (lettered from A-Z, then AA-ZZ) your team will be in. Go to the relevant table for your group letter (look for signs), where pairings sheets for recording rounds will be placed. We will then talk a little bit about the basic bughouse rules. These will be double-round-robin matches.  In each group, every team plays every other team twice—play once, then flip colors and play again. Mark down the score for each game. Each quad manages its own play. The youngest players may need assistance with this; for adults of the youngest kids, please assist as best you can.  For the oddly-sized sections (i.e., more than 4 teams), the teams will usually play each other only once, but we will talk about it with those groups.

4) How do I get a prize?  Or eat worms?

Once you have your games complete, tally team scores on the top of your scoresheet to decide who wins.  If there is a tie, the tied teams will play one game to determine the victory. But you’re not done yet.  Because we are going to be playing in the large Pacific room this year, we will need to move all the chess sets back into the Necanicum Room after Bughouse is done. For that reason, once each group is done, we ask that players move their own set to the Necanicum Room and set it up.  So, once you’re done, (a) reset the boards to be sure that you have all the pieces with the appropriate set, (b) pick up both set and board and take it to the Necanicum Room, and (c) set up the board in the appropriate places in that room. ONLY after that has happened can you report the outcome to the TD and receive your awards and gummy worms.

Generally speaking, we will finish about 75 minutes after we start, so we should be done between 8:00 and 8:30pm.  Note that there is a meeting for TDs that will take place immediately after Bughouse is done.

Have fun!