Back Alley Bridge
Marshall Lake
Has anyone here played Back Alley Bridge? Cool game. And suitable for 2
players or many more. The strategy seems very much different in a two
player game versus a game with more than two players.
Back Alley Bridge is a trick game with trump. The cards are dealt to all
the players and one card is exposed from the deck. The suit of the
exposed card is trump. Starting with the player to the left of the dealer
everyone bids the number of tricks they think they will take. The dealer
bids last. If you come up short on your bid then your score goes down the
number that you bid. If you make your bid exactly then your score goes up
the number that you bid. If you bid 0 and make it then you get one point.
For every trick over your bid that you take you go down one point. So, if
you bid 5 and take 6 tricks you go up 4. If you bid 1 and take 4 tricks
you go down 2. If you bid 0 and take 1 trick you go down 1. If you bid 3
and take 6 your score stays the same. If you bid 3 and take 2 tricks then
your score goes down 3.
Any card can be led at any time. You must follow suit but if you don't
have the suit that is led then you can play any card.
A different number of cards is dealt at every round of play with all
players getting an equal number of cards and making sure to leave at least
one card in the deck to signify trump. The first round you deal the
maximum number of cards (e.g, if there were four players you would deal 12
cards to everyone leaving four cards in the deck ... one of these cards
would be turned over to specify trump). The next round you deal one less
card to everyone, etc. until you get to the round where everyone gets only
one card. And then you start working your way back up again starting at
one card (there are two rounds at each number of cards including one).
The last round is where every player gets the maximum number of cards, the
same as when you started the game. High score wins.
Has anyone played this game with any additional or alternative rules?
I've played where you get 10 times your bid if you make it and then one
additional point for every trick you take over your bid but the above way
is much more fun. I've also heard of playing where the total of the
bidding must equal the number of tricks there are in that round (it might
be easier to screw the dealer that way) but I've never had the opportunity
to try a game with that rule.
--
Marshall Lake - TEAM Software - ml...@dgs.dgsys.com
Andy Latto
Has anyone here played Back Alley Bridge? Cool game. And suitable for 2
players or many more. The strategy seems very much different in a two
player game versus a game with more than two players.
I've played something like this game, under the name of Oh Hell,
for a long time. The differences between Oh Hell as I play it (there
are many variants) and Back Alley Bridge are as follows:
1. We play that the dealer names the trump suit, after looking at his hand,
but before bidding commences. Most Oh Hell players don't play this
way, but I think it adds a lot to the game.
2. The dealer must not "make it even"; the dealer's bid must be
such that the sum of all bids is not the total number of tricks in the
hand.
3. Different scoring. The scoring you use for Back Alley Bridge puts
most of its emphasis on taking tricks, with making your bid exactly
only a minor influence, and severe punishment for going down and
only small penalty for overtricks. This encourages underbidding.
I prefer a scoring system, where making your bid exactly is rewarded
highly, and there is the same penalty for making more or less. The
system I usually use is if you make your bid exactly, score 10 plus
your bid. Otherwise, you lose one point for every point of difference
(in either direction) between your bid and the amount of tricks
you actually took. An alternate scoring system cubes the difference, giving
much greater penalties for being further from your bid.
For example, if you bid 3, then your score will be:
Tricks Taken Score Alternate Score
______________________________________
0 -3 -27
1 -2 -8
2 -1 -1
3 13 13
4 -1 -1
5 -2 -8
6 -3 -27
4. We start at one card and go up, rather than starting at the maximum number
of cards and going down. This helps keep everyone in contention until
the end, by putting the high-scoring hands at the end.
5. Player to the left of the dealer leads to the first trick, and may
lead any card. (You don't specify how Back Alley Bridge trick play
starts).
Lately, I've been playing a commercial version of the game, called Wizard.
This plays like the Oh Hell I've described above, with the following
differences:
A. In addition to the usual 52 cards, there are 4 Wizards and 4
Jesters in the deck. A Wizard always wins a trick (except if there is
more than one Wizard played; then the first Wizard played takes it).
A Jester never wins a trick (except if there are only Jesters played;
then the first Jester played takes it). If a Jester is led, the
first non-Jester played determines the "suit led". If a Wizard is led,
there is no suit led; you may play any card.
B. A trump card is turned up to determine trump, rather than letting
dealer decide. A Jester means Notrump; A Wizard lets the dealer decide.
C. Dealer may bid any number.
D. Scoring is as I describe above, but the bonus for making your
contract is only 2, not 10. This encourages bigger bids, since
the size of your bid is almost as important as whether you make it.
I don't like changes B and C, but changes A and D are at least
interesting variants to try; I may end up prefering them to my usual
game.
Andy Latto
an...@harlequin.com
John Hay
>Has anyone here played Back Alley Bridge? Cool game. And suitable for 2
>players or many more. The strategy seems very much different in a two
>player game versus a game with more than two players.
<<description of game snipped>>
This seems to be a combination of two games that I have played. One
we called Back Alley and the other Oh! Hell. The turning the card up
for trumps is from back alley. The variations in the size of the
hands is from Oh Hell. When we played what we called Back Alley. You
always got the same number of cards. You bid on what you thought you
could take and if you made the bid you got what you bid plus what you
made (e.g. bid 3, take 4, score 7). If you did not make the bid you
went back double what you bid. ( I think I like your scoring system
better). Also, the 2 of diamonds was a special all-powerful card that
could be played anytime and take the trick. If the 2D was led you
could call a suit that had to be played on it.
In Oh Hell we just played 13 hands, starting with a 1 card hand and
going up to a thirteen card hand. A card was turned over for trump
except on the last hand which was played at no trump. You had to take
_exactly_ the number of tricks you bid in order to get any score (but
you never went backwards). I don't remember the exact scoring system,
but if you bid zero and made it you got 10 points for each card in
that hand.
Marshall Lake
Andy Latto <an...@harlqn.co.uk> wrote:
>In article <4cenpg$q...@DGS.dgsys.com> ml...@dgs.dgsys.com (Marshall Lake) writes:
> Has anyone here played Back Alley Bridge? Cool game. And suitable for 2
> players or many more. The strategy seems very much different in a two
> player game versus a game with more than two players.
>2. The dealer must not "make it even"; the dealer's bid must be
>such that the sum of all bids is not the total number of tricks in the
>hand.
I've heard of this variation before. It sounds interesting.
>3. Different scoring. The scoring you use for Back Alley Bridge puts
>most of its emphasis on taking tricks, with making your bid exactly
>only a minor influence, and severe punishment for going down and
>only small penalty for overtricks. This encourages underbidding.
>I prefer a scoring system, where making your bid exactly is rewarded
>highly, and there is the same penalty for making more or less. The
>system I usually use is if you make your bid exactly, score 10 plus
>your bid. Otherwise, you lose one point for every point of difference
>(in either direction) between your bid and the amount of tricks
>you actually took. An alternate scoring system cubes the difference, giving
>much greater penalties for being further from your bid.
Hmmm ... I like you're alternate scoring method. Our group is definitely
conservative in their bidding. But, the conservative bidding also helps
to keep the scores closer which helps lead to a more exciting game.
>4. We start at one card and go up, rather than starting at the maximum number
>of cards and going down. This helps keep everyone in contention until
>the end, by putting the high-scoring hands at the end.
We start at the maximum number, go down to one card, and then back up to
the maximum number.
>5. Player to the left of the dealer leads to the first trick, and may
>lead any card. (You don't specify how Back Alley Bridge trick play
>starts).
Oops. Yes, the player to the left of the dealer leads any card on the
first trick.
Richard Dunlap - Grad - Wahlbin
>
>Has anyone here played Back Alley Bridge? Cool game. And suitable for 2
>players or many more. The strategy seems very much different in a two
>player game versus a game with more than two players.
Sounds pretty much like a game I've played by the name Swing 13. Same series
of hands from 13 to 1 card and back, with top card determining trump --
except that we also played with the jokers in the deck. In play, a joker was
a highest trump -- if both appeared on the same hand, the first played won.
If the joker was turned over as the top card, dealer set trump.
The main difference between the games is in scoring, though. As we played
it, if you made your bid, you got points equal to the tricks you bid. If
you missed the bid, you lost a number of points equal to however many tricks
you missed by, over or under. If you bid zero and made it -- you got zero.
<chuckle> We never needed a rule forcing the bidding to come out uneven --
with everyone scrounging for points, agressive bidding was the norm.
-- Richard Dunlap
Alex Chan
eight and Down again".
The first hand, everyone is dealt one card. The next card is turned
over, and is the trump suit. The next hand, two cards are dealt, then
three, and so on, until eight cards are dealt out. This maximum number
can be changed depending on the number of players. Then we go back down,
until one card is dealt out.
Scoring is different. If you bid correctly, you get 10 points plus the
number of tricks you bid. If you were wrong, you lose the difference
between the number you bid and the number of tricks you got. For
example, if I bid 2 and made 2, I got 12 points. If I bid 3 and made 4,
I would lose 1 point. Later on, we changed it to getting only 1 point
for bidding correctly.
Bidding was also different. We had one version where the player left to
the dealer bid first, and the bids carried on clockwise, ending with the
dealer. The dealer had to bid so that the sum of all bids did not add up
to the number of possible tricks. The other version required everyone to
bid at the same time, by using fingers as the number of tricks you think
you would get.
Alexander Chan
alex...@utoronto.ca
Jens Brix Christiansen
you think). I have learned this from two different sources; this post
summarizes the version that I find most enjoyable. This is a variant
which is very close to the one described by Andy Latto.
an...@harlqn.co.uk (Andy Latto) wrote:
>
>In article <4cenpg$q...@DGS.dgsys.com> ml...@dgs.dgsys.com (Marshall Lake) writes:
>
> Has anyone here played Back Alley Bridge? Cool game. And suitable for 2
> players or many more. The strategy seems very much different in a two
> player game versus a game with more than two players.
>
> [snip]
>
>1. We play that the dealer names the trump suit, after looking at his hand,
>but before bidding commences. Most Oh Hell players don't play this
>way, but I think it adds a lot to the game.
Piratbridge: Spades are always trumps.
>
>2. The dealer must not "make it even"; the dealer's bid must be
>such that the sum of all bids is not the total number of tricks in the
>hand.
Piratbridge: All bids made simultaneously. In practice, each player
puts a concealed number of chips in his hand, then all the hands are
opened.
>
>3.[snip]
>For example, if you bid 3, then your score will be:
>
>Tricks Taken Score Alternate Score
>______________________________________
> 0 -3 -27
> 1 -2 -8
> 2 -1 -1
> 3 13 13
> 4 -1 -1
> 5 -2 -8
> 6 -3 -27
Piratbridge: The bonus for making the bid exactly is 5; so the score for
3 tricks would be 8; otherwise we use the "score" column. The score for
bidding and making 0 tricks is thus simply 5.
>
>4. We start at one card and go up, rather than starting at the maximum number
>of cards and going down. This helps keep everyone in contention until
>the end, by putting the high-scoring hands at the end.
Piratbridge: Start at maximum (13 for 4 players, since the trump is fixed),
go down to 1, then back up to maximum. The one-card game is played only
once; all the other games are played twice.
>[massive chop of remainder of Andy Latto's post]