ACTIVISION BRIDGE INSTRUCTIONS ============================== [Typed up] By: Dean St.Antoine =================== Copyright 1980 Activision AX-006-03 Rev 2 Game before: Skiing AG-005 Game after: Tennis AG-007 Designer: Larry Kaplan =============================================================================== You have in your possession the ultimate solitaire bridge game! Bridge by ACTIVISION deals you hundreds of millions of hands at random, provides a computer partner who bids by rules, and even plays as your opponents after you've established a contract. You can play the same hand over and over again until you're satisfied or keep dealing until you find a hand you want to play. Best of all, you'll never again be without a game with Bridge by ACTIVISION. Look inside to see how it's done. A NOTE TO BEGINNING BRIDGE PLAYERS... ===================================== Bridge by ACTIVISION 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. BRIDGE BASICS ============= 1. Hook up your video game system. Follow manufactuer's instructions. 2. With power OFF, plug in game cartridge. 3. Turn power ON. If no picture appears, check connection of your game system to TV, then try steps 1-3 again. 4. Plug in left Joystick Controller (it's the only one you'll need). Hold it with the button in the upper left. 5. Set both difficulty switches at b (down) to begin. Note to owners of Sears Tele-Game: On your system, difficulty switches are called skill left (or right) player and a (or up) is expert and b (or down) is novice. Select your game ---------------- 6. Select game with the game select switch. The game number will appear at the top center of screen. If you want to bid and play: Game 1: 21 team points or more Game 2: 25 team points or more Game 3: 29 team points or more If you want to play without bidding (you set contract): Game 4: 13 team points or more Game 5: 21 team points or more Game 6: 25 team points or more Game 7: 29 team points or more (Point counts above are based on the standard American point count system popularized by Charles Goren and represent the total combined team points of your hand and your partner's.) Dealing a hand -------------- 7. Deal a hand by pressing the game reset switch. Your hand will appear at the bottom of the screen. Every time you press game reset, you will get a new and completely different hand with at least the minimum team point count for that game you have selected. BIDDING (GAMES 1-3) =================== 1. Select your bit with the Joystick. It's your bid when you see the bid option flashing on and off in the upper right hand ocrner of the screen. Push the Joystick forward to raise the bid and pull it toward you to lower the bid. Bids increase through normal suit rotation (Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, Spades, No-Trump). Pass ("P", which flaes in red) is always the lowest bid. 2. When the bid you want is flashing on the screen, push the Joystick button to enter the bid. It will appear in the center of the screen above your hand. 3. Your computer partner will then respond. He recognizes most standard opening bids (see below) and uses Stayman and Blackwood conventions, where appropriate, to bid with you to establish a contract. Your opponents do not bid; assume they pass every bid. NOTE: YOUR PARTNER WILL RESPOND ONLY TO THE FOLLOWING OPENING BIDS: 1 OR 2 OF ANY SUIT, AND 1,2 OR 3 NO TRUMP. IF YOU BID ANYTHING ELSE, YOUR PARTNER WILL PASS. For more details on how your partner bids see "How Your Partner Bids in Bridge by ACTIVISION", a special book included with this cartridge. 4. After your partner bids, his bid will appear in the center of the screen above your bid. Your next hightest available bid will begin flashing in the upper righty corner of the screen. You should bid again if you are still seeking a contract. The bidding continues until either you or your partner passes; the last bid before passing becomes the contract. 5. If you pass instead of opening the bidding on any hand, the computer will deal a new hand. Your partner will not open. 6. When a contract is established, four things happen: 1) the contract bid is displayed in the upper right corner of the screen; 2) your partner's hand appears (since one of you is now dummy); 3) the upper left corner of the screen shows how many totals tricks you need to take to make your contract (in red, with a minus sign); 4) your opponent to the left of declarer leads a card from his hand and play begins. 7. In games 4-7, where there is no bidding, you simply select the contract (or bid) you want to play by using the Joystick as in steps 1 and 2. You may bid on your hand alone or you may check your partner's cards by moving the left difficulty switch UP to A and bid on both hands. Once you select a bid, play starts as described next. (Insert picture of screen here) PLAYING (after a contract is established) ========================================= 1. Playing a hand in Bridge by ACTIVISION is like playing any game of bridge. After the opening lead, you control the play of both hands on the table, weather North (your partner) or South (you) is dummy. The computer plays East and West in proper order. 2. When it is North's or South's turn to play, one of the cards in that hand will begin flashing. Move the Joystick left or right until the card you want to play is flashing. 3. When the card you want to play is flashing, push the Joystick button. The card's number and suit will now appear in the middle of the screen. 4. After all four hands have played their cards on a trick, the card that took the trick will start flashing. If your team took the trick, the number of tricks remaining to make your contract will decrease (or your overtricks will increase, if you've already made your bid). After you've reviewed the trick, press the Joystick button again to take the cards off the table. 5. If your team won the trick, a card in the winning hand will begin flashing. You start the next trick by choosing a card to lead from that hand. Continue play as in steps 2 and 3 above. If East or West took the last trick, the computer will lead from the proper hand and the card will appear on the table. Continue play as above until all tricks are played. After the last trick is played and you push the Joystick button to clear the table, your bid will appear just above your hand, and the number of undertricks (negative, in red) or overtricks (positive, in black) you made will be displayed in the upper left corner of the screen. If zero (0) appears there, you made your bid exactly. Nicely bid and played! If you overbid or underbid and want to play that hand again, take a look at "Replaying a Hand" on the next page. (another picture of the screen goes here) SOME SPECIAL FEATURES OF BRIDGE BY ACTIVISON ============================================ Replaying a hand ---------------- You can play any hand over again as many times as you like. Just start bidding again after the last trick is cleared by following the steps outlined in Bidding. If you don't want to replay the hand, press the Joystick button when the "P" is flashing, and the computer will deal a completely new hand. Starting over ------------- One of the great things about Bridge by ACTIVISION is that you can start playing over again in the middle of a hand, if you don't like the way the hand is playing. To start over, you must first finish playing a trick, but, instead of simply pressing the button to clear the trick, pull the Joystick toward you and hold it there while pressing the button. The hand will reset at the beginning, and you can start the bidding over again. You may want to try this a few times to practice the procedure. Taking a Peek ------------- Use the left difficulty switch to determine whether your partner's hand is visible durring the bidding: a (up) - Displays both your hand and your partner's. b (down) - Displays your hand only. Use the right difficulty switch AFTER YOU HAVE PLAYED A HAND to see what your opponents held. East will show on the top of the screen, West on the bottom. A flashing red "E" will appear beneath the East hand. a (up) - Displays East and West hands after play is complete. b (down) - East and West hands are not displayed at any time. NOTE: As long as the right difficulty switch is UP at A, you cannot deal a new hand by pushing your Joystick button. You must push game reset to deal a new hand. How your Activision computer partner bids ----------------------------------------- A complete description of how your computer partner responds to your bids is discussed in a booklet titled "How Your partner Bids in Bridge by ACTIVISION" enclosed with this cartridge. HOW BRIDGE BY ACTIVISION CAN HELP YOU SHARPEN YOUR GAME ======================================================= Tips from Larry Kaplan, designer of Bridge. (Larry's Mug Shot goes here) Larry Kaplan has been playing bridge since high school. Like most of us, he frequently had had the experience of not being able to find a fourth, let alone a second or thrid, to play bridge. He has solved this problem with Bridge by ACTIVISION. Larry is a senior member of the Activision design team and a veteran video game designer. "Our game, like bridge with cards, has millions of possible hands. I calculate that our computer can deal over five hundred million different hands. None of us in the design group has yet seen the same hand twice, and we play almost every day. "I can't give you tips on how to beat the game, because 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 other players to practice. "Many people who have tried Bridge by ACTIVISION say that it can help partners better understand each other's bidding and interpretation of the point count system. some of you may quarrel with some of my computer playing rules, but I tried to adjust the computer bidding and playing to reflect the way a vast majority of players would react. Bridge is a wonderfully flexible game, and most players develop their own sytle of bidding and playing. That's part of the fun of it. "I hope you enjoy our game of Bridge. I'd love to hear from you with your comments. Good luck!" (Larry Kaplan's signature here) "P.S. I would like to thank a good friend and great bridge player, Jack Verson, for his invaluable assistance on Bridge by ACTIVISION." Look for more exciting video game cartridges by ACTIVISION wherever you buy video game cartridges. Drop us a note and we will add you to our mailing list and keep you posted on new ACTIVISION game cartridges as they become available. ACTIVISION Activision, Inc., 3255-2 Scott Blvd., Santa Clara, CA 95051 -------------------Atari 2600 Instructions Archive-------------------