The King of Card Games: Omar Sharif Bridge v1 Reviewed [Archive]

Tim Allen

12-03-2003, 07:00 PM

To most people, Omar Sharif is a famous actor of yesteryear who made his name in films such as Doctor Zhivago and Lawrence of Arabia; to the bridge world he's a celebrity player and figurehead for the game who once had a sideline in movies. So it's no surprise to find his name endorsing this Pocket PC bridge game from UK-based Cascata. According to Omar: "Many games provide fun, but bridge grips you. It exercises your mind. Your mind can rust, you know, but bridge prevents the rust from forming". Read on to find out if Omar Sharif Bridge is a panacea for brain rust or equivalent to dunking your head in a bucket of saltwater. <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/allen-nov03-bridge-teaser.gif" /> <!> Bridge is a classic card game for four players invented around the end of the 19th century. It's fairly unique among card games in that it's a team game with two partnerships battling against each other. This aspect can be difficult to simulate with a computer program played by one person. However, Omar Sharif Bridge goes a long way towards achieving this and does let you play a pretty complete game of bridge without needing three other people. I looked at version 1.00F. Bridge Rules OK I don't want to go into all the rules here; there are plenty of books and resources on the Internet covering this in great detail. Suffice it to say that there are two basic stages to the game. The first is bidding, which is essentially an auction where you and your partner attempt to outbid the opposition in declaring how many tricks you think you can win with your combined hands. The second stage involves playing the hand itself, which is performed in fairly standard fashion, whist-style - highest card wins, except for trumps. If you win at least as many tricks as you said you would, then you score points towards a 'game' and eventually a 'rubber'; if you don't, then the opposing partnership scores bonus points against you. <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/allen-nov03-bridge-help.gif" /> Figure 1: You get some help, but it's not really a 'how to play bridge' guide. From here on I'll have to assume you know how to play. Ultimately the rules are fairly simple, although there are admittedly quite a few of them to remember. It's an addictive game that's well worth learning, as the bidding and the teamwork combine to make every hand different, and it's this that keeps you coming back for more. Bidding Omar Sharif Bridge supports both the ACOL and Standard American bidding systems; I'm only familiar with ACOL so can't vouch for its capabilities with the latter. <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/allen-nov03-bridge-bidding.gif" /> Figure 2: The bidding screen. The bidding screen is concise and easy to read. It's easy enough to use although selecting bids from the dropdown is somewhat cumbersome - I would have preferred to pick from radio buttons or something similar. You can see a summary of the below-line score for each partnership together with an indication of who's vulnerable. The program will give you a bidding hint if you're unsure what to do. I found these usually very accurate, although with a slight tendency to overbid in some situations - although this could just be a reflection of my fairly limited skill of course. Overall the computer bids very well, with no obvious inconsistencies. <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/allen-nov03-bridge-bidopt.gif" /> Figure 3: Bidding options. The expected slam-bidding conventions are supported, together with various cuebids. You can also configure the bidding to suit your style of play. Playing the Hand After bidding is complete you're presented with the main playing screen. <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/allen-nov03-bridge-play1.gif" /> Figure 4: Ready for the off. I sure hope partner has some diamonds. The cardplay screen is laid out very clearly, with no unnecessary graphical contrivances to get in the way or annoying colour schemes to distract you. <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/allen-nov03-bridge-cardopt.gif" /> Figure 5: Card layout options. A nice touch is the provision of various options covering how you want your cards laid out, which should satisfy the most particular of players. <PAGEBREAK> Not Such a Dummy After All Like its bidding, the computer also plays very well - almost too well sometimes, which made me wonder if the computer players knew more about the cards than they should. However I don't really think this is the case, although I suspect that they are endowed with a rather good memory. <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/allen-nov03-bridge-play2.gif" /> Figure 6: Shouldn't be too difficult... On the whole you do get a feeling that you're playing with an intelligent partner, and you get a real sense of achievement winning a hand or successfully defending one. <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/allen-nov03-bridge-play3.gif" /> Figure 7: Defending. Scoring On completing a hand you get a summary of the result: <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/allen-nov03-bridge-result.gif" /> Figure 8: If only all hands were like this. Which is then reflected in the overall scoresheet: <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/allen-nov03-bridge-scoring.gif" /> Figure 9: The scorecard. Unfortunately it doesn't always look like this. Sundries If you failed to win - or successfully defend - a hand, you can try again by replaying the hand from any position you like, including going right back to the bidding. <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/allen-nov03-bridge-replay.gif" /> Figure 10: Replaying a hand. In addition all previous hands played are automatically stored, so you can replay one you first played weeks or months ago. You can even rotate positions round the table if you like. <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/allen-nov03-bridge-select.gif" /> Figure 11: Selecting/searching for a previous hand to replay. The game isn't limited to just one human player, the only problem being that cards for all human players are always visible on screen, so there's no real support for multi-player games. But this could be useful as a learning aid. <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/allen-nov03-bridge-otheropt.gif" /> Figure 12: Other more general options. And finally, the game automatically saves the current state as you play, so you can always carry on where you left off, even after killing the program. This is a really important feature on a portable device which may be used for just a few minutes at a time. Gotchas<li>You can't see all the cards after a hand is played to enable you to analyse the play. This is my biggest grievance with the game. <li>There's no simple 'move undo' option; you have to replay the hand from the relevant position which is a bit long-winded. <li>The dealing and card move animation is tediously slow, even when set to 'fast'. I turned it off. <li>The sound is very basic, and not really needed anyway. Ditto with the off button. Where To Buy The software can be <a href="http://www.handango.com/brainstore/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&productId=44746">downloaded from Handango</a> and purchased for $24.99 (affiliate link). Unfortunately there's no trial version. Specifications This program will work on any Pocket PC or Pocket PC 2002 device, and takes up 670 Kb of storage RAM. Conclusions Unlike some other bridge games I've tried (admittedly on other platforms), Omar Sharif Bridge doesn't do unpredictable or inconsistent things during bidding or cardplay and it genuinely seems to understand the game. It's clearly designed and very stable, with a useful range of configuration options, but there's no real 'X factor' due to the reliance on standard widgets and system fonts for much of the user interface. It's very easy to get into, but not that good for complete beginners as there's no tutorial or how-to-play-bridge guide, and the hint system doesn't explain why it's suggesting a particular bid or move. It's probably not for really advanced players either, as there are limited facilities for analysing bids and plays, and you can't setup hands manually or specify computer player skill levels or playing styles. I also think more could have been made of the Omar tie-in, with things like tips and strategies from the master, famous games, a biography, etc. But there's nothing other than his picture on the 'About' screen. Overall though, Omar Sharif Bridge is an intelligent and addictive game that I've found difficult to put down, and I recommend it to any casual bridge player.