Robot Race

What are Robot Races?

Robot Races are an exciting twist on the game of Bridge. In a Robot Race you are racing against the clock to collect as many points as possible. Should you spend a minute thinking about your next bid or save the time for another board -- only you can decide. When the clock strikes zero, the players with the most points wins the race.

How does a Robot Race Work?

When a Robot Race commences, you, the human player, are seated at a table as South. Your partner is a Bridge robot (more on that later). Your opponents, East and West, are also robots. You will now be given the opportunity to play as many hands as time allows. Your score will be increased or decreased by the points you score on each board.

Each table in the tournament is setup the same way as your table. One human player and three robot players. You are competing against the other human players to collect the most points. Your score is displayed on the upper-left of the table-top. You can mouse-over the scoreboard at anytime to find out how you are doing compared to your other human opponents.

What about cheating?

The Robot Race format makes cheating impossible. Here is why

There is no way for you to communicate with your partner -- it's a robot!
East and West are robots, so, they have no desire to cheat. Why would they?
Each human is dealt a totally different set of hands, so, there is no possibility of collusion
Kibbitzing is disallowed for Robot Races

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 MBTs play a relatively simple and natural bidding system. When you play in an MBT 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 on the following link:

http://online.bridgebase.com/doc/gib_system_notes.php

How do I get started?

There are no free Robot Races, but there are free Money Bridge Tournaments twice an hour (at xx:15 and xx:45). Robot Races and Money Bridge Tournaments are basically the same thing. You are limited to one free Money Bridge Tournament per day.

To play for BBO master points you are going to need BB Dollars. For more information about obtaining BB Dollars please click here

Once you have some BB Dollars you can get started. Bridge Base has two different looks. Depending on the version of our software you are running you need to do slightly different things.