Bridge Teacher’s Bookshelf
Pat Harrington
August 2006
USA

In addition to books, my bookshelf holds a variety of games. A new game, called aBRIDGEd just came to my attention. Being a good reviewer, I played it –three times so far! It’s a challenging and enjoyable game for all, but the reason I am telling you about it is that it does something I think bridge sorely needs. aBRIDGEd is an introduction to the trick-taking aspects of bridge without any complicated bidding to learn. Ever since I started teaching bridge, I have bemoaned the death of Auction Bridge. In the heyday of Contract Bridge, players moved from Auction Bridge and had to learn only how to bid. Now a beginner to bridge has to learn how to win tricks, play the cards with a declarer and dummy, and bid – a task that can be especially daunting to someone who has never played a trick-taking game. Yes, ACBL and the English Bridge Union have tried to promote MiniBridge, but a boxed game that simulates the play aspects of bridge has to be good for the game and that is what Out of the Box Publishing has provided by creating aBRIDGEd.

In many aspects aBRIDGEd is similar to MiniBridge but there are two rounds of bidding. In the first round, starting with dealer, each player either passes or opts to play. If a player opts to play, he becomes declarer and his partner’s hand becomes dummy. Declarer must take at least ten tricks to succeed. Declarer makes the decision to play in trump or notrump after seeing the dummy. If nobody opts to play on the first round of bidding, the second round begins and each player announces point count. The team having the highest point count plays and the player with the most points on that team plays. The player becoming declarer in the second round can opt to play for either seven or ten tricks and announces that decision once dummy comes down along with his choice for trump or notrump. In both rounds, once trump is chosen, each player in turn will announce the length of their longest suit without specifying the suit. If point count has not already been announced, that is done too. A good player can draw many inferences from this information. The play portion progresses as it would in a hand of bridge but the dummy is already visible, which could make one stray from standard opening lead guidelines

The game is different from bridge in one major aspect – the deck contains 52 cards numbered from two to fourteen and four different colored “suits.” The top four cards of each color are marked with “pips,” dots indicating the point value. The fourteen (Ace) has four dots, etc. Nothing to memorize about point count and, hopefully, a player will carry over the values when using a regular bridge deck. Scoring is specified in the brief instruction booklet that accompanies the game. The rewards are greater for the daring player who opts to play in the first round. Penalties are severe for a player who fails by several tricks in making his contract.

My husband and I are avid game players and we often end up improving the rules after we play a game a few times. In testing the game with friends, we created a three-player version. It turned out to be a great game three-handed but the publisher never mentioned the possibility! Four hands are still dealt and each or the three players bids as above for the dummy hand. In round one, any player may decide to play for ten tricks. In round two, the player with the most points becomes declarer with the dummy hand as his dummy and the other two players team up to defend. Occasionally, the declaring side had less strength than the defending side but the ability to select trump after seeing dummy helped make up for that. Each of the three players accumulates his own individual score. I never had the chance to test the game with non-bridge players but anyone should be able to start to play complete deals quickly. We tested the game with social bridge players and they all enjoyed it enough to continue playing even after I had gotten their opinions.

Maureen Hiron, a game designer and bridge player who has represented Great Britain in international competition created aBRIDGEd for people who don’t have the time or interest to learn Contract Bridge. But once they play aBRIDGEd for a while, who knows? I hope the publisher finds a way to make this game easily accessible to the general public. Right now, it is available to the public only through specialty game but Baron Barclay Bridge supplies will be carrying it too. List price is $14.99 US. Out of the Box has information on becoming a retailer for those of you are interested. Contact info@otb-games.com or call 1-800-540-2304. Share aBRIDGEd with friends and family who don’t play bridge. While you’re at it, order one for yourself too. It is a fun game even if you already play bridge.

Back to aBRIDGEd Reviews page