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FAQ - What is Advanced Bridge?

18 replies
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Advanced Bridge is a competitive version of the classic card game Bridge, meant for skilled players.

What is the goal of the game?

The goal of the game is to get the most points, winning two games before the other team can.

I don’t understand how to play Bridge. What do I do?

Start by playing Bridge [link: https://games.aarp.org/games/bridge] at AARP Games, which will ease you into the terminology and rules of the game. When you understand the basics, come back to Advanced Bridge to test your skills!

Who is my partner in Advanced Bridge?

Your partner is a skilled computer-controlled player.

Who are my opponents in Advanced Bridge?

Your opponents are skilled computer-controlled players, as well.

I don’t want the game to give me tips. Can I turn that feature off?

Yes. On the top bar, there is a toggle for “Enable tips” that you can click on and off.

Can I see a bidding recap?

Yes. Click the menu button in the top right of the screen. From there, you can click on “Bidding Recap” to see one.

Can I see the scoring result?

Yes. Click the menu button in the top right of the screen. From there, you can click on “Scoring Result” to see it.

Can I access help and tips?

Yes. Click the menu button in the top right of the screen. From there, you can click on “Help and Tips.” You’ll see a pop-up window that talks about general strategy, gameplay, and scoring.

Can I turn off the sound in Advanced Bridge?

Yes. While playing, click the menu button in the top right of the screen. From there, you can toggle the sound on and off.

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nn4614

Contributor ⭐

It would be helpful if you revealed what bidding system(s) the partner is using and provide a description. The play is outstanding but the bidding is sometimes totally irrational and self defeating.

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Znod

Contributor ⭐⭐

The AARP messaging system is unbelievably bad. I am told you replied to me as above. Whatever, you are so correct about the bidding system and the crazy results it often produces. The system is not given a name by the program. It is styled after what now is considered to be the Standard American bidding system. And, it uses a number of conventions that often are used in connection with that system.

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HenryK120424

Contributor ⭐

Impressive work, in spite of novice criticisms)

It would be helpful to:

Show the hands dealt _after_ the play

List the bids in tabular form to allow more convenient consideration of past bids (& by whom) before the most recent round

Use standard jargon - The 'highest contract' might be the 'highest bid', Not achieving a contract (bid that won the auction) is commonly 'going down' or 'down x' rather than 'contract not achieved'

Making controls that are easier for those of us with pudgy, fat fingers (The bid confirmation helps in this)

Add an option to autoplay singletons (or one card of a suit remaining)

Add option to concede all remaining tricks

SereneSeagull

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Hi @HenryK120424 , try contacting Arkadium, the company that runs these games that AARP hosts here. They’ve always been really helpful and quite fast with responses. They might take your suggestions and use them. They have contact links all over the games section.

~~ Per Jimmy Buffett 🫧🫧 Bubbles Up!

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Znod

Contributor ⭐⭐

I agree that Advanced Bridge is not a good game for anyone wanting reasonable results. Bridge skill is involved though. You get a lot of practice in dealing with hands that are very difficult to win with, and, yes, way too often impossible to do so. Sometimes, though, you make them. That is satisfying. But, for the most part, Advanced Bridge is frustrating. In this regard, your partner often makes horrible bids. And, the game focuses way too much on hands with unusual distributions. All of this in a world of deals with rigged hands designed to make you lose. While I play Advanced Bridge trying to be on the leader board at the end of the day, this game is not a good one if you want to play bridge in a setting that is not based on rigged hands that result in contracts that can’t be made a huge percentage of the time. Hey AARP how about giving us a bridge game that is reasonable in mirroring real-world results?

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Znod

Contributor ⭐⭐

I can’t believe so many of us are willing to play Advanced Bridge. AARP should know better than to incorporate a game that has very little value and ensures so much frustration for retirees. It should only incorporate high-quality games oriented towards seniors. Many of us know how to end up on the leader board at the end of a day and even quite a few days in a row. But, is doing that worth the time spent on a given day getting a sequence of deals yielding the desired result. On the way there, the deals are rigged so that making reasonable bids can occur very rarely in comparison to a game that is not rigged. Still, I am sort of addicted to beating the game per se as opposed the my opponents in a game. In this regard, given he way the game’s preposterous scoring system works, your opponent can be mountains of points ahead and you can win a match anyway via the right sequence of deals. And, you can make rediculous bids and plays that have no basis in high-quality bridge to end up with desired leader-board results. Incidentally, part scores don’t accumulated toward a game as is the case in real bridge.

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Znod

Contributor ⭐⭐

Advanced Bridge does not count leader-board points correctly. Today I ended up with 1860 leader board points. I set my opponents 960 points, beat them in two games, and made a (vulnerable) small slam in the second game. That should have given me a leader-board total of 960 + 700 + 750 = 2,410 not counting my trick scores for the two games I won. This sort of thing happens to me very frequently. Get it together AARP/ARKADIUM.

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Znod

Contributor ⭐⭐

The game is a little hard because your partner sometimes makes some terrible bids. Also, the hands are rigged a huge amount of the time to make it impossible for you to make properly arrived at contracts a legitimate percentage of the time. Thus, you often have to have a lot of patience to win two games and also especially to get to a final leader board scoring level. And, the scoring is not consistent with regular contract bridge. Thus, there are some tricks you can learn about making bad bids that eventually may increase, but not decrease, your score. Consider this. At the end of each day, if you win two games in a row, your score almost never will not be high enough to be on the final leader board unless you bid and made a slam in one of the games or set your opponents for very large amounts.

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Znod

Contributor ⭐⭐

I said earlier that part scores do not accumulate to full game scores.. But they do. I am not sure if I was wrong earlier or that they changed the game. Probably the former.

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Znod

Contributor ⭐⭐

Excuse me, but how does someone get 60,190 leaderboard points. This game is absurd.

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JosephH637970

Contributor ⭐

Worst game even for a beginner. Bids are ridiculous and play no better.

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Lydi55

Contributor ⭐

Thanks for explaining that, I was thinking the same thing.

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jodesile

Contributor ⭐

I am a bridge player and this this game unfortunately has nothing to do with skills. The algorithm just give better hands to the opponent team and you just can't win most of the time. It would be nice if we could play games like in real life and not having the algorithm mess with the cards dealt.

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c750947p

Contributor ⭐

then im not going to play

Hi ​@HenryK120424 , try contacting Arkadium, the company that runs these games that AARP hosts here. They’ve always been really helpful and quite fast with responses. They might take your suggestions and use them. They have contact links all over the games section.

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Hi @HenryK120424 , try contacting Arkadium, the company that runs these games that AARP hosts here. They’ve always been really helpful and quite fast with responses. They might take your suggestions and use them. They have contact links all over the games section.