iBridgePlus 12+

This app plays very good bridge and has excellent commentary to help you bid and play. I liked it enough to pay for a lifetime subscription and buy Assist Forever, as otherwise you won’t continue to get the commentary. Beware, though, before purchasing Alter My System. I bought it, thinking I had a 14 day trial and would then get my money back if I didn’t like it. I wasn’t satisfied with that part of it, as you can change numerous settings to make it more like you’ve been taught, but not all. For instance, you could set it to play strong two bids, but not with weak responses to them. It evidently wants to play only weak two-bids and only strong two-club bids, so all responses to other two bids are strong. I tried to get my money back, but they say the 14 day trial is before purchasing and that it is clearly stated, but I still can’t find where it says just how to do that. Just be very careful before making any purchases, as there are no refunds and unfriendly correspondents.

A comprehensive, well designed, computer bridge game with amazing customer support (real answers from people). As computer bridge games go, this is an exemplar program and kudos to the design team that keeps improving and polishing what was already a solid product. Critical comments about its failure to replicate “real” human play or about the complexity of its settings, miss the beauty of this program: its appeal and benefit to any bridge player. With minimal effort, It can be played by an absolute beginner and there is a wealth of beginner support and educational material within the program. Alternatively, there are extensive settings that can be used to personalize the game to individual preferences of bidding systems, signals, and types of hands; as well as tools for learning or defending against more unusual bidding systems. Add to this is a variety of features that allow players to measure their growth in performance at any skill level and you’ve got an awesome bridge program in all respects and the best value for the money of any Apple App I have ever purchased.

I am not an expert bridge player and this is the only computer tool I have used for bridge. But I have played with humans a lot. From my experience this app does a good job 80 percent of the time in making the final call after multiple bids. I test the app by asking for hint and 80 percent of the time it will make the logical suggestions. That is impressive in my mind but I would like it to improve more. The more major flaw (it seems) is that the dummy players refuse to get trapped. Often. It seems that the dummy players knwo exactly what cards held by each party. A lot of it is acceptable and understandable, since the initial bid is supposed to give a sense of card distribution. But there are cases when it seem to know a little too much about hands that should be unknown. If you could review that aspect and improve that will be highly appreciated.