REVIEW: Bridge Baron
Sean Bentley
Over the last couple of months. I have been trying to determine which computer game The Bridge Shop should stock. It may be strange that we would stock only one program.. However, once we have made a decision about our favoured program, it would be hard to recommend another program. To help rate the pssible choices. I have read many reviews and played countless games of computer bridge. Whilst playing, I have tested the limitations of the various games. My criteria for ranking the programs was base on:
There are only a few programs which rate highly, but in my opinion, the one which came in ahead of all the rest was Bridge Baron. It scores on my personal assessment follow (out of 10)
Bidding
8 - 8.5. The reason for this high score is because of an excellent feature available during the bidding. If you want to find out what the correct bid is according to the computer, there is a flowchart of Yes/No questions the computer asks itself to determine its own bidding. Also available is an interpretation of the auction to date, stating what everyone has shown during the auction thus far.
Play
6. None of the games really rated higher than this. It is still possible to bamboozle a computer, but it is getting harder! Again, there are some good features in this department; the ability to set how long the computer is allowed to think, and whether it is allowed to cheat, (i.e. look at your cards). Another excellent feature; the computer actually signals and pays attention to signals from! (Not many of the games actually signal at all, or they don't pay attention to yours)
Note: Concerning skill, Bridge Baron is the only two-time winner of the Computer Bridge World Championships and has a standing $2500 challenge to any other program. No other program has risked the money yet.
Ease of use
9. Bridge Baron is very easy to use. The help is adequate, features available during the bidding are excellent, and the ability to take back cards or bids means mistakes are less costly. For most people, who will be using the Windows version, it is a true Windows program with all the features one would expect.
Bidding systems/conventions
4. Not a good score. Bridge Baron huses a Standard American bidding style, based on a strong notrump, five-card majors and strong twos. It can play Two-Over-One Game Force. Standard conventions are Stayman, Blackwood, Berber and Cuebids. Optional conventions are: Weak Twos, Weak Jump Overcalls, Forcing INT, Negative Doubles, Jacoby Transfers, Unusual notrump and an adjustable INT range; any three-point range with the lower value ranging from 10 up to 16 (e.g., 12-14). I wanted to mark this section higher because the bidding actually seems to be a lot tighter than other programs, due to the limited number of conventions. After speaking to the developer in early May, it appears hopeful that Acol will be available as a system by late September or early October.
Different Version/system requirements
9.99 (I don't give 10s!) Available for the PC (Windows or DOS) or the Macintosh (albeit with a little less functionality).
Minimum requirements:
DOS - IBM PC or 100% compatible, 640K RAM, DOS 3.1 or higher, hard disk, colour display recommended, mouse an d printer optional.
Windows - Microsoft Windows 3.1 or higher (Windows 95 compatible), 286 or beter, EGA, VGA, 1 MB RAM, hard drive, mouse recommended.
Macintosh - System 6.0.5 or higher (System 7 compatible), 1 MB RAM, hard disk recommended.
Extra features
9. There are many features to list here:
Bidding flowcharts
Review bidding and play, replay any deal, save deals to disk
Cumulative statistics - measure your improvement as declarer or defender.
Two-person play - co-operate as partners or compete as opponents, using the same computer or different computers.
Bridge Match featurer allows you to play duplicate matches of one to sixteen deals against the computer and/or one or more other persons; scoring results in total points, Board-a-Match or IMPs
Play deals from actual ACBL tournament events and see how many matchpoint you would have scored on a board-by-board basis.
Deal Generator let you ask for partscore, game or slam hands, or you may call for deals suitable for practising certain conventions.
Personal Play Library; lets you build you own collection of deals to review or analyse, replay and hone your skills.
Sheinwold Bridge Challenge, 24 challenging deals to test your declarer play.
Weekly duplicate tournaments now in progress! Enter and compete for valuable prizes against players of the same level. There is also a monthly competition. (Worldwide).
Whether the computer cheats or not
9.99 I hate it when the computer cheats. Bridge Baron has a great feature in this department. As well as being able to set how long the computer is allowed to think, you can choose whether the computer is allsowed to cheat (described in the program as Double Dummy Defense). I did just say that I hate the computer cheating, but I do turn the feature on when I'm playing to make the defense tougher. At least it's acknowledging the fact.
Overall, this is a good all-round program. As it is an on-goiong project, it can only get better. By purchasing and supporting programs such as these, contunued development will happen. It will not happen if people give copies to friends; there is no copy-protection because it is such a nuisance to genuine purchasers.
Now that my moralistic side has purged itself, we have a special this month to Australian Bridge subscribers; normally $99.50 plus postage, until June 30 we are offering Bridge Baron for $79.50 plus $3.00 postage. Hope you enjoy it!
Next issue I'll host a guided tour of some of the better World Wide bridge pages on the Internet.