The Robin Tamer Project, 1985 - 1989
MS-DOS program for round-robin game schedules.

Technologies Used:

MS-DOS
dBase III plus
QuickSilver: a dBase compiler

This was a computer program that came about because of my involvement in Campus Recreation at the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario. I had got to talking with the person who was in charge of running the intramural sports program on the University campus. He had to:

• keep track of hundreds of leagues, usually with several divisions in each
• anywhere from 4 to 12 teams in each division
• make the schedules
• and keep track of game results.

So I suggested I give it a shot.

Worked closely with him to develop and test the program. Because there were also student co-ordinators using the program, it had to be designed to work in a sensible straightforward manner.

Used dBase III plus to create the program first then used QuickSilver to compile it into a form where it was not necessary to actually own dBase itself in order to run it.

The program could:

• keep track of teams taking part in each league
• have numerous leagues set up
• each league could have one or more divisions
• have from 4 to 12 teams in each division
• create a round-robin schedules for each league/division
• keep track of team results and standings in each league
• print game schedules and team standings

Wrote the User's Manual for using the program. Besides having information about the functionality of the program, there were examples to do specific procedures:

• what changes were needed in the autoexec.bat and config.sys files
• entering a new sports league, the divisions within that league, and the teams within each division
• creating a schedule and printing it
• entering game results and printing them

They were so appreciative of the program that they eventually gave me the Outstanding Contribution, Intramural Program, 1989 - 90 award.

The program began life as The Round-Robin Game Scheduler. This was a mouthful so came up with the more catchy title of The Robin Tamer. Went through the legal process to have this declared a registered trademark. Had a logo created that consisted of a robin wearing a lion tamer's hat and wielding a whip. There was a banner for trade show use.

Once the program was developed, it was marketed it across Canada, the United States, and Australia by placing a full page advertisement in the Canadian Intramural Recreation Association Journal. Attended trade shows directed at this market. There was a demo program and information brochure that could be sent out in response to inquiries.

Did investigate using the Internet for distribution of information about the program, the demo, and the program itself. However, at the time, there was not a graphic browser available to make this an easy process. If I was doing this now, there would certainly be a Windows version of the program and the Internet would be used for marketing and distribution. As it was, the costs involved in distribution and support for the numbers involved did not make for a viable business at that time. Now? Maybe I should look into this again.