rh@mit-eddie.MIT.EDU (Randy Haskins) (12/27/86)
I just bought Bridge 4.0 for IBM's and compatibles. (Also available for the MAC with >512k, the Atari 8-bit or ST, the Apple, and Commodore.) It is written by Arthur Walsh and distributed by Artworx Software Company. It was listed at ~$25, and I got a 15% discount on it, so it came in pretty cheap. Like usual, you get what you pay for. It will do everything with one human and 3 computer players: bid and play offense or defense. After the hand, it shows you the (rubber) score, then asks you if you want to see all the hands again, asks you if you want to replay the hand (rotating if you want). Its performance is fair to middling, but nothing to write home about. On the IBM (actually, I have a Compaq, but anyway), it does display graphically or with text (like in the newspaper). The Graphics are okay (just the upper-left pips are drawn), but I'd like it better if the Hearts and Diamonds were separated. The interface isn't too great. If you enter a bogus card, say the 'FD', it will draw a card where your played card goes with an 'F' and a diamond, and then tell you to enter another card. Oh, well. The bidding also has some problems. It will bid and rebid 4-card suits wantonly. It will often bid its own suit in preference to supporting yours. Its defense is pretty tough; I suspect that it "cheats" by looking at all the hands. It almost always seems to be able to cash all its defensive winners, and doesn't play any higher than it has to to win, even before the closed hand. Its declarer play, however, is less than stunning. It doesn't seem to know how to finesse, among other things. All in all, a good way to while away the hours, but I'll probably at some point pick up a little more expensive one. I would be interested in seeing reviews of other bridge games in these groups. -- Randwulf (Randy Haskins); Path= genrad!mit-eddie!rh