Frequently Asked Questions
How many games can I play on the 'free' level membership
One practice game and one competition game per day. On a premium (paid) membership you can play unlimited practice and competition games each day. If you are playing on a free membership you can upgrade to a 'Premium' membership from the settings page.
How do I know who is vulnerable
Vulnerability is indicated on the bidding pad itself. The positions which are vulnerable are written in red text
If I can only see part of the table
If the full table is not displaying, resizing your browser window to make it narrower should move the lower content upwards. This will also make the text and cards smaller so see the tips below for increasing those.
How do I increase the text size in the game
We are working on an update that will improve the game layout and text sizes but meanwhile you can improve the game display by using the 'zoom' feature on your web browser. On windows hold down the CTRL key and press +, (on Mac hold down the 'Command' key and press +). This will increase size of the text. You can zoom back out using CTRL - (or Command - on the Mac).
Once you have increased the size of the text you may find some parts of the game have been pushed out of sight and you need to scroll to see them. You can correct this by narrowing the width of your browser window. On a widescreen, usually having the browser window displaying half or 2/3 the width of the screen works well.
How do I increase the card size in the game
In a game, when you click on the 'Menu' button, a menu will popup including buttons to Increase or Decrease your card size.
How Do I Redeal a Practice hand or Change Seats
Not only is the ‘redeal’ option still there (click on the Hand number box along the top of the screen), but it is in an improved form: now when you replay a hand, you no longer have to play it right through before being able to replay it again. You can abandon the hand at any point and replay it immediately.
To see the previous trick
You can see the previous trick by clicking in the box along the top of the screen showing the running trick total (second from the right).
To see the Auction
The auction can also be displayed at any time during the game by clicking on the box showing the contract (middle).
Conventions
To set your system, from the main page (that has choices for Practice,
Compete, Learn etc.), choose 'Settings' to change your bidding system.
Bridgedoctor offers these conventions:
Transfers after 1NT openings
5 card or 4 card majors
Strong or Weak No trump opening bids
and
Strong or Weak 2 opening bids
After changing your settings you will need to refresh your browser to load your new system hints/feedback.
LIVE GAME TIPS
Create a Table
- After creating a table (you are now the 'Host') select your seat by clicking on the North, south, East or West.
- Currently the game does not display player's systems so type your system into the chat area.
- Wait until others join before clicking the 'Begin' button as new visitors cannot join a a game is already in play, they can only watch until the game in complete.
- If you have invited players into your table during a game, they will only be able to observe (all 4 hands) until the current game is finished. When the current game has ended WAIT until they choose a seat BEFORE you click 'Play' to start the next game (once you have clicked 'Play' they cannot choose seat a seat and will need to wait again as an observer until the game ends).
- The person who created the table is the 'Host' and is the only one who can choose to re-deal the game hand, or go onto the next hand. The host also is the only one who can accept or reject players.
- Currently, to replace the Host you must exit the game you are in and create your own table and wait for others to ask to join you.
- The prompt to join is currently a little too subtle and easily ignore. Meanwhile, regularly watch for players wanting to join (just above the chat you'll see their name appear and click 'Yes' or 'No' to invite or decline).
Join a Table
- If you enter a table and a game is already in play, you can only be an observer and can view all 4 hands but cannot play until the current game ends - then you can choose a seat.
- If there is no game started, select a seat by clicking on the North, south, East or West. Currently the game does not display player's systems so type your system into the chat area.
COMPETITION GAME
Results list won't go away at end of game
At the end of the game you will see two buttons to display results of other players. Clicking a button will list the results. Click the same button a second time to close it.
To see what other players have made
To see what others bid and made on the same hand in the Compete section, click on 'Hand X scores' in the box which appears in the middle of the table at the end of each hand.
BRIDGEDOCTOR ON MOBILE
The previous version of Bridgedoctor required a special browser called 'Photon'. Photon is no longer required and you can now run the Bridgdoctor game in your standard web browser. If you are using an older or lower powered mobile device the game may not display correctly or may run slow. If this happens see if the Chrome Browser or Firefox Browser is available in your App store (Apple) or Pay Store (Android) - these may be more powerful than the standard browser on your mobile device.
ADDING BRIDGEDOCTOR TO YOUR MOBILE HOME SCREEN
iPad and iPhone
Click the share button (the box with an arrow pointing vertically upwards) and from pop-up
window select 'Add to Home Screen'
Android Devices
On Android the process varies a little depending on which version of
Android you have but one of the following should work:
- In your browser, select the menu, choose 'More' and choose 'Add
Shortcut to Home'
or
- In your browser select, select the menu and choose 'Add Shortcut'
or
If you are using the Firefox browser, select the menu, select
'Bookmark' and select 'Add To Home Screen'
IF THE GAME WON'T DISPLAY CORRECTLY ON YOUR COMPUTER
The Bridgedoctor game requires a modern web browser to display correctly and does not require the Adobe Flash addon so will display equaly well on desktop or mobile. If your computer or mobile device has dificulty displaying the game it is likely you are using an older web browser (eg. Internet Explorer). we recommend downloading the latest version of Chrome, Firefox or Safari web browsers.
Google Chrome: Download the Google Chrome web browser.
or Mozilla Firefox https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/
The game should run well on either browser, however for a small number of members Chrome does not work but Firefox web browser does.
If you are using a mobile device the browsers may be available through your App Store on Apple devices or your Play Store on Android.
If I’m using an old version of Internet Explorer, should I just upgrade that?
We don't recommend it. It is not necessary to play the new game but when Internet Explorer upgrades, it also upgrades major parts of your Windows operating system, so upgrading Internet Explorer is a much larger and complex task than just downloading the Google Chrome web browser. For this reason we recommend you just install the Chrome or Firefox browser as described above. You can still use Internet Explorer for browsing the web if you wish, but you will find web pages load faster and perform much better in the Chrome for Firefox.
If you still have difficulty accessing the game, please contact us directly for assistance. |
