New to the game: A little suggestion on how to get started with your local league
Posted by Michael Vigil
June 29, 2021
Have you wanted to start playing in your local league but unsure if you can hang? Are you the backyard BBQ champ? Do you want to challenge yourself and see where you stand? Does the terminology trip you up? Do you ask yourself if you should play social, advanced or competitive? Have you ever asked yourself some or all of these questions? There is an easy way to figure this game out.
Look up your local league and find out when they are having a Switcholio Event. Switcholio is a great way to get started with the game. What is Switcholio you ask? Well here is the definition from Ben Budhu: Founder of Scoreholio.
What is Switcholio, who loves it and why?
Simply put, Switcholio is a blind draw round robin in which players get a new partner for every game, and get ranked on an individual basis. The organizer can use that leaderboard to recognize and reward top finishers, or seed them into a single elimination playoff.
- Top players love Switcholio first because they aren’t always paired with a newbie for every game every week. Second, because over the course of an evening they should be able to do better than an average player, earning themselves a higher spot on the leaderboard. If the organizer ranks the leaderboard by total points, without factoring for win/loss record, which is recommended, top players always the opportunity to earn valuable points even if their partner can’t hit the board.
- New players love Switcholio first because it’s less intimidating than a regular blind draw. I used to have potential players say “maybe next time” all the time, usually because they were self-conscious and didn’t want to feel the guilt and shame of holding a good player back all night.
- Tournament organizers love Switcholio because they never need to worry about making sure they have an even number of players for randomization, or designating a “walker” that plays by themself if they don’t. Organizers also love the fact that they can add players late, or let players take a break for a little while, and either way Scoreholio will automatically “catch them up.” Finally, if people bail early for whatever reason they’re not leaving a partner in the lurch.
New players tend to enjoy Switcholio first because it is less intimidating than a regular blind draw. This is a great way to play with many players from your club and get to know them. It is also a great way to try out different types of bags, even hard to get bags like the NEW P90.
Get on Facebook and look up your local league and get registered today!