Introduction to Bridge Master 2000 Back to the index Congratulations on your purchase of Bridge Master 2000! No matter what your level of bridge ability, from novice to World Champion, Bridge Master will sharpen your skills. Not only is Bridge Master good for your bridge game, it is also fun to use. Get ready for many hours of entertainment as you learn. The 2000 edition of Bridge Master has been designed to take advantage of the latest software and hardware technologies. Bridge Master is a computer program which allows the user to declare bridge hands while the computer defends. The program always defends accurately. If the user does not choose the best line of play, his contract will always be defeated. If the user chooses the best line of play, he will always succeed. The deals that the user plays with Bridge Master are not randomly dealt. Rather, they are carefully constructed problem deals designed to illustrate a specific point of declarer play technique. Deals are classified according to their level of difficulty. As the user's play improves, he can advance to the deals on higher skill levels. There are five skill levels. Bridge Master 2000 allows you to choose between two window sizes: 800x600 pixels and 1024x768 pixels. When using the smaller window, you will see in the top right-hand corner. You can enlarge the window by clicking on the middle square (assuming your monitor resolution setting is at least 1024x768 pixels). Conversely, when using the larger window you will see and you can revert to the smaller size by clicking on the middle square. Also new in Bridge Master 2000 is that the Help file, which is called by clicking on toolbar button , is now shown in the standard browser of your computer (e.g., Netscape, Firefox or Internet Explorer). You will retain the possibility of navigating backward or forward between windows you have already visited, and use the vertical slide bar on the right to scroll within a page. Bridge Master 2000 comes with 180 problem deals. The Audrey Grant Edition of Bridge Master 2000 comes with 117 problem deals designed by Audrey Grant for beginning bridge players as well as 30 more challenging deals. Hundreds of extra deals are also available. We plan on continuing to produce new disks full of bridge problems as long as there is a demand. Bridge Master was originally designed as a learning aid. The finished product is much more than that. It is also a challenging and exciting game. We hope you enjoy using Bridge Master as much as we have enjoyed producing it. How does Bridge Master work? Bridge Master presents the user with a series of 'bridge puzzles' in the form of deals to play. The user is given the bidding and the opening lead. He plays the hand as declarer with the goal of making the contract. Overtricks should not be a factor in the user's plan. If the declarer plays incorrectly, the defensive cards will be arranged to beat the chosen line of play. If you seek an enjoyable and challenging game, Bridge Master is a tremendous improvement over other mechanical and computer bridge games. Where Bridge Master goes beyond the realm of entertainment is in the analysis offered for each deal. For those who wish to improve their play, the analysis of the deal is the most important feature of Bridge Master. At the conclusion of each deal, Bridge Master presents the user with the option of reading an analysis of the deal that was just played. The analysis describes what the correct line of play is and why it is the best choice. On many deals other lines of play are discussed and their flaws revealed. Bridge Master's analysis is superficially similar to the analysis of written bridge deals found in newspaper columns and books on bridge. There is an explanation of the important features of the deal, including the tricks declarer can expect to take, the dangers declarer faces, and the appropriate strategy to make the contract as safely as possible. Unlike written bridge deals found in newspapers or books, Bridge Master's bridge movie feature illustrates the reasoning behind the analysis in the hand diagram. The effect is like reading about a bridge deal with hundreds of color pictures. It is no longer necessary to cross out cards, flip pages, or write down end positions. When you are ready for more deals to play When you are ready for more deals, Extra deal disks are available. Disks of extra deals are inexpensive. You are not required to purchase another copy of Bridge Master. Extra deals are sold in sets of 30 deals and are organized by level of difficulty. By ordering extra deals for Bridge Master, you will not lose the ones you have already. For example, if you have the standard Bridge Master and you decide that you want more problem deals at skill level 3, you can order the B-series, the C-series or the D-series at skill level 3. Skill level 3 would then contain entries for A-1 to A-36 as well as B-1 to B-30 and/or C-1 to C-30 and/or D-1 to D-30. If you wanted more deals at skill level 1 you could order the Audrey Grant Edition as an extra deal set, receiving 117 deals to include at skill level 1. If you originally purchased the Audrey Grant Edition of Bridge Master your extra deals would come from the A, B, C or D series at whichever skill level you choose. For more information on obtaining extra deals for Bridge Master, please contract your Bridge Master dealer or visit our web site: www.bridgebase.com Back to the index