What are Robot Tournaments?

Robot Tournaments are an exciting twist on the game of Bridge. Each table in a Robot Tournament consists of a single human player, sitting South, and three robot players sitting in the other three seats. In other words, if you play in one of our Robot Tournaments, your partner and your opponents will always be robots!

We offer various types of Robot Tournaments on BBO. They all add a unique twist to Bridge. Try them and see!

Robot Race Tournaments

Robot races (free robot race and the robot reward game) are an exciting race, you vs other players vs a ticking clock. Play as many hands as you can for a small entry fee. 

Robot Duplicate Tournaments

Robot Duplicate Tournaments are 8-board long and cost a small entry fee in BB$. Robot Duplicate Tournaments are scored duplicate style, in both MP and IMP.

You must finish playing all eight deals in the alloted time (30 minutes) in order to finish in the overall rankings (and to win BBO points if you ranking is sufficiently high).

Playing eight deals in 30 minutes may seem like a lot, but our robots tend to bid and play very quickly! Even if you tend to play bridge at a deliberate pace, you rate to have no trouble finishing all eight boards before the tournament ends.

Game specifics

• Best hand. Most of our Robot Tournaments are "Best Hand" games. What this means is the human player is usually dealt at least the most HCP at the table. This makes it way more interesting for you!

• Human Declares. This is a feature of some Robot games - the human player is switched into the North (Robot) seat whenever North is the declarer. The human player then declares the hand. When the hand is over, the human is switched back to his original seat.

What about abuse?

Our robots are quiet and polite. They may never thank you for a well played hand, but, they will never yell at you for not making a contract. Interaction between the human opponents is not allowed so there is no chance of cross table abuse.

How do the robots work?

The robots you are playing with are called GIB. The GIB robot is widely considered to be one of the best computer bridge programs ever created. It is occasionally capable of brilliance. It is also occasionally capable of some really poor bids and plays (just like all human players).

Some players may find it frustrating if a particular GIB partner plays especially poorly (or if a particular GIB opponent plays especially well) on a given hand, but, these things will even themselves out over time. We think that GIB plays at least as well as the average BBO member. Some times the GIB does something totally crazy (don't we all). This is what the GIB does. Everyone has the same GIB as partner and opponent, so, everyone is on a level playing field. If your GIB does something crazy we want to know about it so we can see if it is fixable, but, we cannot, under any circumstances, offer a refund.

The GIBs that play in our Robot Tournaments play a relatively simple and natural bidding system. When you play in a Robot Tournament you can find out the meaning of any bid by clicking on that bid as it appears in the bidding diagram. Furthermore, when it is your turn to bid, moving your mouse over the buttons for the various possible bids will cause an explanation of the bid you are considering (as your GIB partner will understand it) to be displayed. These explanations can be somewhat cryptic, but reading them carefully before you bid will help you to avoid misunderstandings with your GIB partner.

You can find out more about GIB's bidding system by clicking here