Jack is a computer bridge program developed by bridge players for bridge players. One of its developers is former world champion Berry Westra, who along with a research team of other leading Dutch bridge players has used artificial intelligence computer programming and algorithms to create the undisputed king of computer bridge.
Jack is the current and a seven-time world computer bridge champion. Besides its exceptional bidding and playing strength, Jack offers a very user friendly interface with many interesting features.
Bridge players using Jack are offered a wide variety of playing options, such as rubber, duplicate or team games. As an added feature, there is a library of hundreds of tournaments from real-life events that the user can play. They can then compare their performance with the results from those major championships. But the Jack user is not limited to just playing against three computer opponents. If connected to home network, you can play against family or friends or over the internet against players from all over the world. It’s a great way to make friends in the bridge community from other countries!
A lot of the development work with Jack has been making it a flexible and suitable game for all players. Users can choose from any of fifteen basic bidding systems and over 100 commonly used bidding conventions. Players can also choose from a variety of defensive and signalling systems. In this way, users can modify Jack to suit their own personal preferences.
Players can use Jack to improve their bidding by participating in one of the hundreds of bidding contests. Users make their bids then compare their contracts to those of many pairs that have bid the deals previously. This feature is best used with your favorite partner – afterwards you can discuss how to better bid those hands you scored poorly on. Jack will even recommend bridge conventions you can adopt to help your bidding.
Another great feature of Jack is the ability to program in specific hands that user may have read in a bridge book or a newspaper column, or even previously played themselves at their local club. In this way, they can play or replay the deal themselves and improve their game by practicing the associated lesson. players can also generate and play as many hands as they like that meet the specifications of particular conventions – all these features transform Jack from not just a game you can play but a game you can learn from and improve your bridge.
Jack is an all-round bridge program that not only gives you hours of entertainment but also helps you improve your bridge game.
