Managing Your Poker Night Invites and Responses (5 Viewers)

Off the top of my head:

You can now select an option to let your players self identify - so you don’t have to send them all personal links.

You can now select an option to hide everyone’s responses so that you can decide who is in or out.

I’ve moved a lot of the calculations out of the code and into cell formulas in order to make things a little faster and more reliable.
 
BTW: please feel free to bang away at the links in the OP. It will help me stress test this thing.
 
Oh, and there is now an option to track and display the order of responses. This comes in especially handy with the waitlist feature which can also be turned on or off.
 
Hello again.
I just updated the demo copy of my Invite Tracker to version 3.0. This version includes the ability to send e-mails (and texts) right from the app.

Due to the way Google handles security, I'm not sure how well it will port over to your copy. If you end up testing it and have issues let me know and I'll work with you to resolve and document the steps along the way.
 
Hello again.
I just updated the demo copy of my Invite Tracker to version 3.0. This version includes the ability to send e-mails (and texts) right from the app.

Due to the way Google handles security, I'm not sure how well it will port over to your copy. If you end up testing it and have issues let me know and I'll work with you to resolve and document the steps along the way.
GAME CHANGER. Can’t wait to try it.
 
Don’t get your hopes up too much for the texting portion. It relies on you using the providers SMS email address for that. (xxx@txt.att.net, xxx@vtext.com etc.)
So I actually already had set this up myself (I use a google form to collect people’s number and cell carrier) but it required bouncing back and forth between two sheets. Will be nice to have it integrated.
 
So I actually already had set this up myself (I use a google form to collect people’s number and cell carrier) but it required bouncing back and forth between two sheets. Will be nice to have it integrated.
I’d love to see what you did there if it’s something you can share. I don’t have a whole lot of experience in google forms and would love to see how it’s done.
 
I’d love to see what you did there if it’s something you can share. I don’t have a whole lot of experience in google forms and would love to see how it’s done.
So in a nutshell:

-Used a google form to collect people’s names, phone numbers, and cell carrier. Will send this in the future to any new player who wants to join.
-Set up a spreadsheet for google mail merge following this guide: https://developers.google.com/workspace/solutions/mail-merge
-In the mail merge spreadsheet I had columns for name, RSVP link, and email. The email was filled with the cellular gateway email for each player.
-I composed an “RSVP” and a “reminder” gmail draft. With mail merge it will populate the draft with player names and their personal link from the spreadsheet. Now whenever I want to send out an RSVP text or a reminder text the day before, I just go to the mail merge sheet and hit “send email” and it goes.

Now that it is setup, the clunkiest part is transferring new player information from the google form to the mail merge spreadsheet.
 
So in a nutshell:

-Used a google form to collect people’s names, phone numbers, and cell carrier. Will send this in the future to any new player who wants to join.
-Set up a spreadsheet for google mail merge following this guide: https://developers.google.com/workspace/solutions/mail-merge
-In the mail merge spreadsheet I had columns for name, RSVP link, and email. The email was filled with the cellular gateway email for each player.
-I composed an “RSVP” and a “reminder” gmail draft. With mail merge it will populate the draft with player names and their personal link from the spreadsheet. Now whenever I want to send out an RSVP text or a reminder text the day before, I just go to the mail merge sheet and hit “send email” and it goes.

Now that it is setup, the clunkiest part is transferring new player information from the google form to the mail merge spreadsheet.
Interesting. Thanks for sharing.
 
I just thought of a couple of features I might add:

1. Notify the host (via email or text) anytime someone changes their status.

2. Keep sending reminder emails/texts every x hours to anyone who has not responded.

Thoughts?
 
For any of you who tried to use v3.0. I found and fixed a couple of issue last night. It turns out some stuff gets lost when you make a copy of the sheet.

I’ve updated the install instructions in the ReadMe tab. You’ll need to make a new copy and follow the instructions.

Thank you @JRald07 for finding this.
 
For any of you who tried to use v3.0. I found and fixed a couple of issue last night. It turns out some stuff gets lost when you make a copy of the sheet.

I’ve updated the install instructions in the ReadMe tab. You’ll need to make a new copy and follow the instructions.

Thank you @JRald07 for finding this.
Thank you for the help!
 
What a great idea! I just started hosting this year, and am 2 tournaments in to a 12 game season. I need this! Can you please send to me as well?
 
I just thought of a couple of features I might add:

1. Notify the host (via email or text) anytime someone changes their status.

2. Keep sending reminder emails/texts every x hours to anyone who has not responded.

Thoughts?
I made some progress on #2 (though it’s not quite ready for release yet). I used it for the first time yesterday and it’s the first time I achieved a 100% response rate. I still need work out a small kink or two and some dreaded documentation, but it worked out pretty well. I love the fact that I can set it and forget it. It does all the work and I can check on it at the end of the day to see what it harvested.
 
Curious if anyone else started using this? Any feedback on improvements if you did?
 
Excellent use of the technology available. It is one reason I still have a Facebook account - sending invites. 90% of our players are on Facebook and it allows them to discuss food or other trivia, which may help turn a "maybe" into a "yes".
Been much easier from my perspective as Host, since we moved to Facebook Page, and just add Members. Now only use Text Message for a couple who aren't on FB, or to firm up closer to date.
 
I’m using V1.0 and it worked great! I need to switch over to the newest version when I get a chance.
 
Wow, sounds like an awesome game changer for me. I am very interested to get your latest version of the invite Tracker.

I have one question:

Do you invite everyone at the same time?

(I host a 9 player game)
My first invites go out to the regular players. All the invites after the 'first phase invites' are under the principle of selecting players under the points:

— how many stacks they are willing to invest most of the time
— player type


I really don't want someone to feel bad, because they are not invited as often as others. My thought is that an automated system will feed that kind of thoughts somehow, if I don't invite everyone at the same time.
 
Wow, sounds like an awesome game changer for me. I am very interested to get your latest version of the invite Tracker.

I have one question:

Do you invite everyone at the same time?

(I host a 9 player game)
My first invites go out to the regular players. All the invites after the 'first phase invites' are under the principle of selecting players under the points:

— how many stacks they are willing to invest most of the time
— player type


I really don't want someone to feel bad, because they are not invited as often as others. My thought is that an automated system will feed that kind of thoughts somehow, if I don't invite everyone at the same time.
I could do something like that in a future release. Each player could be assigned to a list category. (I.e. A list, B list, C list etc). Then the email form could have a selector to send to all, some or one of the lists. You’d be on your own to determine who goes on what list.

I wanna be careful not to over complicate this thing though. I’ve already gone pretty far down the rabbit hole.

I’ll consider it in the future. For now I want to concentrate on finding and fixing any issues.
 
I could do something like that in a future release. Each player could be assigned to a list category. (I.e. A list, B list, C list etc). Then the email form could have a selector to send to all, some or one of the lists. You’d be on your own to determine who goes on what list.

I wanna be careful not to over complicate this thing though. I’ve already gone pretty far down the rabbit hole.

I’ll consider it in the future. For now I want to concentrate on finding and fixing any issues.
For now, you could create a new Status that is not displayed in the user facing UI. You could call it B-List and assign those players to it. Then from the message form you can choose to include or omit that group from the message.
 
Hi Everyone,
I just shared version 3.1 with everyone who requested access.

This version has some UI and bug fixes as well as a couple new features.

1. You can set it up to notify you via text or email anytime someone changes their status.
2. You can set it up to start sending hourly reminders to anyone who has not responded to the original invite.

I just did a live run with it and worked out all the kinks. I'll admit that my documentation sucks but it should be enough to get you started and Im available to answer any questions.
 
To be honest… I don't fully understand/ don't get used to the tracker.
Is it possible to send SMS from the "msg-...." to the players with an MMS Gateway? And are the players automatically in those "msg-... Email masks" based on their responses? Sorry, I tried a lot, but finally it didn't work out.

Hope someone understands my problem and see's the solution :D

I would love to get the tracker running, but it has to be super easy for the players to be accepted.
 
Sorry to hear that.

Yes, you can use the MMS gateway address. I’ve included a tab with the MMS gateways of all the common carriers.

Users will not see each other’s addresses whe you send as individuals.

It is definitely super easy for the players. They just click on the link tap a button and pick their status.

I’ll admit that it’s a bit more complicated on the host side - and has become a little more complicated when I added the new features.

Happy to go over it with you over zoom some night. Just PM me.
 

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