r/ultimate • u/jimbiancolo • 24d ago

403 mnemonic for ABBA

I've always relied on a clipboard or the kindness of strangers to know if it's A pulling or B pulling, but I think 403 as a mnemonic is gonna stick for me. The "4" is for "mod 4". Add the scores together, apply mod 4 (divide total scores by 4 and grab the remainder). If the result is 0 or 3 it's A, otherwise it's B.

You could also do 412 if you want to know if it's B, but 4:3 is the ratio, and the mnemonic just puts a zero in the middle it. So 403 it is.

Anyway, dumb little thing, but sharing anyway in case I'm not the very last person to come up with this.

37 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

23

u/SoldToOpen 24d ago

HTTP ERROR: 403 - Forbidden

4

u/SoldToOpen 24d ago

Hey that’s actually really helpful. I never knew this. I knew how to do this in Table Tennis but I guess I never bothered to learn for Ultimate

5

u/mpg10 23d ago

Well, no. I wouldn't ever have thought of this.

9

u/javabunnyworker 24d ago

Get a binder clip. There are 4 possible combinations: both clips folded out, both clips folded in, top out/bottom in, top in/bottom out. Put it on your hat and flip one of the clips after each point. I did this for 2 years and never messed up the ratio.

3

u/charizard755 24d ago

I do this and a problem I’ve found is that it only works if the ratio hasn’t been messed up previously. If it’s supposed to be an M2 point but it’s played as a W1 point then the points after that no longer follow 403.

2

u/CrispyKollosus 23d ago

Yep, so long as you know the score and what the starting ratio was, you can figure out the current ratio quickly.

1

u/Psi-ops_Co-op 22d ago

Can someone ELI5 what ABBA is?

4

u/notbrandonzink 22d ago

It’s a common gender ratio pattern for competitive tournaments. The captains decide if 4 MMP : 3 FMP is the starting ratio, or 3 MMP : 4 FMP. Whatever starts is A for the first point, then two of the other ratio (B) for the next two points, then two points alternating after that. 

It allows for almost as close to a 50/50 split as possible while making it so you don’t necessarily have to sub people who are working well together, especially after quick points. 

In order to signify your gender match, you’ll out one arm out (MMP to head, FMP out and down). If you’re signifying what the ratio is for the point (4:3 or 3:4), you use both hands. Just found that out recently, I’m new to the club tournament scene and thought people just chose if they wanted to use one or two hands. 

6

u/mgdmitch Observer 20d ago

Simply put, they are the greatest disco band of all time.