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Sim Bridge Pure Formulae Limited, £19.95, from Pure Formulae
Limited, Sim Bridge is a new product on the market designed to provide an easy way to improve your bridge at home whilst simulating the atmosphere of a proper duplicate tournament. It works like this: each box of Sim Bridge contains two packs of cards and two booklets (more on these later) and some score cards. On the back of each set of cards are the numbers 1 to 24 and by each number is an arrow pointing to where that particular card should be dealt, i.e. North, South, East or West, so the cards are dealt out in a fashion dictated by the arrows and not in the usual clockwise manner. For Deal 1 you just use the information by the number 1, and so on for all twenty-four deals. You then play this hand in the normal manner and compare your result with a datum figure achieved when the hand was first played in some big pairs tournament. The ninety-six bridge hands encompass single- dummy, double-dummy and defensive problems. In other words, there is something for everyone. The same can be said for the brainteasers as logic, mathematical and scientific puzzles all get an airing and there is an IQ test in the final chapter. As a bonus, light relief is provided by way of numerous amusing anecdotes that are liberally sprinkled throughout the book. The booklets provide a commentary on each hand by English International Brian Senior, together with the datum score, around which you can match-point. Are you with me? Suppose that on a particular hand you achieved a score of +620 but that when the hand was originally scored the datum (basically the average score achieved by all players) was +520, then you would receive a plus score of 100, or 3 IMPs. As there are two packs of cards in each box, you have fortyeight hands on which to test your skill. I understand that there are five different boxes available in all. The idea is a good one, and very soon you get used to dealing the cards in a strange fashion, but to my mind the product suffers slightly in the choice of the hands. Basically they are just not very interesting, even though Senior does his best to liven them up a bit with his own special style of commentary. This was one of the more exciting ones:
With North the dealer, E/W Vul., East-West can make a slam in either spades or diamonds – though how they reach it is another matter, with North having the equivalent of a strong no-trump opening. The datum when the board was played was 760 to East-West, so that bidding the slam would have earned you a swing of 12 IMPs. There is a serious error on Deal 2 in Set 2, where the booklet would have you believe that West is the dealer when in fact it is East, a fact that would change everything and make the commentary redundant. Again there are a few typographical errors which I found irritating and which should not have passed the proof-reading stage, but if that sort of mistake could be eliminated, then I think this would be a very worthwhile product. The recommended purchase price is £19.95, which may seem a trifle steep for forty-eight hands, but the packaging and overall presentation of the product is good and I think worth the price. After all it would provide four people with two evenings of enjoyment – certainly cheaper than going to the cinema! I think with more exciting hands and slightly more attention to detail this product could sell well. Dave Huggett |
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