Bridge

 

What can you say about Bridge? It's probably Activision's least popular game. This is only because it's a card game and your average gamer finds card games boring. Your average gamer thrives action, action, action! With this in mind, you would probably guess that Bridge would be appealing to an older crowd, perhaps the parents of your average gamer? (Remember Greg Oliver's letter in issue 3 about his Dad's love of Bridge?)

The manual does not include instructions on how to play the game of Bridge. I don't know how to play. But my curiosity is increasing and one of these days I am going to learn how to play. The manual states that Bridge "was designed for people who already know how to play the game. It won't teach you the basics-you'll want to read a good instructional book or take some classes for that. But it will give you virtually unlimited opportunities to practice what you learn and sharpen your game-at your own pace." I think that it would be neat to have my 2600 help me in learning a new card game. Perhaps I will go to my local library and look for a book on Bridge or search the internet for info on how to play Bridge.

The game of Bridge requires four players-not so with the 2600! Programmer Larry Kaplan solved this problem by having the computer act as players two, three, and four.

Kaplan stated that the game, like bridge with cards, has millions of possible hands. He calculated that the 2600 can deal over five hundred million different hands. None of the game designers at Activision saw the same hand twice, and they played the game almost every day.

Kaplan did not give any tips on how to beat the game in the manual: "...the point isn't to beat it. Its purpose is to let you have fun running through a wide variety of bidding and playing situations, with your choice of minimum partnership point counts, playing and replaying as many hands as you want without having to gather up [three] other players to practice."

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