======================================================================== =----------------------- Amiga Bridge v 1.06 --------------------------= =----------------------------------------------------------------------= =------------------------ (C) Erik Bergersjö --------------------------= =----------------------------------------------------------------------= =-------------------------- Documentation -----------------------------= =----------------------------------------------------------------------= =--------------------------- 01 Jan 1993 ------------------------------= ======================================================================== What is Amiga Bridge? --------------------- 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 1.06 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 35 Älvängen Sweden If possible, send bug-reports to (e-mail) d9erikb@dtek.chalmers.se or emb@doc.ic.ac.uk 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? o Evaluation - Number of deals The number of simulated distributions that should be tried. Low values will result in some rash moves, but (much) faster evaluation. Default setting: 3. Personally I use a value of 9. A 25 MHz A3000 has some benefits... - Weight, heuristics The weight for the heuristic part of the evaluation. Amiga Bridge makes a (clever?) guess about the best card to play. Default setting: 3. - Weight, search The weight for the search part of the evaluation. Each card is tried in turn, the max/min number of won tricks is calculated. Default setting: 9. 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'. Version 1.01, uploaded to ab20. 06 Jan 1992 Added support for NTSC machines. Kickstart 2.0: If the required hardware is present and a PAL monitor driver is installed, a PAL screen is opened. Note: a PAL monitor driver MUST be present, place PAL in WBStartup! Kickstart 1.3: If the required hardware is present Amiga Bridge will ask the user if a PAL or an NTSC screen should be opened. Some bugs fixed. 16 Jan 1992 Some code optimizations. Added options to load / save distributions. Version 1.02, uploaded to ab20. 20 Jan 1992 Removed the option to switch to PAL on NTSC machines running kickstart 1.3. A reset seems to be required to make it work properly on all machines. I don't like the idea of user-software making resets - use a stand-alone PAL converter instead. Also, the "normal" version should work with an MC68000 this time. The last one didn't (due to an error in my makefile; one file was optimized for MC68020 => GURU). Stupid mistake. Version 1.03, uploaded to ab20. 06 May 1992 Fixed some minor bugs. I have been working with other things lately and I don't think I'll find any time for Amiga Bridge for quite a while. That's why I choose to upload this version, even if there are only minor improvements. Perhaps if some people registered... (hint, hint :-) ). Version 1.04. 19 Dec 1992 Mostly changes in the user interface, added possibility to iconify. Some small changes in bidding and playing. Version 1.05. 01 Jan 1993 Changed compiler. Extensive optimisations in the bidding and playing code. Fixed some rather serious bugs, one of which caused the program to discard high cards instead of low... Version 1.06. Comments: --------- o In NTSC mode, only the upper half of the cards is displayed. This makes it difficult to recognise some cards. I don't intend to fix this. The risk for playing the wrong card is small and there is always the Undo function. o Extensively tested with enforcer (no results - yet). ========================================================================