Bridge Player 3

BRIDGE PLAYER 3

Spectrum 48K & Spectrum Plus

MANUAL

(CP Software)





Loading Instructions



1. Set up your Spectrum as normal.

2. Type LOAD "", and press the enter key.

3. Start the cassette player at a volume you have found

effective.

In case of difficulty refer to your Sinclair computer

manual.

4. The program options are explained on-screen after loading.

5. You will find a full summary of the commands explained

in this manual on the last page.





Author: Richard Wheen (c) R. Wheen 1985





BRIDGE PLAYER 3



General Description



This program allows you to play rubber bridge without

having to get in three friends for the purpose. By using

randomly dealt hands it simulates bridge as realistically as is

possible, allowing you first to bid your hand and then to play

the cards, as declarer or defender according to the result of

the bidding. The program will provide useful practice,

particularly for beginners and intermediate players, and

endless enjoyment for everyone.



Bidding is in accordance with the Acol system, with a limited

number of additional conventions (see below).



The program contains a number of other features, including:-



- a post-mortem facility, enabling you to rebid and/or

replay any hand.

- full scoring both of the result of the last hand and on a

cumulative basis.

- the ability to input a hand of your own choosing and then

bid and play it as usual (this makes the program especially

useful as a teaching aid).

- any player who has a printer can get a hard copy of the

hand.

- during the play of the cards you can, if you wish:-

review the bidding;

see the play to the earlier tricks;

peep at the opponents' hands;

restart the play of the cards; and

claim the rest of the tricks.

- you can dispense with the bidding and simply decide on

the appropriate contract and declarer (particularly useful for

those whose bidding tends to land them in the wrong contract!).

- full information during the play of the cards as to the

contract, how many tricks each side has won, the score, the

cards played to the last trick, etc.

- the ability at any time to go on to the next hand or to

review the list of options.

- the ability to SAVE the program on Microdrive.





DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS



Options

After successfully loading the program you will be asked to

choose between various options given. These are self-explanatory

and your choices will continue to apply until you enter

"O" at any later stage.



One of the options available allows you to SAVE the

program on cartridge. For further instructions on this, see

"Microdrive SAVEing facility" below.



Another of the options available relates to the distribution of

high card points. As you will see you can decide (perhaps

because you prefer to be declarer than to defend) that you

and your partner should always (option 1) or usually (option

2) have the majority of the points or you can simply let the

points be distributed at random (option 3). In fact the hands

are dealt at random anyway, but when option 1 or 2 is

selected the computer will, having dealt the hands, in

appropriate circumstances rotate them (East thereby getting

the hand North would otherwise have held, etc.) so as to

achieve the desired result.



The bidding

You are always South and your hand will be shown on the

top half of the screen, with the bidding beneath it. All legal

bids are allowed, including doubling and redoubling.



The Acol system is used, with a weak, strong or variable no-

trump as selected by you initially. (Note that your opponents

(East/West) always play the same no trump range as you are

using at the time). Opening bids at the two level are strong, 2

clubs being conventional and showing, normally, 23 or more

high card points. Opening bids at the three level are pre-

emptive and weak. A bid at the two level over partner's 1 no-

trump is considered as a weak takeout.



The program understands and accepts Stayman (over 1NT

and 2NT) and Blackwood, although it will not initiate them.

Thus if the computer bids 2 clubs over its partner's 1 no-

trump this is a weak takeout, not Stayman.



To make your bid when it is your (South's) turn to do so,

enter first the level (1, 2 etc.) then the suit, i.e. S, H, D, C

or N (for no-trumps). Thus to bid 2 no-trumps enter 2N; to bid 6

Spades enter 6S.



The remaining possible bids are entered as follows:-



Pass (no bid) - P (or simply press the "ENTER" key)

Double - D

Redouble - R



Once you have entered your bid, press the "ENTER" key.



If you wish at any stage to restart the bidding, enter "B"

when it is your turn to bid.



The play of the cards

You are always South but, in order to avoid your being

dummy and merely watching the play of the cards when your

partner has become declarer, you will be able to play both the

North and South hands whenever you (South) or your

partner (North) are declarer.



Once the bidding is complete your hand (or North's hand if

he is declarer) will be shown in a new display. The opening

lead will then be made, dummy's hand will go down and play

will proceed.



When it is your turn to play, you can play any legally

permissible card: revoking is of course not allowed. Note that

if there is only one card which you can legally play (i.e. you

hold a singleton in the suit led, or you have only one card left

in your hand) the computer will, to speed up the game, auto-

matically play this card for you.



The standard way of entering the card you want to play is to

enter first the suit to be played (S, H, D or C) and then the

card (A, K, Q, J, T (for 10), 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 or 2). Once you

have entered the card press the "ENTER" key.



To speed up the play, however, you can, if you wish, take

advantage of the following facilities:



(a) to play the lowest card held in any suit you need only

enter the suit (followed by the "ENTER" key): indeed if

you are following suit and want to play the lowest card

which you hold you need only press the "ENTER" key

and there is not need even to enter the suit;



(b) if you are following suit, you need not enter the suit

itself but can simply enter the card.



To take an example, the player on your right has led the

Queen of Hearts. You hold the K, 10, 7, 4 of Hearts. If you

want to play the 4 of Hearts you can (because it is your lowest

card of the suit led) simply press the "ENTER" key to play

this card. If on the other hand you want to play the King of

Hearts you can, if you wish, simply enter K and then press the

"ENTER" key. It is worth experimenting with these abbreviated

entering procedure since they are quicker, thereby

speeding the game up.



The time taken by the computer to play a card will vary. It

will range from perhaps 1 second when the computer is

following suit to, perhaps, 10 seconds (sometimes more)

when it is considering what to lead (especially when the

computer is declarer) or to discard.



When you are on lead during the play of the hand you can

review bidding before playing your card (by entering

"B"), see the play to the earlier tricks (by entering "E") or

peep at the other players' hands (by entering "P"). This

information will be deleted from the screen once you have

played your card.



In addition you can at any time claim the rest of the tricks by

entering "Z". The computer will accept your claim (even if

unjustified!) and will score the hand accordingly.



You can also at any time recommence the play of the cards by

entering "R".



If, while playing the hand as declarer, you hear a single

"beep", this will be to alert you that a defender has ruffed.



Scoring, review of the hand, etc.

At the end of each hand the score on that hand will be shown

in the customary format, together with the score brought

forward from previous hands during that rubber. The

scoring is the same as in normal rubber bridge and includes

penalty points, honours, slam and rubber points. A replayed

hand will not be scored, nor will a hand which has been

abandoned,



At the end of a hand you can see North's and South's (and if

you wish, East's and West's) original hands and can then

rebid and/or replay the hand or print it out, together with the

bidding, on your printer. Alternatively you can, if you prefer,

go straight on to the next hand or back to the list of options.



Other main options



A. By pressing the appropriate key when the various

options are described, you can dispense with the bidding and

go straight on to the play of the cards. In this case you will

have to nominate both the contract and the declarer. Having

selected this option the computer would in the ordinary way

play the East/West cards, but if you have elected to see all

four hands you can, if you wish, decide to play from all four

hands yourself.



B. You can input a deal of your own choosing and then bid

and play it as usual. If you decide to do this, please note that

(i) you will first be asked to enter North's Spades, then his

Hearts etc., but the cards in any suit can be entered in any

order; (ii) after entering all the cards in the suit press the

"ENTER" key; (iii) where the holding is a void, press the

"ENTER" key without first entering any cards; and (iv) for

presentational reasons no player may hold more than eight

cards in any one suit.



General

Please note that:-



(a) the computer only accepts CAPITAL LETTERS as

input; and



(b) you can, at any time when it is your turn to bid or play,

abandon the current hand (enter "N") and, if you wish,

revert to the list of options (enter "O").



Microdrive saving facility

The first option on successfully LOADING the program

includes the ability to SAVE the program on Microdrive. To

do this you should insert a blank, formatted cartridge in

Microdrive 1 and then press "M". The program will then

SAVE itself on cartridge. This process will have been

completed once the original message listing the options is on

the screen again.



Loading from Microdrive

Having successfully SAVEd the program on cartridge, the

way thereafter to LOAD the Spectrum from the cartridge is

to insert the cartridge in Microdrive 1, enter on the computer

"NEW", followed by "RUN". When the list of options

appears, the program will have successfully LOADed.



KEYS TO USE IN ENTERING YOUR BID OR CARD, ETC.



Bidding S Spades N No trumps

H Hearts P Pass (no bid)

D Diamonds D Double

C Clubs R Redouble

B To restart the Bidding



Play of the cards*

S Spades A Ace

H Hearts K King

D Diamonds Q Queen

C Clubs J Jack (Knave)

T Ten



B to review the Bidding

E to see the play to Earlier tricks

P to Peep at the other hands

R to Recommence the play of the cards

Z to claim the rest of the tricks



At any time



N Abandon current hand and proceed to Next hand

O Abandon current hand and return to list of Options.



CAPITAL LETTERS must be used for all the above.



* See also the abbreviated system of entering cards described

in the text under "The play of the cards".