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The Ocean State Regional will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Warwick, RI, August 30-September 3. It will feature the return of an exciting team event called the Knock-In Knock-Out or KiKo. It will be held on Wednesday-Thursday and then again on Friday-Saturday. The brackets will be made as small as possible, as few as five teams in each.

All teams will play in Round-robins on the first day. Four teams will emerge from each bracket to play in head-to-head matches on the second day to determine the awards for first, second, third, and fourth. All four members of all four teams in each bracket will receive "overall" masterpoints, including gold points.

KiKo is all about having a large number of brackets. The more teams that participate the better it is for everyone. Increasing the number of brackets means that the range of masterpoints in each bracket decreases greatly. The competition is therefore much more even. It also means that even players with very few (even 0!) masterpoints will have a much better chance of winning or at least placing.

Here are details that you should consider:

1. You must have a four-person team. If you need help forming one, fill out the form at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeaxsGoUYgcw0jty19omZ5WZoEqdFGSP6Jl0XxK_CcQlnnnIw/viewform or contact Denise Bahosh at dbahosh@yahoo.com.
2. You must commit to playing both morning and afternoon sessions on two consecutive days, Wednesday-Thursday or Friday-Saturday, or both.
3. The event is bracketed based on masterpoints. Many brackets will contain only five teams. You will not play against anyone outside of your bracket.
4. If enough teams participate, the range of experience levels in each bracket should be very small.
5. Here is the incredible part: For many participants the format on Tuesday and Thursday will be a five-way Swiss. Four of the five participants in each bracket will survive to play in Friday's knockout. All four will be guaranteed of winning “overalls,” including gold points.

Incidentally, if you are unfamiliar with team games, I have written a primer that you can read at https://nebridge.org/pages/149/.

There are many other great events scheduled for Warwick, including games every day limited to players with under 300 masterpoints. The entire schedule is at https://nebridge.org/media/ups/2022_Calendar/Warwick_Schedule_2022_Final.pdf.

If you have never played face-to-face, this is a convenient opportunity to try out the game that so many love in formats that are, in my opinion, incomparably more fun and exciting than anything available online.

The rate for staying at the beautiful and convenient (a stone's throw from I-95) Crowne Plaza Hotel is only $115 per night, which is a bargain for this outstanding (and newly refurbished) facility. I liked it enough to stay there for seven nights during the recent NABC in Providence. The phone number is 401 732-6000.

The latest developments in New England bridge can always be found at NEBridge.org.

Mike Wavada
District 25 Webmaster and Communications Chair