COMMENT ⊗   VALID 00008 PAGES
C REC  PAGE   DESCRIPTION
C00001 00001
C00002 00002					     BRIDGE
C00003 00003					STARTING A GAME
C00005 00004					  THE AUCTION
C00009 00005					    THE PLAY
C00014 00006				     CLAIMS AND CONCESSIONS
C00016 00007				   THE POSTMORTEM AND SCORING
C00019 00008					  MISCELLANEOUS
C00020 ENDMK
C⊗;
				     BRIDGE

BRIDGE is a program which allows four users to play a game of contract bridge,
using the computer to communicate with each other.  In addition to providing
communications, the BRIDGE program also checks the legality of each play made,
and performs other mundane tasks like keeping score.

The information in this writeup should be read before you use BRIDGE, since the
game will progress much more smoothly if you know how to interact with the
program.

				STARTING A GAME

Before starting a game, make sure that you have four players all logged on to
the system.  Each player should start the program by typing

	.r bridge

to the monitor.  You will see a display of the names of all people currently
playing bridge (there may be more than one game going on simultaneously), and
will be asked for your name, the game you want to join, and the position you
want to play.  Respond R for "random" if you don't care what position you play.
This allows you to "cut for partners."

As soon as all four players have joined a game, the first hand is dealt.  Each
hand has several stages:

  1. The auction
  2. The play
  3. Claims or concessions
  4. The postmortem and scoring

These are discussed on the next few pages.
				  THE AUCTION

During the auction, you see your own hand, the past few bids in the middle of
the screen, and a complete review of the bidding at the bottom of the screen.
Whenever it is your turn to bid, the message "YOUR CALL" will appear.

To input a bid, type the level and denomination.  Many abbreviations are
accepted.  For example, the following are all legal inputs:

		1 Club	==>	1 Club
		2Spa	==>	2 Spades
		7h	==>	7 Hearts
		3n	==>	3 Notrump
		2nt	==>	2 Notrump
		p	==>	Pass
		d	==>	Double
		r	==>	Redouble

If you type a bid when it is not your turn, it will be held until it is your
turn to call, and checked for legality at that time.  Only one bid may be typed
ahead in this manner.

The program will not allow insufficient bids or inadmissible doubles or
redoubles.  If you make such a call, you will get an error message, but the
other three players will see nothing.

ALERTS:  The Alert system for conventional bids is somewhat different from the
standard system.  Instead of alerting your partner's bids, you alert your OWN
bids when they are conventional, by typing a "*" along with the bid.  This "*"
appears on everyone's screen except your partner's.  With this system, you avoid
gaining improper information from a partner's alert, and minimize the chance of
a failure to alert.

MESSAGES:  You can send messages to your opponents, for example, to ask about
conventional bids.  To send a message, type ":" followed by the direction of
the player you want to send a message to (one letter will suffice), followed by
a space and the message.  For example,

	:N What does your double mean?

would send North the message "What does your double mean?".  Nobody but you and
the receiver are able to see the message.  The program will prevent you from
sending messages to your partner.  You can also use the letters "L" and "R" to
denote the players to your left and right.

END OF AUCTION:  When the bidding is over, the playing phase of the program
begins, unless the deal was passed out, in which case the postmortem begins.
				    THE PLAY

What you see on your screen during the play depends on who you are.  The dummy,
having no way to affect the course of the hand, gets to see everything.  Other
players see their own hand and the dummy's, except the opening leader, who of
course doesn't see the dummy's hand until after his lead.  Your own cards are
always the bottom hand on the screen.

Cards played to the current trick are shown in the center of the screen.  The
prompt "YOUR LEAD" or "YOUR PLAY" is displayed whenever it is your turn to act.
The declarer also gets the message "DUMMY'S PLAY" when it is time to play from
dummy.

Plays may be entered in an abbreviated form similar to bids.  Examples:

		2h	==>	2 of hearts
		KSP	==>	King of spades
		10c	==>	10 of clubs
		tc	==>	10 of clubs
		7	==>	7 of some suit, which the program determines
				(see below)

The program prevents you from revoking and from playing out of turn.  If you
type the rank of card without giving its suit, the program will attempt to
infer the correct suit.  This always works if you are required to follow suit
or if there is only one card in your hand of the specified rank.  If you are
leading to the current trick, the program will assume that you want to continue
playing the suit with which you won the last trick, if possible.

You can type ahead the next play, just as in the bidding.  Also, you can alert
cards played if you are a defender, and everyone but your partner will see these
alerts.  The kinds of plays that should be alerted are those whose meaning is
conventional and unambiguous.  For example if you play the seven of spades as
part of a high-low signal, it should not be alerted since it that would give
declarer information about the other spades in your hand.  If you discard a
heart to indicate a shift to spades, you should alert since this is a conven-
tional play.

Messages to other players work just as in the bidding.  In addition, if you are
declarer you can send a message to all other players by using ":A" instead of
a direction at the beginning of the message.

A running total of the number of tricks won by each side is displayed on the
right side of the screen.  The display

			      TRICKS: +5 -2
			      ++-+-++......

means that your side has won five tricks, and the opponents two, and the exact
order of the tricks is given by the +'s and -'s.

Each trick will remain displayed for at least three seconds after it is done.
After that, it will disappear as soon as the next trick is led to.  If you want
to see the current trick for a longer amount of time, type the ALT key (ESC on
some terminals) before it disappears, and any key when you are finished looking
at it.
			     CLAIMS AND CONCESSIONS


If you are the declarer, you can claim tricks at any time during the play.
To do this type the command "C".  You will be asked how many of the remaining
tricks you want to claim, and then you must send a message to the other players
decribing your claim.

At this point, the defenders see the declarer's hand, and are given the
opportunity to accept or reject the claim by typing "Y" or "N".

If both defenders accept the claim, the hand is ended and the postmortem phase
is entered.  If either defender rejects the claim, the hand continues.  NOTE:
this does not faithfully reflect the Laws of Contract Bridge, which state that
after a claim, declarer must adhere to his stated plan of play.  The program
makes no attempt to force any subsequent plays on the declarer.

Claims or concessions by defenders are not yet implemented.
			   THE POSTMORTEM AND SCORING

After the last trick is won (or after a hand is passed out), each player gets
to see the entire deal, along with the bidding and the current state of the
score.  The score is presented as in the following example:

				   WE  | THEY
				 ------+------
				       |
				   100 |  930
			         ------+------ V
				    60 |   40
				 =============
				   160    970

which indicates that that We are not vulnerable, have a 60 part-score, and 100
other points, and that They are vulnerable, have a 40 part-score, and 930 other
points.  As soon as a game is made, any part scores are transferred above the
line.  Scoring follows all of the standard rules, including points for honors.

You can send messages to other players, either individually or using ":A" as
described in the play instructions, to discuss the hand.  Typing ":P" sends a
message to your partner.

If you want to copy the display into a file at this point type "F", and the
program will ask for a file name.  (The name "BRIDGE.TXT" is loaded into the
line editor as a default.)  If the file already exists, a new page will be
written at its end.

When you are ready to go on to the next hand, type "N".  All four players must
do this before the hand will be dealt.

If you want to exit the game, type "X".  (You may actually do this at any time.)
You will be asked to confirm this, to prevent a typing accident from causing the
game to end.

After the end of a rubber, the score will be set back to 0.
				  MISCELLANEOUS

If you are slow in bidding or playing, the program will beep you occasionally.
You can turn off these beeps with the monitor command BREAK B, and re-enable
them with ESC B.

If your display ever becomes messed up, you can tell the program to completely
redraw it with ESC I.