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PC-SIG World of Games (CDRM1080710) (1993).iso
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BRIDGE.TXT
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1986-10-18
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COMPUTER CONTRACT BRIDGE I
(Novice Version)
SOME HISTORY OF THE GAME
Bridge is a relatively old card game with roots dating
back to the seventeenth century. It was originally called
Whist, but was preceeded by games with names like Triumph,
Trump, Ruff and Honors, Whisk and Swabbers, and Whisk.
Bridge, or Bridge Whist, was first played at the Portland
Club in London in 1894, introduced by Lord Brougham. It was
played for about ten years when it was replaced by a newer
version known as Auction Bridge.
Contract Bridge was a spin-off of the French game known
as Planfond. A group of American players who frequented the
Travelers' Club in Paris combined Whist and Planfond and
came up with the basics of the game played today. American
Yachtsman and card enthusiast Harold S. Vanderbilt, in the
mid-nineteen-twenties brought out his own set of rules for
play which were subsequently endorsed as the official rules
for Bridge wherever it was played.
Ely Culbertson, a world-class Bridge player of the
thirties, wrote books on the subject and was a participant in
one of the longest-running Bridge games in history consisting of
one-hundred-fifty rubbers. The game concluded in 1932.
Eventually Bridge became so popular that teams of players
traveled the world to play. The greatest Bridge competition was
the World Bridge Olympic, involving thousands of contestants.
Ely Culbertson's rules on bidding held up for decades
but one man, Charles H. Goren, developed a bidding system
which incorporated more sophisticated theories. Goren since
has become the ruling authority on Bridge and his system
has become a standard by which the world plays. Modifications
to the Goren system have become accepted by Bridge players
and include the Blackwood and Gerber Conventions, usually
agreed upon as a means of special bidding signals between
partners. All of the rules of Bridge are quite difficult
to come by in one publication, but books on the subject abound.
A good bookstore may have as many as fifty different titles
on Bridge and more become available on a regular basis. Of all
of the forms of cards, Bridge ranks tops as a continuing
challenge to its players because most must agree, before
starting play, which rules and conventions they will invoke
during bidding.
page 2
BRIDGE RULES
THE BASICS OF COMPUTER PLAY
This version of Computer Contract Bridge is played by
two teams - the WE team and the THEY team. The WE team consists
of the North and the South. North is played by the computer,
South by the player. The THEY team consists of the East and the
West, both played by the computer. The computer assumes control
of each position in turn. It does not remember from one position
to another what it played last, but calculates much as a human
does in playing its hand. It even makes mistakes as humans do.
If the North wins the bidding, the player will be required
to sit out since his hand will be played by the computer as the
DUMMY hand - thus the computer will be playing all four of the
positions. Conversely, if the South wins the bidding, the player
will play the North's DUMMY hand.
BIDDING
The excitement of Bridge is not so much the playing
of the tricks, but rather the BIDDING to start play. It is
expected that just about any team can take six of thirteen
tricks whether a trump suit is used or not, so in Bridge
play the first six tricks don't count for anything. In bidding,
the first six tricks are also ingnored.
A bid of ONE HEART means that the bidder expects that he
and his partner will be able to take at least the minimum six
tricks PLUS one extra trick for a total of seven tricks. By
bidding ONE HEART, the bidder is making Hearts the trump suit. A
trump card may be thrown any time a player cannot follow suit in
trick play. The highest trump card played always wins the trick,
no matter what suit leads the trick. Of course, a player must
always follow suit if possible.
A bid of THREE NO TRUMP means that the bidder expects
that his team will be able to take a total of nine tricks
(six plus three) and that no suit will be used as trump.
A SMALL SLAM bid would be SIX of anything and a GRAND
SLAM bid would be SEVEN of anything. A grand slam is when
one team takes all thirteen tricks (six plus seven).
page 3
The SUIT bid is important because certain suits are
worth more points than others. Every trick taken by a team
(after the first six) when Spades or Hearts are trump, is worth
thirty points. When Diamonds or Clubs are called as trump,
tricks over six are only worth twenty points. If No Trump is
called, the seventh trick won by a team is worth fourty points
and subsequent tricks are worth thirty points. In any instance,
the first six tricks won by a team count for nothing.
When partners are bidding they cannot look at each other's
cards, but each can give the other a good idea of his hand's
contents by the way he bids. And THIS is what makes Bridge
such an exciting game! Each player is trying to figure out
what every other player has in his hand by the way the bidding
goes. In the Computer Novice Version of Bridge, the first
bid by North, East or West is always the best suit with lowest
trick count expectation. The second bid is always the next
best suit and best trick count expectation. If your partner (the
North) bids TWO SPADES, you know that his best suit is Spades
and that he feels that between the two of you the team can
expect to take at least eight tricks. If he bids again, he'll be
telling you his second best suit - if he hasn't been forced out
of the bidding by someone else's bid too large to answer safely.
And THAT is where the fun comes in! If you open the bidding with
two Hearts and your partner bids three Diamonds, will it
be safe for you to bid three Spades (your second best suit)
hoping the other guys will be trapped into bidding too high...
or should you pass and see what your partner can do with the
bidding? Is somebody bluffing? Is everybody REALLY bidding their
hands or are there other signals being passed back and forth
that you are missing? Is the other team trying to push you into
bidding past your ability to take tricks? How far can you go
without ending up on the short end of the stick?
EVALUATING YOUR HAND FOR BIDDING PURPOSES
The deck contains a total of 40 high-card points and
the average hand will contain ten points. Use the following
table to determine your hand's point-count:
Each Ace.............4 Points
Each King............3 Points
Each Queen...........2 Points
Each Jack............1 Point
page 4
If you have only two cards in a suit (a doubleton) add
1 point. One card in a suit (a singleton) is worth an additional
2 points. No cards in a suit (a void) is worth an additional 3
points. However, take one point away from your total for each
singleton Jack, Queen or King.
If your total is 14 points or better, you may not pass
on the first round of bidding; you must open. If you have 13
points, you may elect to bid or pass on the first round. If you
have a 12 point hand, you may open but you must be able to bid
again in the second round and you must be able to take two quick
tricks with cards in your hand.
To determine the number of quick tricks in your hand
use the following table:
Ace-King in a suit.........2 tricks
Ace-Queen..............1 1/2 tricks
Ace only...................1 trick
King-Queen.................1 trick
King only................1/2 trick
To determine which suit to bid first remember that Spades
rank the highest, then Hearts, Diamonds and Clubs. Open with
the suit with the greatest length. If two suits are of equal
length, bid the highest ranking suit.
As a general policy, it is wise to consider a suit biddable
if it consists of at least four cards, two of which are face
cards. Re-biddable suits consist of at least five cards, with
two adjacent face cards. Strong rebiddable suits consist of at
least six cards, with three being face cards.
If your partner opens rather than passes on the first round
you can bid if you have at least six points in your hand. Use
the following table to determine how strongly you can bid:
6 to 10 points......minimum hand good for one round
10 to 13 points......good hand worth two rounds of bids
14 to 16 points......great hand to bid 2 in a new suit
16 to 19 points......power hand to bid 3 No Trump or better
19 points and up.....SLAM hand jump bid to 5 in new suit
Remember that each bid must be better than the last.
The order of strength is Clubs, then Diamonds, then Hearts,
Spades and No Trump. The weakest is Clubs, the strongest is
No Trump. Two No Trump can only be bettered by three something,
but two Clubs can be bettered by two Hearts. If you fail to
better the bid the computer will let you know.
page 5
DOUBLING and REDOUBLING are means of penalizing your
opponents for what you feel may be over-bidding. These may
also be a means of getting extra points if you are feeling
confident in your own bidding. You may not call a double in the
bidding until someone else has opened. And you may not redouble
until the bidding has been doubled. Doubling means that trick
points will be doubled - redoubling means that trick points will
be quadrupled. In addition, if a team fails to make their bid,
each trick less than their bid (undertrick) is worth at least a
50 point penalty - and the total penalty could go as high as
3400 points if redoubled!
THE COMPUTER'S BIDDING CONVENTIONS
The computer always evaluates its hands. On its first
bid if a slam is possible the computer will open with THREE
CLUBS. If its hand contains between five and seven of a suit it
will open with TWO of that suit. After these conventions
are exhausted the computer will bid based on length of a
suit and the total bidding points in its hand, bidding its best
suit first. Before bidding, however, the computer will test for
NO TRUMP. A balanced hand with a suit distribution of 5, 3, 3,
and 2 or of 4, 4, 3, and 2 spread will result in a No Trump
bid. Distribution of 4,3,3 and 3 will result in a THREE NO
TRUMP opening bid.
Once three players in a row PASS, the bidding is ended and
play can begin with the last player who bid playing the first
(or lead) card. There is no further opportunity to call trump -
it is the last suit bid.
VULNERABLE VS. NOT VULNERABLE
Bridge moves in steps and may continue for as long as
everyone wants to keep playing. A GAME is made when one team
scores a total 100 trick points or more in as many HANDS as it
takes to do so. A RUBBER is made when a team makes two GAMES.
Each time a GAME is made, the trick point-count is re-set
to zero; but the grandtotal of points is increased with the
end of each hand. A team is considered VULNERABLE when it
can make a RUBBER by winning the next GAME - a team with
one game to its credit is VULNERABLE. A team with no game
to its credit is NOT VULNERABLE. This is important in the
scoring of points and penalties. A vulnerable team may be
subject to as many as 2800 bonus points or as much as 3400
penalty points.
page 6
HONORS POINTS
Among the bonus points a team may claim are the Honors.
In this version of Bridge Honors are always asked for after
bidding is finished. Each player in turn has the opportunity
to claim Honors points. Honors points do not go towards game
points. They are added to the grandtotal of points instead. If
you fail to claim Honors due your team, the computer will
tell you about it but you will not get a second chance to
claim them. If you make a mistake in the total Honors you
claim, however, you will be prompted to try again. Although
the computer will display a table of points for Honors, you
may use the following to calculate Honors points:
HONORS POINTS
Any four in Trump Suit........100 points
AKQJ AKQ10 AKJ10 KQJ10
All five in Trump Suit........150 points
AKQJ10
All four Aces in No Trump.....150 points
CALCULATIONS OF POINTS AND SCORES
In this version of Bridge the computer automatically
takes care of the calculations of points and keeps score.
Game points are reset whenever a Game is made. Bonuses, Honors
and Penalties are reset after each hand. Total score is updated
after each hand. For reasons relating to clarity and available
screen space, under- and over-the-line scoring is condensed.
(In regular Bridge two sets of figures are kept: one set for
tracking Game points and a second for total points, kept over
and under a line drawn on the score pad.) Part score, another
option used in regular bridge, is also omitted for similar
reasons as above.
The following tables are used to calculate points:
SUIT VALUES PER TRICK Undoubled Doubled Redoubled
Clubs or Diamonds 20 40 80
Hearts or Spades 30 60 120
1st No Trump Trick 40 80 160
Subsequent No Trump Tricks 30 60 120
POINTS NEEDED FOR GAME 100
page 7
HONORS (Scored by side holding them)
Suit Bid - Four in one hand 100
Suit Bid - Five in one hand 150
Four No Trump Aces in one hand 150
RUBBER BONUS - First side winning two Games wins a Rubber
Two Game Rubber 700
Three Game Rubber 500
SLAM BONUS for Slams bid and won Not Vulnerable Vulnerable
Small Slam - Bid of SIX 500 750
Grand Slam - Bid of SEVEN 1000 1500
PREMIUM BONUS - Making Doubled or Redoubled Contract 50
OVERTRICKS - Each trick over Bid Not Vulnerable Vulnerable
Not Doubled -0- -0-
Doubled 100 200
Redoubled 200 400
UNDERTRICK PENALTIES - Points awarded to opponents when side
fails to make number of tricks bid.
NOT VULNERABLE Undoubled Doubled Redoubled
One under 50 100 200
Two under 100 300 600
Three under 150 500 1000
Four under 200 700 1400
Five under 250 900 1800
Six under 300 1100 2200
VULNERABLE Undoubled Doubled Redoubled
One under 100 200 400
Two under 200 500 1000
Three under 300 800 1600
Four under 400 1100 2200
Five under 500 1400 2800
Six under 600 1700 3400
COMMUNICATING WITH THE COMPUTER
All communications with the computer are done through
the keyboard. Generally, a prompt will appear on the screen
to tell you what to do next. If you pay attention to the
prompts appearing on the screen and follow their lead, you
will have no trouble playing the game. If you make a serious
mistake, a message will appear - telling what it was. If you
enter a wrong character, the computer will either beep or
ignore your entry.
page 8
If, when entering a card code, you get the first char-
acter wrong, don't try to erase it...enter a second wrong
character...your error will be detected and the computer will
show a message and allow you to retry your entry. Most of the
time you will only need to press one or two characters to
communicate; but when entering Honors you must press the
carriage return key to complete your entry. When bidding, press
the number representing your bid followed by the character
representing the suit. (1H equals One Heart, 4N equals Four No
Trump, P equals Pass, D equals Double, and R equals Redouble.)
When playing trick cards, wait for the computer to beep; then
press the two keys representing the card you wish to play. (2C
equals the Two of Clubs, JH equals equals the Jack of Hearts, 1S
equals the Ten of Spades, AD equals the Ace of Diamonds and so
forth. NOTE: the number TEN is represented by pressing the 1
only - a zero will be ignored.)
When play is ended and the scores displayed, you will
be given the option to continue playing or to quit. Press
P to continue play or press Q to quit. Any time it is your
turn to communicate with the computer you may press ESC to
terminate the game sequence...you will be given the choice
at that point to play a new game or to quit.
Remember that this is the NOVICE version of Bridge...
while this is an Expert System, the computer is programmed to
make errors just as you. (Only it is not given the chance
to correct them!)
You may print this text on your computer's printer from
SYSTEM level by the command COPY BRIDGE.TXT LPT1: You start
the game by the command BRIDGE and the command HELP puts
this text on your monitor.
Do NOT use this disc to play the game! Format a new
disc with the Operating System on it and COPY the contents
of this disc to your new one. Keep this disc for use as a
MASTER. Put it in a safe place just in case the copy goes
bad from overuse.
Small Business Software, Inc. is always interested in
ways to improve our products. Your comments and suggestions
are welcome. Send them to Small Business Software, Product
Development, 5253 East Lee Street, Tucson, Arizona 85712.
Send them to Small Business Software, Product
Development, 5253 East Lee Street, Tucson, Arizona 85712
