USER MANUAL
The Round Timer manages round timing for ACBL bridge tournaments. It supports up to three simultaneous events, each with its own round length, break schedule and color. It can run as a single timer on one screen, or split across two screens with a control panel on one and a players' display on the other.
Nothing to install and nothing to download — open timer.acbl.ai in any modern
browser. Everything runs inside your browser: no tournament information is sent anywhere, and
you are always on the current version.
Every time you open the page you choose one of three modes:
The full timer display, with floating play/pause and gear buttons in the corner of each event panel. Use this when you have one screen and the timer is what the players see.
The gear button opens skip, ±1 minute and reset.
A compact control panel with no big clock — one card per event showing the time, the status and every control. Use it alongside a Display window on a second screen: it tucks into a small window while the display takes the whole second screen.
A clean, controls-free view for players. It shows a waiting screen until a Control (or Standalone) window on the same computer starts a session, then follows it. Move the mouse to the top-right corner to reveal an exit button.
Shown in the top bar during the session — for example "Heart of the Valley".
Click the import box or drag an ACBLscore game file (.ACM, .ACB, .ACA, .ACE) onto it to fill in event names, round counts, minutes per round and section letters automatically. The tournament name is imported too when the file has one.
The file is read inside your browser and is never uploaded — it does not leave your computer.
Switch between 1, 2 and 3 events. Each is configured separately.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Timer color | Color of that event's digits, progress bar, round dots and name bar. |
| Event name | Shown on the timer display, e.g. "Open Pairs". |
| Section(s) | Section letters, e.g. "A, B" — shown large when more than one event is running. |
| Minutes / round | Length of each round. |
| Rounds | How many rounds in total. |
| # of breaks | 0 (none), 1 (midgame) or 2 (thirds). Breaks are placed automatically at sensible round boundaries — the line underneath shows exactly where. |
| Break duration | Length of each break, in minutes. |
The Dark theme for the timer checkbox gives the running timer a dark background in every mode. Event colors stay bright against it; only the surrounding chrome goes dark. Set it before starting. The setup screen itself always stays light so it is easy to read in a bright room.
Chime at round & break end plays a short tone when a round runs out and when a break finishes. It is off unless you switch it on, and the choice is remembered.
| Button | Action |
|---|---|
| ▶ / ❚❚ | Start, continue or pause. |
| ⚙ | Opens skip, ±1 minute and reset round. |
| Button | Action |
|---|---|
| START | Start a fresh round (first start, or after a skip or reset). |
| PAUSE | Pause a running timer. |
| CONTINUE | Resume a paused timer. |
| SKIP → | Move to the next round, paused at its start. |
| − 1m / + 1m | Adjust the current time by a minute. The display window follows immediately. |
| ↺ Reset | Put the current round back to its full time. |
| ▶ START ALL / CONTINUE ALL | Start or continue every event at once (two or three events). |
| ❚❚ PAUSE ALL | Pause every running event at once. |
| State | Appearance |
|---|---|
| Running | Digits in the event color, status "RUNNING". |
| Time running low | Orange, when about a quarter of the round is left (at most the last two minutes). |
| Under one minute | Red, digits pulsing. |
| Break | Purple, showing the break countdown and which round is next. |
| Overtime | Red, counting up from 0:00 once the last round has finished. |
A row of round dots below the clock — one per round, filling in as the game goes on — with the round number beside them. The bar at the bottom of each panel shows how far through the current round or break you are.
For a projector or a second monitor showing the clock to players:
The two windows talk through the browser's own storage: no network, no permissions, nothing to configure. That is also why both windows must be open in the same browser on the same computer. A tablet in another room cannot mirror the clock.
Pressing ← Edit Settings pauses everything and saves where you were. On the setup screen a green ▶ Continue Session button appears next to Start New Session:
The session is saved as it runs, so an accidental refresh, a closed tab, or a browser that quits is not a disaster. Reopening the page within 12 hours offers ▶ Pick up where I left off, showing the tournament name and how long ago it was last seen.
Resuming catches up to the real time: if the laptop was asleep for 25 minutes, those 25 minutes really have gone, and the timer rolls forward through however many rounds and breaks actually elapsed. A note at the top of the screen says exactly what it did — for example "moved on 2 rounds (through 1 break) — now in round 7, 8:12 left" — so the clock never moves without telling you.
Venue wifi cannot be relied on, so after your first visit the app keeps a copy of itself in the browser. It then opens and runs with no internet at all. The line at the bottom of the opening screen tells you where you stand:
| ✓ Ready to use offline | A copy is stored — you can open the timer at the venue with no connection. |
| Preparing offline use… | Still saving its copy. Leave the page open a moment. |
| Offline — running from this computer | There is no connection right now, and the timer is running from the stored copy. |
Whenever there is a connection the app quietly updates itself in the background. A new version never swaps in while you are running a session — it takes over the next time you open the app fresh.
Available in Standalone mode with a single event:
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Space | Start / continue / pause |
| → | Skip to the next round |
| ↑ | Add a minute |
| ↓ | Take off a minute |
| R | Reset the current round |
| F | Fullscreen (any mode) |
They must be the same browser on the same computer. Check that a session has actually been started in the control window, and that the display window was not opened in a different browser (or a private window).
Two control windows were open at once. The newer one now drives the display; the older one stops sending so the two do not fight over the screen. Close the older window.
Browsers only allow sound after you have interacted with the page — press Start once and the chime works from then on. Check the computer's own volume too.
At the very bottom of the page there is a faint line such as d2a7c75 @ 4 Aug 2026.
Click or tap it and it expands into the full build details. Include that text in any
problem report — it tells us exactly which version you were running.