Grimstad

There are many times when this type of machine could be useful. Occasionally, a bridge club does not have duplicated boards at the time of play, particularly team events. If the machine did not require bar coded cards, I'd buy one in a minute, but I find bar coded cards to be ugly and distracting. (Why are the bar codes printed with visible ink?) My caddies could provide hand records for shuffle-deal-and-play sectional team events at no labor cost and without requiring six times the number of boards we use. The machine can make hand records more quickly from hand-dealt cards than can be done at a computer. Only 39 cards need to be run through the machine, just as with using Deal Master software. That should take about 1 minute per deal. This could be a cheap back-up for a duplicating machine that breaks down just before a game. (I might even want to use it for playing other card games, like Hearts and Spades in 2-table duplicate arrangements.) For single-table home games with "Doop" scoring, this would be a huge improvement over having each individual sorting his hand, which often has some human error on a hand or two. For teaching bridge in high schools, which I do, a full duplicating machine is overkill and not terribly portable. This would be an easy way to create lesson hands. By requiring barcoded cards, this machine has a limited use.

I wonder what is meant by "go the way of the Mac" in Mr. Gitelman's answer. Did Apple stop selling Macs? Perhaps this has something to do with Microsoft's ownership of BBO. In that case, I do not expect a Flash work-around regardless of iPad popularity, though it does open new opportunities for other on-line bridge sites.

Mini-bridge is a great game for getting players interested in the game without the commitment necessary to learn bidding, but a few of the rules are too simplified and the name is obnoxious. I recommend a couple of changes that be implemented in a BBO version that runs in the browser. 1. Instead of having declarer see the dummy before determining strain and level, give dummy's distribution instead. This makes the lead more like bridge and stresses the importance of shape. 2. Allow declarer to chose slam and grand slam as well as game contracts. Mini-bridge has all the strategy of bridge play (finesses, end plays, safety plays, dangerous hand, transportation, even trump coups and squeezes). Additionally, because the player's hcp announcements are specific, players learn to count the played high cards during the game, which is directly applicable to regular bridge play. I believe that encouraging young people to play this game (under another name) is a better way to increase participation in duplicate than starting with the Club Series. Also, this is a game that new players can introduce to friends and family; it does not require a trained instructor.