======================================================================== =----------------------- Amiga Bridge v 1.01 --------------------------= =----------------------------------------------------------------------= =------------------------ (C) Erik Bergersjö --------------------------= =----------------------------------------------------------------------= =-------------------------- Documentation -----------------------------= =----------------------------------------------------------------------= =--------------------------- 03 Jan 1992 ------------------------------= ======================================================================== What is Amiga Bridge v 1.01? --------------------------- As you might have guessed, Amiga Bridge is an Amiga program that plays the game bridge. It supports a subset of the bidding system described by Eric Jannersten in his books "Bridge från grunden" and "Systemet i ett nötskal" (I don't know their english titles, if any). As far as I know, this is the first non-commercial bridge program available for the Amiga. In my opinion it compares well with the commercial ones :-) , especially when the user interface is concerned. I admit the documentation might be a bit sparse, but who reads lengthy documentation files anyway? Included files -------------- Bridge.doc This very file. Bridge.doc.info Icon to this file. Normal_Version Directory for normal (MC68000) version. - Bridge The executable file. - Bridge.info A beautiful icon (guess who made it?). - Bridge.prefs Default settings (not required, save your own). Normal_Version.info Icon for directory. Turbo_Version Directory for turbo (MC68020) version. - Bridge The executable file, turbo version. - Bridge.info Nice icon for executable. - Bridge.prefs Default settings (not required, save your own). Turbo_Version.info Icon for directory. The files below are © Nico François: ------------------------------------ Install Installation script, reqtools.library. Install.info Icon for installation script. Install.script Installation script, continued. kick20 Directory for reqtools, kick 2.0 version. - reqtools.library The library file. kick13 Directory for reqtools, kick 1.3 version. - reqtools.library The library file. Distribution ------------ Amiga Bridge v 1.0 is shareware, NOT public domain. ~~~~~~~~~ It may be freely distributed (as long as all files except Bridge.prefs are included as is) for non-commercial purposes. However, if you decide to keep it you really should make a contribution. Write to: Erik Bergersjö Fornminnesv. 20 446 00 Älvängen Sweden If possible, send bug-reports to (e-mail) d9erikb@dtek.chalmers.se. Acknowledgements ---------------- I'd like to thank some people for making life easier to live: o Martin Ewaldz Pascal source to PC bridge (the basics for the bidding system). o Nico François This version of Amiga Bridge uses reqtools.library (© Nico François) for almost all requesters. How hands are valued -------------------- o Honor points (hp). ACE => 4 hp, KING => 3 hp, QUEEN => 2 hp, KNIGHT => 1 hp. There are a lot of special cases where other values should be used. However, for simplicity the special cases are ignored. o Distribution points (dp). The calculation of distribution points (as described in the books I've read) is complicated. It gives a different number of points depending on the progress of the bidding. I have chosen a simple approximation: All suits with less than 3 cards => (3 - number of cards) dp. o Points (also refered to as "normal points"). This is the sum of the honor points and the distribution points. o Trick points (tp). The number of trick points for a hand depends on the selected trump. It represents how many tricks we should be able to secure with the specified trump (8 tp <=> 8 probable tricks). A table is used to find the offensive value of the honors. Suits with more than 3 cards give 0.5 (1 for trump) tp for each additional card. Only the integer part is used. o---------------------o-----------------------o | 3 E-K-Q | 1 1/4 E-Kn-x | "x" represents any | | K-Q-x | card less than 10. | 2 1/2 E-K-Kn | | | E-Q-Kn | 1 E | | | K-Q | | 2 1/4 E-K-10 | K-Kn-x | | | Q-Kn-10 | | 2 E-K | | | E-Q-10 | 3/4 K-Kn | | K-Q-Kn | K-10-9 | | | | | 1 3/4 E-Kn-10 | 1/2 K-x | | | Q-Kn-x | | 1 1/2 E-Q | Q-10-9 | | K-Q-10 | | | K-Kn-10 | 1/4 Q-x | | | Kn-10-x | o---------------------o-----------------------o The bidding system ------------------ The bidding system is probably the most complex part of Amiga Bridge. I'm not going to describe it here. There are two menu items in the "Game" menu ("Opening bids" and "Response bids") that will help you with details about the implemented opening & response bids possible. However, there are other bid classes. o Blackwood (4 NT, 4 NT - ? - 5 NT). The first blackwood question asks partner for number of aces, the second for number of kings. The second question gives the additional information that all the aces are accounted for. Amiga Bridge doesn't treat trump king (queen) as an ace (king). The responses are: 4 NT: 5 C <=> 0 or 4 aces, 5 D <=> 1 ace, 5 H <=> 2 aces, 5 S <=> 3 aces. 5 NT: 6 C <=> 0 or 4 kings, 6 D <=> 1 king, 6 H <=> 2 kings, 6 S <=> 3 kings. o Normal bids. A bid that doesn't fit any convention is normal. o Illegal bids. All unsupported bids are illegal. They don't give any information whatsoever. The computer never makes illegal bids. To find the correct bid (and to learn the system), experiment! Make a bid, then select "Display info" from the "Game" menu. If you made the wrong bid you can always select "Restart" (or "Restart game" from the "Game" menu) and try again. You can also select "Auto bidding" from the "Preferences" menu and bidding will be handled automatically. Preferences ----------- o Computer cheating When selected, the computer will cheat & look at your cards. This results in faster (and sometimes better) moves. Normally the computer calculates simulated distributions, based on the information obtained from bidding. o Auto bidding The computer handles the bidding automagically. o Award honor bonus In the good old days, bonus points were awarded for having all the honors (or all honors in trump). o Delay obvious moves When an opponent (or your partner, when your opponents have claimed a contract) has but one card in a suit, the computer doesn't have to think, the move is obvious. When this item is selected the computer will pretend to think, keeping the actual distribution a secret. o Alternate colors How do you want your cards to be sorted? The hands are not redrawn at once. o Change colors Now why would you want to do that? History ------- 09 Dec 1991 First released version (1.0 ß) uploaded to ab20. 27 Dec 1991 Changed from req.library to reqtools.library. Added some opening conventions (highest of sequence, rule 11, ...). Some bugs in bidding system fixed. 03 Jan 1992 Added code to handle NTSC machines. Unless a PAL screen can be opened (with kickstart 1.x I don't know how to do that on an NTSC machine) the program will abort. Added options 'Delay obvious moves' and 'Alternate colors'. ========================================================================