Bridge for Nintendo DS

Posted on | April 8, 2008 | 47 Comments

I’m off to bridge tonight for the first time in ages and am looking forward to it.

My mother taught me years ago when she played in Wicklow and I was in my early teens. I guess she wanted someone to practise with at home. Just the basics: how to count your points, knowing just to bid when you’d 12 or more points and how to play the cards. Alas we never got as far as the bidding conventions: of how to let your partner know exactly how many points you have and what sort of a hand. But even at that stage I must say I enjoyed the game.

A few years later in UCD the civil engineers started playing bridge amongst themselves one term mostly in the Kevin Barry room in Earlsfort Terrace. I was handy to rope in if they needed a fourth to make up numbers as knew the very basics. That phase didn’t last long though and within a couple of weeks things had moved on to poker which was more accessible and lasted alot longer.

When we moved to Bandon I decided to take Bridge up again and learn from the beginning. Luckily one of the clubs was starting lessons and so began my bridge playing here. Finally I have learnt the bidding conventions and my playing has improved. Its an ongoing project though and every week you learn something new.

Its not the wildest of nights out as the age profile of those playing tends to be older rather than younger. But its good fun. There are some characters there. Many of the ladies and gents play 5 or 6 nights a week as there are numerous bridge clubs in Bandon and nearby. It would be great if more younger people joined, it is a very sociable card game and the more playing the better as you get to move around the room and chat/play against many different players on a night.

To practice and for play I had purchased a PC Bridge playing game which I find great. This got me thinking yesterday that a more portable version would be excellent. I believe Nintendo have Bridge as part of their 42 All Time Classics but to be honest it doesn’t look great.

Hopefully the play is more attractive than it looks. I shall give it a go at the weekend when I can borrow the kids’ DS. Also there seems to be Ultimate Cards Game for Nintendo DS but only currently available in the US?

This appears also to contain a Bridge card game but I have not been able to discern whether it is better or worse than the 42 Classic Games version.

Surely there is definitely a market for a decent Bridge card game for Nintendo DS given the success of Brain Training, Brain age etc? If there was one, I know what I’d be getting my mother for Christmas!

UPDATE 10/04/2008

Purchased 42 All-Time Classics for the DS yesterday and most disappointingly the Bridge on it is rubbish. Beyond simplified, bidding rushed through and not shown properly, play just doesnt make sense most of the time and there appears to be no way to select different conventions or modify play/bidding in any way.

Its just driving me nuts playing it so gonna abandon it before it drives me to distraction. So I’m still on the lookout for a decent Bridge for Nintendo DS game.

The Bridge for Nintendo DS by ManicMammy's Blog, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.

Comments

47 Responses to “Bridge for Nintendo DS”

Review of 42 All-Time Classics for Nintendo DS - ManicMammy’s Blog
April 13th, 2008 @ 11:28 am

[...] bought this Nintendo game a few days ago. I had been interested to see if I could get a Bridge game for the DS and alas this is the one game I’m not too enamoured with. I had to abandon playing it as it [...]
Laura
November 5th, 2008 @ 8:20 pm

Hey ManicMammy,

How nice, googling for a decent DS bridge game I found your blog. Unfortunately you haven’t found one either.
Nice to read you’re from Ireland. I have lived there for half a year too while I studied at UCD.
It was very nice reading your blog, I will come back sometime!

Kind regards, Laura (The Netherlands)
Manic Mammy
November 5th, 2008 @ 10:06 pm

Thanks Laura!
I still haven’t found a decent bridge game either for the DS.
Will update the blog post when/if I do.
Let me know if you’re any more successful in the search.
Slán.
Phyllis
November 14th, 2008 @ 1:59 am

The DS Club House game has bridge on it, has anyone tried it? I will receive my first DS next week so am a true novice but would love to be able to play bridge on it. Hopefully some one has tried Club House or the Ultimate Card Game bridge.

Thanks, Phyllis (California, U.S.)
Manic Mammy
November 14th, 2008 @ 8:44 am

Hi Phyllis,
The DS Club house bridge game appears, from a brief look I had at it, to be the same as the one on 42 Classic Games which was very disappointing and not very good at all.

Still havent got my hands on the ultimate card game one yet.

Will update when I do.
Phyllis
November 21st, 2008 @ 1:01 am

Thanks for trying. I appreciate your help. Phyllis
Jenny
January 9th, 2009 @ 2:28 pm

I too was just doing a google sarch to see if I could find if there was Bridge available for the Nintendo DS – with no luck. I have started learning bridge and also use the DS for Brain Training. I think it would be brilliant if there was such a game – in fact I think it would be a great seller. If anyone can recommend a decent online bridge game I would be v grateful if you could let me know. I’ll keep reading the book and going to the classes til then!
Manic Mammy
January 9th, 2009 @ 4:12 pm

Hey Jenny,
Definitely agree with you on the market for Bridge for Nintendo DS. It would be very handy for out and about. Alas, I still haven’t managed to find a decent one yet.

In the meantime I’ve been using Bridge Baron Version 15 on my PC at home which I bought a few years ago. It has been updated and improved since then and I would definitely recommend it.
I haven’t looked into an online version, but no doubt there is one.
LoopyLobes
February 19th, 2009 @ 10:50 am

“Bridge Training” is due for release on the DS tomorrow.

No idea if it’s any good. (A quick Google search returned no site with any further details than could be ascertained from the title!)
Manic Mammy
February 19th, 2009 @ 2:05 pm

Hey Loopylobes
That’s great news. Shall definitely try and get my hands on it asap and see if its any good.
Thanks for the info.
Roberta Redemer
February 22nd, 2009 @ 9:07 am

I’m looking too for a good bridge game on DS. I bought the 42 games but the bridge game is poor; only really a trick-taking game.
I shall look out for the “Bridge Training” mentioned.
Someone asked about a good internet bridge game. I play FunBridge, which gives you tournament hands to play and ranks you – quite challenging!
Sez
March 23rd, 2009 @ 1:03 am

I too am searching for a bridge game for DS for my Ma in law, preferably ACOL convention. Please keep me in ‘the loop’. Good hunting. I nearly bought the 42 games but having read the comments here am very glad I didn’t waste my money. Thanks very much for that.
Bob E
April 20th, 2009 @ 5:30 pm

There is no telling when or if Ultimate Card Games will be released for the DS – you can use the Gameboy Advance version in the DS adapter slot. Some of the opponents’ dummy cards are hidden by menus during play, which is annoying. I recently discovered WBridge5, the current World Computer Bridge champ, which is available for free download to run using a Windows PC. You have to change a setting in the file properties to get access to the help file, and using the interface takes some adjustment; but it appears to be a great program, and it would be fantastic if it could be adapted to a DS format.
Manic Mammy
April 21st, 2009 @ 4:23 pm

Hi all,
I’ve still had no success in sourcing the Bridge Training for the DS so I haven’t been able to see if its any good.
Thanks for all the other suggestions.
Jamie
April 29th, 2009 @ 3:43 pm

believe it or not there’s a Baron’s Bridge for the iPhone and not for the DS, yet….

I don’t understand this decision, cuz I think it would have a market on the DS
Manic Mammy
April 29th, 2009 @ 4:30 pm

Hi Jamie,
I obviously definitely agree with Bridge Baron for the DS. I reckon it’s the best PC bridge game I’ve come across.

Maybe this is my excuse to upgrade my phone to an iPhone??

Many thanks for the info.
Vera Padget
May 17th, 2009 @ 10:16 am

Please let me know if you ever find bridge for Nintendo DS. I have the brain training and various other puzzle modems but do miss my bridge. I love Nintendo as I don’t have to sit in front of a computer to enjoy myself.
Martina
May 27th, 2009 @ 9:26 pm

Hi Manic Mammy,

I too was just looking to see if I could find a DS bridge game and found your blog…I have the Barons Bridge but it would just be way too convenient to have it on my Nintendo…ah well…maybe someday…in the meantime thanks for all the info!!
Martina
(BC, Canada)
trevor
May 28th, 2009 @ 4:52 pm

Hi all,

I’ve been looking for a good bridge game too for ds for some time. to no avail. But managed to get a copy of “bridge training” the other day from a “non official source” as its still not available to purchase in the uk.

I found it utterly dissapointing. It was basically just trick taking practice on fixed hands, always as declarer. No intersting tutorials (what few scant tutorials were just text based) no bidding at all, and the trick taking part consists of different modes(basically how many “mistakes” you are allowed to make) of the same content. But even this part of the game was very poorly done. I played a couple of hands but was bored rigid.

there was no multiplayer bridge option either, I mean how hard would it be to implement the game of bridge for 4 ds’s. I could live without full multiplayer if at least you could play a rubber against computer players.

Anyone new to the bridge would completely fail to see the beauty of the game.

It seems to keep being delayed in the shops so maybe the version is somehow being improved on. Or maybe they are not bothering to replease it as it is so poor.

looks like we’ll have to wait a fair bit longer before someone else tries to make a decent game for us….

sorry to bring bad news!!

Trevor.
Manic Mammy
May 28th, 2009 @ 6:24 pm

Hi Trevor,
Many thanks for letting us know the disappointing news re Bridge training. Despite my best efforts, I had been unable to get it to try out. Maybe thats just as well as it sounds pretty weak from your summary of it.

Following Jamie’s comment and my recent birthday, I’m now in possession of an iphone (yippee) and have just yesterday downloaded the free Bridge Baron for iphone app. I havent had a chance to play it extensively yet, but so far, I’m really liking it.

Will do decent review of it once I’ve spent a bit of time using it. I must say I’ve been a fan of the Bridge Baron PC version and the iphone one looks very similar so I’ll be well pleased if thats the case.

Many thanks for all your comments, its obvious from them that there is definitely a demand for a decent Bridge for Nintendo DS.
Julia Poolia
August 24th, 2009 @ 8:19 pm

https://www.classicchessandgames.com/BridgeMateModel277.htm

How about this -have just found it on line….

Bridge Mate allows you to play bridge by yourself, or against 3 other people.
BridgeMate plays, and keeps the score for Contract, Rubber, or Duplicate Bridge.
Connect Bridge Mate with up to 3 other BridgeMate units to play bridge against human players, and have the other Bridge Mates take the place of missing players.
Bridge Mate has six different bidding conventions.
The available bidding conventions are: Short Club Opener, Preemptive 3 Level Opener, Take Out Doubles, No Trump as weak as signal bid, Stayman 2 Club Convention, and Blackwood Slam Convention.
The Bridge Mate has a large screen, and large characters for easy viewing.
Bridgemate has adjustable contrast which allows for viewing in different lighting conditions.
Bridge Mate has different screen selections allows all the cards to be viewed simultaneously.
BridgeMate has a choice of random shuffle (which simulates a normal deck of cards being shuffled), or manually choose the cards you would like dealt.
The Bridgemate computer can suggest hints if you like, and has a take back function if you want to try rebidding a hand, or replaying different cards.
ManicMammy’s Blog » Bridge on the go
October 7th, 2009 @ 9:48 am

[...] 7th, 2009 iBridgeBaron – Bridge Baron for iphone As previously mentioned, once in a while, I like to play Bridge. These days, however, time to go to the bridge club is [...]
Zman
November 15th, 2009 @ 12:50 am

Any updates? i too am interested in a good Bridge game, preferably one which can be played on Nintendo DS.
Manic Mammy
November 17th, 2009 @ 11:30 am

Thanks Julia.

Zman, no I’m afraid I haven’t heard of any further updates on bridge for Nintendo DS. It definitely a missed opportunity for Nintendo as I have now abandoned the DS and am just using my iphone for Bridge baron.

Have reviewed it here
trevor
November 22nd, 2009 @ 1:51 pm

Aha!

A new game is just out called “master all classics”.

And it has bridge as one of its many games.

I’ve only had a very quick go, played a couple of hands, but it has some good points:

1. you can multiplay with 4 players each on there own ds. Hurrah! this is one of the main things I was always looking for, making having a quick game on a plane or train, boring opera, or what ever possible where cards wouldn’t work so well.

2. it has cpu players, so if there’s only two or three of you, you can still have a game. Not sure what the cpu skills are, but on my quick go with 3 cpu’s I made both my contracts on “hard”, the bidding didn’t let me down, and the opponents took it to the wire… Need to have a few more tries to see what its really up to tho.

But it had bad points too:

1. The layout was not so good, players were on the top screen as corners of a square, top left, top right..rather than N E S W. which felt pretty funny.

2. When playing contract, it seemed like North and South were the wrong way round (and cards were laid out traditionally!) so you had to keep an eye on the top screen to see who’s lead it actually was. Very confusing, but maybe I was a bit tired!, something was odd about it though, would be hard for new players to get to grips with I think.

But at least it all worked, and was playable. I have no idea how faithful it is to any bidding protocols, or if it has some areas of weakness in play. It was far from a complete bridge application, with no options I could see for anything! so was very much their version of bridge, but hey ho…it also has many other good games in the compilation: poker, chess, draughts, etc etc, that seemed equally simple and would probably work well.

Maybe someone else could give it a go, and see if I missed something…
Martyn
November 25th, 2009 @ 4:50 pm

Thanks to previous contributors, I thought I was alone in this quest!. I don’t play bridge myself but I’ve been scouring the net looking for a DS version of a bridge game for my wife. I discovered that’Bridge
Training’existed but couldn’t get at info or who was selling it etc. However, I’ve just read that it will be released in Europe in 2010 sometime. Alas too late for Christmas! I’ll take a look at the one Trevor reviewed for now.
Manic Mammy
November 25th, 2009 @ 5:14 pm

Trevor, many thanks for all that info. Will have a look at “master all classics”, though by the sounds of your review, it sounds pretty basic and I should probably just stick to Bridge baron on my phone.

Hey Martyn, as you can see from Trevor’s earlier comment Bridge Training didn’t really rate when he tried it. I wonder why its release was delayed here? Perhaps it was undergoing changes? It’ll be interesting to check it out in the new year when it’s eventually released here.
Trevor
December 9th, 2009 @ 11:02 am

Just an update on the bridge in “master all classics”…

Stay away! I was obviously wearing rose tinted spectacles when I last wrote. Though everything I said was true, the layout and play order is so annoying it makes it ridiculous. Basically on the playing screen below you are always opposite dummy, even when its the opponents contract. Cards appear from the wrong directions, so the top screen, which isnt even laid out NSEW, is the only clue to the actual order of play. Its a bit like trying to drive a car only looking in the rear view mirror. Nightmare.

Its a bit of a puzzle how they managed to make it so badly confusingly wrong.

Definitely stick with bridge baron on the phone for now!
Manic Mammy
December 9th, 2009 @ 11:18 am

Hey Trevor,
I’m still laughing at your classic description of “master all classics” above. Brilliant.

Love the “Its a bit like trying to drive a car only looking in the rear view mirror” .

Definitely will avoid after hearing that. Many thanks.
Hugh
January 20th, 2010 @ 9:29 pm

I bought my old man a copy of Bridge Training, by Mad Monkey Studios, distributed by Atari. It alows you to perfect the playing of a series of predetermined hands.

He didn’t get into it; I’d be curious to hear what other bridge players think of it
Dan
February 10th, 2010 @ 12:05 am

Hi MM and everyone else,

Just to say thanks for all the advice on bridge on the DS, or rather, not on the DS.. I’ve just got into bridge and being able to play on the tube would be perfect but sadly I think an iPhone is out of my budget at the moment (my b’day is not until November) so I’ll have to make do without, unless those guys @ Nintendo get their act together…!

Thanks for all the info
Manic Mammy
February 10th, 2010 @ 11:20 am

Here’s hoping Dan.
There’s obviously a good deal of demand for a decent Bridge game for the DS. I still believe it would be a huge winner for Nintendo so its a pity they haven’t released anything up to scratch yet.
We wait in hope
Lynda Lou
February 11th, 2010 @ 7:45 pm

I would love to have a good bridge game for my new DSI. Hopefully some of those wizzards out there are working on one ! I think there would be a great market. I play Scrabble and Crosswords and both those programmes are great, but my great love is Bridge! Cheers
Eve Yiannakis
March 10th, 2010 @ 11:09 am

Thanks to all of you for your comments. I too am looking for a bridge game for my new Nintendo ds xl. I found your comments interesting and you are right the one on 42 games is not good at all.
klaus
March 10th, 2010 @ 7:36 pm

I think the only solution is to use emulator i.e. Amstrad CPC, Spectrum, Commodore 64 or Atari ST to have any better Bridge
jackie
March 28th, 2010 @ 8:24 pm

Why isn’t Nintendo taking advantage of what seems to be a large market of Bridge Players. There are some excellent bridge games for the PC. For Example: “Learning to play Bridge by Fred Gitelman (Bridge Basic, Inc). It would be nice, if Ninendo could work a “deal” with them. I believe my copy was purchased through ACBL. It was a gift, and it is really is easy to use, and I find it up-to-date.
David Tyler
April 16th, 2010 @ 8:00 am

I have Just bought Contract Bride on a DS Cartridge In Australia so it is available
Manic Mammy
April 16th, 2010 @ 8:42 am

Hurrah, good to hear that, David.
Is it any good??
Stray Taoist
May 21st, 2010 @ 2:16 pm

Well now. A google search brings me here…

If the Contract Bridge isn’t any use, I think the only thing for it is to write one. I might start that, I need another DS project. Getting decent computer AI would be the issue, mostly. Of course, wireless and four people would be ideal. Or four people and a deck of cards. Shessh, what am I thinking…

I find Floater to be the best bridge client, and you can generally find partners online.
Ken
May 22nd, 2010 @ 4:06 pm

Well, while there is not a good bridge product for DS as a standalone game or to play without competition, if you have 4 players, you can use the Game House Rules DS game to automatically deal and play for rubber bridge. This allows you to play with one game and 4 people (wirelessly) if nearby.
Megan
August 13th, 2010 @ 11:33 pm

I have been playing Bridge on the “100 All-Time Favorites” game for the DS. It’s not too bad. I just ordered the “Ultimate Card Games” Gameboy Advance game, to use on my DS Lite, so I’m anxious to try Bridge on that. Otherwise, some of the older ladies I play with suggested https://www.betterbridge.com.
Avril Loly
December 17th, 2010 @ 10:23 pm

Hey Manic Mammy,
Want to start playing Bridge again wondering whether to get a Nintendo dsi. Have got the 42 games in anticipation. Above comments very informative. Have you any info on new Bridge games for dsi?
Go raibh mile mait agath.
Another Manic Mammy.
jgm
January 5th, 2011 @ 8:55 am

Jan 6/11 – any update on a good Bridge Game for Nintendo DS. Thanks
Vera Portatadino
December 20th, 2011 @ 7:46 pm

Hi guys

has anyone eventually tried Bridge Training for Nintendo DS?

It seems to be still a nightmare… I cannot find any good bridge console for my dad!

please help me!

V
peggy scott
December 27th, 2011 @ 2:51 pm

Just got the nintendo DS i XL for Xmas and wondering if there is a game card to play bridge. Read the comments above and wondering is a newer update. Thanks
Julie
March 15th, 2012 @ 2:00 pm

I have recently joined a bridge class and was looking for a ds game in order to practice at home and bought Bridge Training but its not very satisfying. I think as a training game it needs to be formulated with an actual beginner because I think the buffs have forgotten where you are when you’re a new player, as soon as one comes out I will be buying it
peggy scott
May 20th, 2012 @ 7:10 pm

As of May 17, 2012, no news on a good bridge game card for my nintendo DSi XL. Anyone have some new info. Thanks