Bughouse Buttons
The buttons in bughouse allow players to make requests without typing. There are buttons such as "trades are good", "trades are bad", "sit", "go" and requests for each of the pieces. FICS has some good buttons, and some questionable ones, including the legendary "cake". But what would the ideal setup be? Here are the buttons I would add.
#1. Keep Check/Defend
Extremely important. Sometimes your partner plays a defensive move as you start trading to help him attack. Then you lose and feel sad. A keep check button would go a long way.
Conversely, players (often me) spend all their material giving check for an illusory attack, when they should be putting pieces around their King.
#2. Trades are coming/Trades aren't coming
On FICS, "U get" signifies that the necessary pieces are coming. "Hard to get" signifies "can't get".
I would also introduce different trade buttons. "Trades are nice", is a world away from "We're lost if I don't get pieces".
#3. Blocker/No Blocker
I think this one is fairly self-explanatory. This one is not even on FICS, but it surely better than "cake", "so easy", and "our opponents are cynically exploiting the lag in an unfair and objectionable way".
#4. "Help"
Sometimes players have good moves, but don't know what to play. Sometimes they play moves which are sub-optimal. A help button would let the partner know, and the partner might have useful advice.
#5. Tell Me Go/Tell You Go
Again self-explanatory.
#6. Maybe
Perhaps the greatest button of all, not just in bughouse but just generally. It's good to admit when you don't know something.
#7. We're up time/We're down time
Also helpful.
#8. The Traded Piece Comes Back
Perhaps it could simply be "it bounces".
#9. Diags good/bad
Kyonari500 suggests this one, and I think it's good. You can ask for pawn and Bishop, but does that mean one pawn and one bishop, or pawn or bishop? I think a diags command would cut through this ambiguity.
#10 Queen Coming
In high level games, one cannot waste time pondering the meaning of it all. Sometimes fast moves are better than strong ones and it's better to say "Queens are coming!" than ask "are Queens ok?" You have to strike while the iron is hot. FICS has this ptell.
Let me know if I missed any.
How should the existing ptells be used? I think the following is strong advice.
#1 It is a player's job to say what is good/bad
In general, you can assume that unless your partner tells you something is bad, it's fine. This is a way to save time. I would make an exception for Queens--and even if my partner has not told me "no Queen", I will hold it if it looks bad for them.
I might also trade Queens if it looks good for my partner, but it also depends on the time situation. Could my partner be harmed by the sudden Queens and is there enough time to get them to sit for the Queen? How many moves does it take to force the Queens? These are the relevant questions.
#2 It is good to look at your partner's board
If your partner is playing a Black side of an advance French, you might want to go light on the diags. If your partner has sacrificed a Knight of f2 (whatever the merits of this are), you probably want to get whatever trades you can without hurting yourself.
#3 Cut down on superfluous ptells
Sometimes I will refrain from telling a partner not to give a certain piece, even if it mates me. Perhaps I can see that the Queen which mates me is safely on the home square, unlikely to be traded. The time not spent here will almost certainly be useful later.
#4 Use extra time to form nuanced plans
If you are on voice, your communication with your partner might be a continuous flow. "Diags good, I'm attacking. Stuff is good. Ok I sit for pawn." etc. Without voice, this is impractical. But you can take advantage of sitting situations to get your partner up to speed on what you're planning, what you'd like to avoid, and so on.
