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jtp122's Contract Bridge (Other)
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| [March 28, 2012 01:58:06 AM]
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In the previous log, I described the gameplay associated with Contract Bridge. I will now analyze the overall the appeal and innovation of this game.
The most appealing aspect of this game is the social aspect. The game is played with 3 friends, and during gameplay, people can talk about their lives, make jokes, drink, or even watch a little television. In my case, I played this game at a birthday party with friends I had not seen in months. While playing, we talked about new things going on in our lives. We also talked to other people in room. Although it may seem like the non-participating player with the board hand might get bored, that player often would talk to others, get a drink, use the restroom, or watch whatever was on the television. It actually provided a pleasant break while letting your partner do the work. This concept of a board hand is particularly unique; I am unaware of many card games that have a similar feature.
The social aspect applies to gameplay as well. As I played with other people, I gradually learned their bidding strategies and styles a play. I had a chance to read other players' moves and expressions, almost like poker.
The other appealing aspect of this game is the amount of strategy involved. Due to the numerous tactics that can be employed in bidding and attempting to take tricks, Bridge does not get old. Furthermore, several variations on this game exist, which help keep even veteran players interested.
The most frustrating component of this game is the scoring. All the players had prior knowledge of the game, and two had even taken lessons. However, we still couldn't remember all the scoring rules without looking some things up. I'm sure this is not an issue when playing the game regularly, but this is a problem for casual players. Fortunately, we had easy access to computers with internet, but this could pose more of a problem when playing away from a home. However, I would not changing the scoring rules--they do add a great deal of strategy to the game.
Due to the popularity of this game, Contract Bridge has already been implemented as a computer game. Both single player and multiplayer versions exist. Single player is somewhat difficult to implement because players like such a wide range of conventions. Unless the player is allowed to program his own conventions (which would probably be more difficult than the average user would want), there is no easy way to accommodate this. However, some of the more popular conventions could probably be added. The best computer implementation of this game is multiplayer over a network. This allows players to utilize all their favorite strategies and keeps a small component of the social aspect. However, the party-like atmosphere is not possible via a computer implementation, and in some cases, discussion may be limited to prevent teams from cheating. Connection issues and voluntary quitting also pose a more significant problem in this style of game.
I consider Contract Bridge to be a fun option when choosing a card game to play. While it is easier if you have 4 players who know how to play, it is not too difficult to teach others. I plan to continue playing this game in the future.
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| [March 27, 2012 08:28:41 PM]
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Today's GameLog is for a popular card game known as Contract Bridge. Played with a standard 52-card deck, Bridge is a four player game. I have been playing this game casually for years and chose to write about it due to the extraordinary amount of strategy involved for a card game played with a standard deck.
The game is set up by dealing each player 13 cards (exactly one quarter of the deck). Jokers are not utilized. Gameplay is divided into a bidding phase and playing the hand. Players will look at their cards before making bids. Bids consist of a number and a suit; the lowest possible bid is one, meaning that you and your partner expect to win at least 7 "tricks" combined by the end of the hand. A trick consists of each player playing a single card; the player with the highest card wins. The highest possible bid is 7, which indicates that you expect to win all 13 possible tricks. The suit of the bid indicates which suit you want to make the trump suit. The trump suit helps determine which card is the highest in a trick; a card in the trump suit will always beat a card of another suit, regardless of the number. Therefore, it is advantageous to choose a trump suit for which you own a large number of high cards.
The bidding starts with the dealer. If he has enough high cards (Ace<-King<-Queen<-etc. are high), he will usually open with a bid of 1 or 2 in his best suit. Otherwise, players may choose to "pass," which means no bid was made. The bidding moves clockwise (player to your left) until 3 players consecutively pass, accepting the last bid to dictate the hand. Each player must bid higher than the previous player; for this purpose, the suit order from low to high is considered to be clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades, no trump. Therefore, a bid of 2 Diamond can beat 2 Club and 1 Spade, but cannot beat a bid of 2 Spade. No trump can also be declared, indicating that you are equally strong in all 4 suits and do not want a trump suit. If all four players immediately pass without a bid being made, the cards are reshuffled and a new hand is dealt.
Once the bidding finishes, the player to the left of the winning bidder starts play. He may choose any card in his hand to place face-up on the table. After this card is played, the winning bidder's partner lays his entire hand face-up on the table for all players to see (partners sit across from each other). He is no longer involved in gameplay, as the winning bidder will play both his own hand and the "board" hand. The winning bidder will choose a card from the board of the same suit as the card laid down. Finally, the player to his right will play a card and then he will play a card from his own hand. The highest card wins the trick, and teams keep track of the number of tricks they have won. The objective is to play high cards in order to beat your opponent's cards. While you are required to follow suit if you have the suit played, you may choose to play a card of the trump suit if you are void; the highest card in the trump suit will always win the trick. The winner of each trick, lays down the first card for the next trick, and play continues until all cards have been played.
After all the cards have been played, the hand is scored. Scoring for bridge is complicated. Two different scores are tracked--a total rubber score and a game score. Points are achieved for the game only by getting the winning bid and then taking the number of tricks you were contracted to win. One hundred game points are required to win a game, and the rubber is finished after one of the teams wins two games. A handicap is set on teams that win a game in order to help the losing team. Points for setting a team (or preventing the opposing team from achieving their contract) are applied only to the overall rubber, as are points for getting more than the number of tricks bid and other bonuses. Very large bonuses are applied to the team that wins two games, as well as any team that bids and wins a "slam" (a bid of 6 or 7). The end of a rubber is considered the end of play (although multiple rubbers may be played in tournaments), and the team with the most total points is considered the winner.
As I have described, Contract Bridge is a fairly complicated game. Both the complexity of the scoring and bidding allow for a great deal of strategy. Partners that know each other may agree to "bidding conventions" prior to the game, which essentially consists of strange-sounding bids to communicate to each other what your hands look like (for example, after a certain amount of bidding, a bid of 3 Club might indicate that you are actually void in clubs). With enough communication in this fashion, teams can increase their chances of making very high bids and earning more points. Scoring also affects bidding in a balance of attempting to prevent the other team from winning a game but also prevent them from winning too many bonus points towards the rubber.
This complexity and strategy is what appeals most to me in bridge. The game never seems to get old as there is always more strategy to learn. The game has enough appeal to garner tournaments and countless books have been written on strategy and bidding conventions. However, the game is still fairly quick to learn, assuming one person is present who knows how to play. Players do not need to know complicated conventions in order to play, and the game is still fun. In the next log, I shall describe more about what makes this game so unique and enjoyable.
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jtp122's Contract Bridge (Other)
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Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Saturday 24 March, 2012
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This is the only GameLog for Contract Bridge. |
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