Holiday g
Holiday g
Looking for the perfect gift
for a bridge-playing friend or relative?
Here are some ideas that should please
players from beginners through experts.
The Bridge Bookstore (separate page) includes short reviews of new books, classics and other recommended titles, grouped by skill level. You can purchase them at Amazon.com by following the title links.
Software features some of the most popular programs for playing bridge on your computer. Also included are double-dummy analyzers and instructional software.
Bridge
Baron 18 (All levels) is the newest update of one of the top-rated
and most skilled programs on the market. It features seven sophisticated
levels of play, plus a deal generator, ACBL tournament deals, challenge
hands, double-dummy and par-contract solvers, flow-chart bidding tutorials
and a wide range of conventions. Winner of five World Computer Bridge
Championships. Available for Windows and Mac.
Jack 4.0 (All levels) is a highly rated program offering more than 30 levels of play with duplicate, rubber or Chicago scoring. Four-time winner of the World Computer Bridge Championship. Windows 95 or higher.
Bridge Buff 15 & Visual Deal (All levels) is a skilled bid-and-play program that includes a system builder, convention-card editor and the Visual Deal deal generator.
GIB (Intermediate to expert) is Ginsburg's Intelligent Bridge Player, a play and analysis program with advanced card-play skills.
Gameboy pack: Ultimate Card Games for GameBoy Advance (Beginner) includes a bridge game and 10 other single and multi-player card games, plus five video-poker machines and 15 solitaire games.
Deep Finesse (Intermediate to
expert) is a double-dummy player and analyzer. Put in your own deal -- or
let it pick a deal at random -- and Deep Finesse solves all positions
correctly within seconds. It identifies each card at each turn as a winning
or losing play, so you can interactively explore any line to see why it
works or doesn't.
Master Solvers Club (Intermediate to Expert) is a good choice if your gift recipient enjoys bidding quizzes. Some of the best are available in this interactive software that features full sets from the popular feature in The Bridge World magazine. The program comes with all problems from 1994-1996; sets from previous years are also available.
(Intermediate to advanced). By Mike Lawrence. Top-rated CD-ROM programs, written in the same at-the-table style as Lawrence's highly acclaimed books.
(Beginner to advanced). By Eddie Kantar. These CD-ROM programs cover a wide range of play and defense strategies, from beginner principles to expert techniques. Each volume includes interactive quizzes and excellent summaries of the principles.
Bridge Master 2000
(All levels) is a highly rated program from BridgeBase that teaches
declarer play. The most challenging deals are available in refill sets.Bridge Master 2000 -- Sands/Janitschke (Intermediate to advanced) is an intermediate-to-advanced version of Bridge Base's popular Bridge Master software. It includes 100 challenging deals analyzed by Norma Sands and Jan Janitschke. A free demo is available.
The Club Series CD (Beginner) from Bridge Base offers interactive lessons based on Audrey Grant's textbooks.
Points Schmoints and Marty Sez (Beginner to intermediate) are CD-ROM programs featuring tips from Marty Bergen's popular books. Both offer excellent instruction and lots of humor in an interactive format that aids retention of the ideas.
Tutorial Bridge 4.0 (Beginner to intermediate) from David Dever combines bridge instruction with bid-and-play software. It teaches the basics and offers playing features to so users can practice their new skills. The program gives the reasoning behind each bid and played card in a flexible, interactive format.
Practice Your Slam Bidding (Beginner to intermediate) by Barbara Seagram and Linda Lee. An interactive CDROM based on the authors' books.
A View from the Top (Intermediate to advanced) from Barry Rigal and Bob Hamman focuses on how a true expert approaches problems at the table. The interactive format presents a series of problems in the auction for each hand, then challenges the user to play or defend the hand against the computer. Includes a video of Hamman discussing his views on bridge. A free demo is available.
Play Bridge with Larry Cohen (Intermediate to advanced) is a series of interactive-play CD's from the 1999 Life Master Pairs in San Antonio. This tutoring software takes you through every hand of the three days of the event and provides detailed descriptions of expert thinking at each critical bid and play. Larry includes many "what-if" digressions to teach other skills, along with general tips on how to play your best. You can download free demos from the link above.
Cavendish 2000 (Intermediate to advanced) offers "over-your-shoulder" analysis by Kit Woolsey. The two CDs include all hands from the semi-finals and finals of the prestigious Cavendish Pairs, a $1-million event.
The Jannersten Collection (Intermediate to advanced) includes three programs to improve your declarer play -- "Find the Mistakes", "The Only Chance" and "Card Reading". An interactive analysis of what you should have been thinking and why is provided for each hand.
Modern American Bidding by Eric Kokish and Beverly Kraft (Intermediate to expert) -- The authors present a modern 2-over-1 system with lots of gadgets. The CD includes 200 practice deals with interactive analysis.
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Gift certificates from Amazon.com:
Send a gift certificate from Amazon.com
aBRIDGEd game (Beginner) -- The new boxed game that's as close as you can get to "real" bridge, without the complexities of bidding. The set includes special, color-coded cards and simple rules that can be learned in 20 minutes. It's a great introduction to bridge-style card play and bidding principles for children and adults.
Portable bridge game: Excalibur Deluxe LCD Bridge (Beginner) is an electronic hand-held game with three levels of play and a choice of duplicate or rubber bridge. A memory-save feature lets you finish your game later. Runs on AAA batteries.
The
Bridge Bulletin (ACBL) -- (beginner through expert). 12 monthly
issues and one-year ACBL membership, $35
The
Bridge World - -- (intermediate through expert). 12 monthly issues,
$83. Bridge World website
Bridge Today Online -- (intermediate through expert). 12 online issues per year, $33.
Australian Bridge -- (intermediate through expert). 6-bimonthly issues, $43.
Norman Rockwell playing cards -- a gift-boxed double deck featuring Saturday Evening Post covers. Other specialty designs available in double-deck sets are cat lovers, fresh & saltwater fish and mummy cards (die-cut in a sarcophagus shape, designed for the Boston Museum of Fine Arts).
Kem cards -- the "Cadillac" of playing cards with a washable plastic coating, packaged in gift boxes.
Large-print playing cards -- water-lily design in a 2-deck boxed set with bridge scorepad. Also available are pink petals and casino designs.
Low-vision playing cards -- with four-color high-visibility markings for the visually impaired. Other formats include EZC Cards (white on red and black, with bar markings for suits), Hoyle's super-jumbo decks (twin pack with 1" symbols and numbers) and Braille jumbo-print decks.
Bicycle's automatic card shuffler -- a sturdy plastic shuffler that operates on one 9V battery.
Playing card case by Mulholland Brothers -- a hand-crafted case made of rich saddle leather. Holds a single deck of cards.
Bridge party tablecloth -- plastic-covered table covering imprinted with handy bidding guides.
Queen-of-hearts non-stick baking pan -- Wilton 10-cup cast-aluminum pan for cakes, breads and frozen desserts. Free shipping included.
Artisan carafe and wine glasses -- Hand-painted, made to order wine set.
Kurt Adler ornaments -- Set of four glass ornaments (ace, king, queen, jack) for Christmas trees.
Christmas stocking -- Plush stocking in red, black, green and white with a cascading AKQJ10 of spades.
Tiffany lamp -- Table lamp (30" tall) in bronze chocolate with playing-card design on the glass shade. Designed by Dale Tiffany.
Coasters -- Set of four ceramic coasters in playing-card design.
Fold-a-way wood card table crafted of Brazilian hardwoods. Matching hardwood chairs (French provincial style) are sold in sets of two. Other chair styles are available.
Bridge apparel & jewelry:
Hooded sweatshirt -- imprinted with "Life's a game. Bridge is serious", in 100-percent cotton. Amazon also offers hundreds of other bridge-themed clothing items for men, women and babies.
Whimsical bridge watch -- a wearable work of art with hand-painted miniatures under the crystal and an Italian leather wrist band.
Sterling silver charm bracelet with suit-symbol charms. Also available are Italian & link charms with card designs.
Other card-themed jewelry items include cufflinks, necklaces & pendants, a Zippo King of Hearts chrome lighter and even body jewelry.
Duplicate boards -- A set of duplicate boards is a great gift for club and tournament players who host home games.
If your gift recipient would rather watch than read, Baron-Barclay offers several DVDs and videotapes for all skill levels.
Sevennotrump.com -- cards, jewelry, greeting cards, trophies, apparel and bridge novelty items.
Game Preserve -- cards, "coaching" placemats, scorepads and themed gift items for other card games.
Bridgegifts.net -- playing cards, apparel, accessories, partyware, kitchen and home items.
Prospero Art -- double-deck playing cards in Rat Pack and Shakespeare themes.
Baron-Barclay Bridge Supplies -- cards, bridge jewelry, party supplies, pens, clothing and the popular bridge table covers. The store also carries a good selection of portable bridge games -- including electronic games, the DOOP duplicate game and the "manual" classic AutoBridge.
