Subject: The solution (cheating at PT) Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 13:04:35 +0200 From: "Øydis Pedersen" To: Well, I've read most of the posts about cheating and the problem of rules enforcement at the PT. Andrea Kunst wrote at length about this. Many posts have dealt with various ways of dealing with this. There have generally been 3 kinds of suggestions: 1: Harder enforcement of the rules. A problem as long as many players have more experience than the judges. 2: More judges. An economic question. I think we are lucky to get any volunteers at all. 3: Make notes of what happens. More work, could result in more debates about who's notes are right. 4: Video monitoring. Get real! My suggestion is based on the 4th idea above. TAPE RECORDERS!!! Remember the old ones, the size of an 80s videocover. They are laid down, allways had a handle (that slid into the case) and ALLWAYS HAD A RECORD BUTTON. I think most had a counter too. Should be inexpensive enough, they could be bought second hand. All you need is some tapes (the longer the better). Then just place one at every table and have everyone press REC when the playing begins. All plays would be anounced verbally, not a big change from today. P1 "I attack with the ballightning and the flunky" P2 "as a responce to your declaration of attack, I tap city of brass and karplusan forest, for colorless mana" P1 "Take one damage, what is your total?" P2 "17. I cast a incinerate at the ballightning" P1 "As a respons to that I tap this forset, and cast a Giant growth at the ballightning" Only judges would be allowed to stop the tape and rewind. This way you wouldn't get players using the recorder to know if they have played a land this turn. But a correct life total could be calculated by listening to the tape. By noting the counternumber at the beginning of every match, it would be quick too. If the judges could be sure of who was cheating, more severe penalties could be given, thus reducing timeloss (match, duelloss and DQ takes just a few minutes to administer). I really think this could be a great help for the judges, the cost would be at an estimated $1000, and wouldn't need much work nor consume a lot of time. I hope anyone at WOTC thinks this is a good ide too. Janusz Maxe