Bridge Player 2

Your Spectrum

Dave Nicholls 4/5 MISS

Roger Willis 1/5 MISS

Ross Holman 3/5 MISS

JOYSTICK JURY From their bench on high, our regular panel of jurors - Ross Holman, Dave Nicholls and Roger Willis - pass judgement on the latest games software! You're probably getting used to our joystick jockeys by now but, for the record, there's gamester supremo Ross Holman; the hairiest of hackers, Dave Nicholls; and the fastest reviewer on two wheels, Roger Willis. WARNING! Just in case you find our scoring system too confusing, here's what it's all about. The score out of five at the end of each person's review is based on their own experience of the game. But that's pretty subjective... so they also use the HIT and MISS system to indicate its potential as a commercial success. BRIDGE PLAYER 2 CP Software £9.95 Ross: Bridge Player 2 is intended as an aid for those wishing to practise playing bridge, and not as a guide on how to play the game. The accompanying manual describes all the features of the program, but does tend to slip into 'Bridge jargon'; having said that, though, I'm far from a hardened Bridge player and I could still understand most of the finer points! The program works by dealing the pack to all four hands, but there is the restriction that no more than eight cards of one suit can appear in one hand; this is due to the graphical layout of the cards on-screen. Once dealt, the bidding begins and follows the Acol system, with commands such as '5C' being interpreted as a bid of five clubs; however, as the human player, you always play south and enter the card you wish to play with the suit first and then its value. Some nice refinements are the automatic play of cards if you have only one legal response, and hitting the Enter key to play the lowest card when following suit. The graphical display is clear and easy to follow, and the computer plays very reasonably. This will not appeal to the masses, but it's worth trying if you want to become the Bridge equivalent of the Cincinatti Kid.

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