Mini Bridge

Minibridge is an implementation of the card game "Bridge" for the

PalmPilot.

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Copyright 1997, 1998 David Y.W. Park and Douglas I. Anderson

Description

===========

Minibridge is an implementation of the card game "Bridge" for the

PalmPilot. It is compatible with both PalmOS 1.0 and PalmOS 2.0. Bridge is

a fairly well-known, though complex, card game. The game itself will not be

described here. However, if you've ever played Spades, it is similar

(bidding and scoring are more complex, and there are standard conventions

that people follow when playing).

Our implementation currently allows for one human player to play Bridge

against 3 computer players. In the future, support for multiple human

players may be added. The computer player is nothing to write home about,

but should provide an enjoyable game for the Bridge novice. The computer

bidder is virtually non-existent and definitely needs work. Currently, it

can make a very poor opening bid and that's it.

About the project

=================

Minibridge started as a senior project at Stanford University. We thought

that other people might enjoy the program, so we are releasing it to the

community. So here's the deal: we know that the computer (especially the

bidder) needs work...and we're hoping that someone out there is interested

enough and knowledgable enough to help us out. If you're interested in

working on the computer, let us know.

Shareware (?)

=============

It's always tough to decide whether to release something as shareware or

as freeware. We'd rather have people enjoying the program and not paying

for it than not using it because of the shareware fee. However, it's always

kinda cool to get something back for all the hard work that goes into a

program. Thus, if you want to send us $0 - $5 for the program or just give

us a free registration to a program that you've made, that would be cool.

If not, don't worry about it...enjoy!

BTW: Just to give some incentive, if you do send us $5.00, we would be glad

to give you the source code to minibridge so you can see how we did some of

the stuff in it. Minibridge was developed under Metrowerks Codewarrior

release 3.

Contact Info

============

Probably the easiest way to contact us is via e-mail. However, we always

appreciate getting real mail...

e-mail: [email protected]

address: Doug Anderson & Dave Park

PO Box 3506

Stanford, CA 94309

...hope to hear from you.

Legal Junk

==========

Non-profit companies and individuals may use and distribute minibridge

freely. However, we still retain the copyright. Any for-profit company

planning to distribute minibridge must contact us to obtain permission.

Although we don't anticipate any trouble, we should say that we take no

responsibility for any actions this program takes.

To Do

=====

* Improve computer bidder.

* Improve computer player.

* Review bidding.

* Show previous trick(s).

* Make club/spade more differentiable.

* Add a 4-player mode.

* Add ability to access options from the bidding dialog.

* Undo (?)

* ...

Probably Won't Do (but would be cool)

=====================================

* Duplicate bridge.

* Interface to some internet bridge game.

Version History

===============

0.61, 02/06/98 - Fixed bug on clearing score. Fixed bug where north would

show face up sometimes.

0.60, 01/29/98 - Fixed multiple bugs from beta. Released to public

0.60b1, 01/03/98 - Added the following features:

* Option to take over for partner if you're the dummy.

* Option to skip animation.

* Option to not require a click to clear the trick.

* Ability to clear the scorecard (clear the rubber, or clear the whole card).

* Ability to see the score and start a new game from the bidding dialog.

* Added a "to do" section to the readme. If you are very passionate about

getting one of these things done or feel that we're missing something,

let us know!

0.51, 12/26/97 - Fixed a bug that caused crashes on OS 1.0.

0.50, 12/23/97 - Initial public release.