You can take notes on Time Walk

[PokePop]

Your opponent doesn't get to read your notes anymore, so it's not about keeping secrets from them.

[Azn_Master]

I think you should just be able to look at all your prize cards if you time walk.

Saves time and paper.

[pokemaster1970]

So to be clear, we're allowed 30 seconds for each action? I had a judge tell me I had to write my prize notes in 15 seconds... Of course I'm the only one in my area that takes notes in a tournament, so maybe he was trying to use me as an example. I thought 15 seconds sounded a little Fishy....(Get that one Fish?) LOL

[Porii Sames]

Originally Posted by Azn_Master

I think you should just be able to look at all your prize cards if you time walk.

Saves time and paper.

I have agreed with this for so long.

It just makes sense.

[PkmnManiac]

You're talking about after you use Time Walk, you have the right to check your prizes before choosing one??

[PokePop]

Originally Posted by PkmnManiac

You're talking about after you use Time Walk, you have the right to check your prizes before choosing one??

That's what they are suggesting.
There is no such "right"

[PkmnManiac]

Well, I don't see anything wrong with it...I mean you did just check to see what your prizes are, so it's no longer a secret.

[Phazon Elite]

If my opponent asks me to wait for him to finish taking notes before making another move, I'm just proceeding through my turn. Not my fault if he can't keep up.

[raw19]

Originally Posted by PkmnManiac

Well, I don't see anything wrong with it...I mean you did just check to see what your prizes are, so it's no longer a secret.

Makes sense to me. My League judges are even allowing such.

[PokePop]

League is not a tournament.

Guys, Pokemon has given you a benefit here of taking notes on this.
Now that's not good enough and you want to be able to look at your prizes anytime you want!
C'mon! Just take the freaking notes and stop looking to be spoon fed.

[raw19]

I have no problems with taking notes or having my opponent do such. I just don't need them rolling their eyes or muttering under their breath if they think I'm taking too long and slowing the game down to do such.

[xcfrisco]

For all the pro taking notes crowd, would you find the following acceptable:

(taken from a recent report in the city champs forum)

Originally Posted by TopPlayer

This kid slowplayed soooo much though, taking way too long to shuffle/declump his cards, after using Time Walk, he had to open his bag, take out his full sized spiral notebook, find a pen, THEN go through his prizes, 3 minute ordeal in itself with his 2 minute search shuffles

[PokePop]

At 30 seconds, his time is up. Stop or get an infraction.
Simple as that.
If the judge is on top of it.

[xcfrisco]

Originally Posted by PokePop

At 30 seconds, his time is up. Stop or get an infraction.
Simple as that.
If the judge is on top of it.

I apologize if you took my posts as a "stir the pot" kind of thing. I was trying to provide an illustration of how this new rule could get abused with a real world example. Its in my opinion that one is unable to take notes during a game and still keep the game at "a lively pace" per the rules. I can see how other people disagree with my stance though, especially people who try to write notes really fast so as to not slow the game. I'll stop posting in this thread about this issue.

PS. I was also unaware that 30 seconds was the maximum amount of time someone could take to perform a game action. I'll keep this in mind for my future games.

[PokePop]

I'm not trying to shut you down from posting about it.
I'm just stating matter of factly how it should be handled.

Not only you, but some judges are stressing out over this and it doesn't have to be complicated.
Firm judging, handling the situation in a matter of fact way can keep this from becoming an issue.

Judges who don't know how to handle it, or are afraid to, can allow this to become a major issue.

[xcfrisco]

Originally Posted by PokePop

I'm not trying to shut you down from posting about it.
I'm just stating matter of factly how it should be handled.

Not only you, but some judges are stressing out over this and it doesn't have to be complicated.
Firm judging, handling the situation in a matter of fact way can keep this from becoming an issue.

Judges who don't know how to handle it, or are afraid to, can allow this to become a major issue.

So did you mean the player in fictional tourney is gonna get an infraction
or
am I gonna get an infraction for continuing to post about taking notes during time walk?

[PokePop]

I was talking about the fictional player taking too long to take notes getting an infraction.
Sorry for the confusion.

[toxictaipan]

Originally Posted by xcfrisco

For all the pro taking notes crowd, would you find the following acceptable:

(taken from a recent report in the city champs forum)

If you're planning on taking notes during a match, you need to have all your stuff out on the table before it begins. This is no different than waiting until you take damage to go into your bag to find your damage counters. It has nothing to do with taking notes and everything to do with players not playing responsibly.

[AyameHikaru]

^Agreed. I always make it a policy in my matches to set my little notebook slightly to the side and TELL my opponent that I take notes on Time Walk. That way they know what's coming when I lay down my Azelf.

Personally, I've found I'm able to write down my Prizes in less than 10 seconds. :/ I know I'm a fast writer, but unless there's a difficult decision in my prizes I hardly ever come close to the 30 second time frame. For those complaining about the time it takes, I'd advise sitting down with a friend and a stopwatch. Set up a game, and when you get to Time Walking, have your friend time you. You may be surprised how little extra time it takes.

[xcfrisco]

Originally Posted by AyameHikaru

Set up a game, and when you get to Time Walking, have your friend time you. You may be surprised how little extra time it takes.

I can write my prizes down in 10 seconds too, but it doesn't everyone can (even though they should be able to!). I also out of common courtesy had a piece of paper and pencil ready for the one time during a match where i wrote prizes, and I found I didn't even need to cause i remembered what they all were anyway.


I dont know about you guys, but calling over a judge cause my opponent is taking too long is probably the most awkward thing in pokemon. Time and time again I see players take way longer than 30 seconds to perform game actions (ESPECIALLY when they write down their prizes) and the victim never speaks up for a variety of reasons. This is a problem at really big tournies moreso than the smaller ones cause guess what, there's only one judge to look over 20 matches at a time, each with a potential for their in-game problems (as in, its not nearly as easy as you guys make it out to be about getting a slow player an infraction).


I'm done arguing about it. I'm now aware that there's a firm 30 second rule for my opponent to write down his prizes. Although this is the most common example of note-taking, I'm not particularly happy that my opponent can 1.)eat up to 30 seconds off the clock to write down prizes and B.)seemingly write notes whenever they feel like. Seems like an easy rule to abuse for faster decks and I hope I've illustrated that calling a judge over for 'slow-play' is one of the harder things a player can do in the realm of tournament policy regulation.

PS. Can someone show me in the rulebook where it states that somone taking notes on time walk must have their notes and pencil immediately available at the start of the match? I also really like the idea of having said player state that he takes notes (not necessarily time walk so as to not reveal his "techs" per se).

PPS. I think I just had a great idea. I wish your opponent was still allowed to see your notes. This would probably curb the amount of people who take notes on Time Walk just to eat up time. Plus, it would actually reward players who have taken the time to develop their short-term memory skill for the ones who still choose to remember their prizes as opposed to writing them down (it seems like the players who do this, do it out of the courtesy of their opponent and not themselves! SOTG at its finest )

[PokePop]

Originally Posted by xcfrisco

I dont know about you guys, but calling over a judge cause my opponent is taking too long is probably the most awkward thing in pokemon. Time and time again I see players take way longer than 30 seconds to perform game actions (ESPECIALLY when they write down their prizes) and the victim never speaks up for a variety of reasons. This is a problem at really big tournies moreso than the smaller ones cause guess what, there's only one judge to look over 20 matches at a time, each with a potential for their in-game problems (as in, its not nearly as easy as you guys make it out to be about getting a slow player an infraction).

Calling over a judge doesn't have to be the first thing that you do!
Just tell him: "You're taking too long doing that. Please move on with your turn."
If they ignore you or tell you they're going to take as long as they want, THEN call over a judge.

Players can't expect the judge to proactively catch this. We need your assistance.

You're not going to find a place in the rules where it says "you have to have your pencil and paper ready" for the same reason you're not going to find a place in the rules where it says "you can't stand on the table".

A player is given a certain amount of time for the action. If they use that time fishing around for notepaper, then they have no more time.

[Ginteal]

Originally Posted by AyameHikaru

^Agreed. I always make it a policy in my matches to set my little notebook slightly to the side and TELL my opponent that I take notes on Time Walk. That way they know what's coming when I lay down my Azelf.

Personally, I've found I'm able to write down my Prizes in less than 10 seconds. :/ I know I'm a fast writer, but unless there's a difficult decision in short run cd duplication I hardly ever come close to the 30 second time frame. For those complaining about the time it takes, I'd advise sitting down with a friend and a stopwatch. Set up a game, and when you get to Time Walking, have your friend time you. You may be surprised how little extra time it takes.

Yup Agreed - Same here......

[Flareon]

Originally Posted by xcfrisco

I dont know about you guys, but calling over a judge cause my opponent is taking too long is probably the most awkward thing in pokemon. )

I've called a judge over on several of my own friends! Like Pop said, tell them "you're taking a bit long, dude." and if it doesn't get any better raise your hand and ask a judge to watch the pace of play. And since I wasn't ever a jerk, we're still friends.

[xcfrisco]

Originally Posted by Flareon

I've called a judge over on several of my own friends! Like Pop said, tell them "you're taking a bit long, dude." and if it doesn't get any better raise your hand and ask a judge to watch the pace of play. And since I wasn't ever a jerk, we're still friends.

That's another negative of slow play. Calling over a judge, explaining your situation, and waiting for a resolution all takes time. This is exactly what the slow player wants, more time eaten off the clock so he can maintain his prize advantage at the end of the game.

This has always been a problem in pokemon though, so there's not a whole lot that can be done. Gamesmanship through slow play or "slower play" like eating "a lot" of time through multiple shuffles, extended searches, taking too long with notes on time walk, are all things that fall under the hard to call guideline.

Its just like with basketball and charges/blocking, and football with pass interference (or I guess illegal hits now). These are some of the harder, if not hardest rule infractions for a ref to cite cause there rule book is wishy washy or there's not firm technology, evidence, time in place to make this split decision call.

When my best guidelines are "a lively game pace," its ultimately up to the head judge at the event to determine whether or not my opponent is playing too slow or not or if he's taking too long on time walk. Punishment is also different, some judges might just give a warning, some might give a prize penalty, or even a game loss! All of this I have to take into consideration when deciding to "waste my time" or not by calling the judge over against a slow player.

PS., I would love chess clocks to be instituted in pokemon and maybe only give each player a net 15 mins to complete their game (summing up to 30) but this will probably never happen so slow player's who abuse the system (the ones who are doing it right) will probably continue to do well in our system and I'm left trying to attempt to "outplay the slow player," which isn't too hard I guess cause a lot of the slow players (the ones who aren't doing it right) just end up beating themselves by not playing fast enough.

[readmyusername]

Originally Posted by PokePop

You're not going to find a place in the rules where it says "you have to have your pencil and paper ready" for the same reason you're not going to find a place in the rules where it says "you can't stand on the table".

HA HA HA! That's funny! I can just picture someone trying to play while standing on the table.

Joe: the guy trying to play while standing on the table.
Bob: the victim forced to play against Joe in a tournament now you know the two. picture this:

Bob and Joe are playing in a tournament in Texas, its a very big building filled with people playing Pokemon cards on small poker tables about 4 feet by four feet. Joe is searching through his deck(while standing up) for a Pokemon after playing a Luxury Ball. Bob is stunned by the fact that Joe plays while standing up and has to pop the question. "So uh, dude. Why do you play while standing on the table?" "Cause I FEEL LIKE IT!" Joe reply's in a shriek demon voice. Joe finally finds the Pokemon he was looking for, and just when he is about to show it to Bob he drops his deck and the cards spill all over the table. "Oops!" says Joe as he bends over to pick up the mess of cards. As Joe gathers his deck, Bob face-palms himself wondering if he should just quit right there. Suddenly Joe slips on one of his own benched Pokemon and crashes down taking the table with him. All heads instantly turn too their destroyed table. As quickly as he feel Joe stands back up and says, "I set down Azelf and use time walk." Joe then runs out of the room returning moments latter with a massive chalkboard chalk in hand and says, "Mind if I write down my prizes?"

THE END