The BridScor Bridge Scoring System

This is ESSENTIAL reading

BridScor is a windows based computer system which performs match pointed scoring for duplicate bridge pairs. The software was designed and written by Bob Anderson with assistance from Christine Benson.

Results, traveller information etc. can be printed, of course. In addition a file of results and match pointed travellers can be produced for publication on the internet (click here to see an example). This gives club members the opportunity to see the results of a duplicate session at the earliest opportunity. Traveller details can also be published so that members are able to see what happened on each board in the comfort of their own homes whilst the boards are still fresh in their minds. The system will also maintain league tables showing the average performance of the various duplicate pairs over a period of time. An EBU Master Points schedule can be printed if required.

Please click here for details of how to down load a BridScor trial system for your pc.

Running BridScor

The remainder of this document is an introduction to running the BridScor bridge scoring system. It should enable you to score duplicate pairs events and to print the results and traveller information. If you have a reasonable familiarity with windows based programs then it is anticipated that you should have little difficulty finding your way round the various aspects of the BridScor system.

Loading the BridScor program

The program is located at c:\bridscor\bridscor.exe. Double clicking the program's icon will cause it to be loaded. If you are intending to use the program regularly then creating a shortcut is recommended.

Maintaining the Members' file

Click the Members button to initiate the process.

To add a new member

Click the Add button

Please note that each new member is automatically assigned an ID which cannot be altered by the user

Enter the member's Title (e.g. mr, mrs, miss, ms)

Enter Forename, Surname, Address (optional) and Phone Number (optional). The Forename should be just one name rather than several.

If the member has a regular partner, the partner's ID (if known) may be entered

Click the O.K. button to add the new member's details to the members' file or else click Cancel

To amend the details of an existing member

Click (within the right hand table) on the member whose details are to be amended

The existing details of the selected member will appear in the left hand data fields

Click in the data field to be amended and proceed to make the required changes

Click the O.K. button to confirm the changes or else click cancel

To delete a member and his details

· Click (within the right hand table) on the member whose details are to be amended

· Click the Delete button

· Click the O.K. button to confirm the deletion or else click cancel

The Members window may be closed in the usual Microsoft windows manner

Printing the Members' File

Click File/Print/Members to initiate the process then select the type of print required according to the options offered by the program

Adding a New Event

Click the New button then complete the Movement Parameters form as follows

Enter the Event Title (e.g. duplicate pairs)

Enter the date of the event

Enter the number of tables

Click the Movement Type box and select the appropriate movement

Enter the Number of Boards

If Arrow Switch is appropriate, check the Arrow Switch Required box and fill in the start and end rounds for the Arrow Switch

If there is a missing pair, fill in the missing pair detail

Indicate the order in which scores appear on travellers (normally order by N/S)

Click the O.K. button to confirm the movement details or else click cancel

Having Clicked O.K. you will be prompted for a file location for the event (assuming you have not changed the 'Save New Event' option). If you are experimenting with the system and do not wish to save your data then press Cancel, otherwise you are advised to accept the default file location by clicking O.K.

Opening an Existing Event

Click the Open button. You will be prompted to select the required file location

Telling the system which players participated in an event

A new event should have been set up or an existing event opened for this option to be available
Note It is important that the Member's file should be at least partially complete before using this option

Click the Players button and note that a set of alphabetic buttons appears on the right hand side of the Players window underneath which a list of members appears (in the members' table). The players' table appears on the left of the window

Click one of the alphabetic buttons and the list of members changes to show all players whose surname begins with the chosen alphabetic character. Repeat for other alphabetic buttons and for the All button

To select a player, click the alphabetic button corresponding to the player's surname then click the member's name within the members' table. The selected player now appears in the players' table. The name of the player's regular partner may also appear (if the members' file knows his ID. See maintaining the members' file above)

Alternatively, type the initials of the player (two unseparated characters followed by Tab) in the Player Name-shorthand box. If the initials are unique then the selected player appears in the players' table. Otherwise all players with the chosen initials are listed in the members' table. To choose, say, the third entry in the members' table, either click on it or type 3 (followed by Tab) in the Player Name-shorthand box.
Please note that if two players have the same initials (e.g. Arthur Miller and Alice Mason) then entering 'ar m' or 'arth' or 'alic' or 'a mas' will select the appropriate member.

The name of a one-off visitor can be entered in the players table by typing the two characters 'v/' in the Player Name-shorthand box followed by the visitors name. Note typing just 'v/' in the Player Name-shorthand box is the way to delete an already existing name.

If you want to enter a name at a specific position in the players' table, either click on the location required or select your position using the arrow keys. Page Up and Page Down may also be used.

Note: Using the 'Enter Names Directly' feature is strongly discouraged. All players entered by this means are assigned 'visitor' status and are thus disregarded during the compilation of league tables.

If you want to enter a player’s name by using the number assigned to the player when the player was entered into the members’ table then simply enter the player’s number preceded by # in the Player Name-shorthand box.

The Players window may be closed in the usual Microsoft windows manner

Supplying Traveller details

A new event should have been set up or an existing event opened for this option to be available

Click the Scores button and note that Board 1 traveller appears in the scores window

Do not try to enter data directly into the Contract, By, Tricks etc boxes. The cursor is programmed not to enter these boxes

The following parameters may be entered into the final box on each score sheet line :

1

A Contract - examples follow:

Four spades by West making 9 tricks is entered as '4sw9' or '4sw-1'
Four spades by North making 10 tricks is entered as '4sn10' or just '4sn'. '4snt' will also work
Three no trumps by South making 7 tricks is entered as '3ns7' or '3ns-2'
Five clubs doubled by East making 12 tricks is entered as '5cxe12' or '5cxe+1'
Two hearts redoubled by North making 8 tricks is entered as '2hxxn8' or just '2hxxn'

Note 1: 'n' is used to denote no trump contracts. Do not use 'nt'
Note 2: When a contract is entered its score is calculated based on the contract and on vulnerability as defined for the particular board. It is strongly recommended that contracts are entered whenever possible rather than just entering scores

2

A Score - examples follow:

100 indicates a score of 100 points to North/South
-150 indicates a score of 150 points to East/West

Note : when a Score is entered on a line which already contains contract data (as in 1 above) then the contract data remains but the automatically calculated score is replaced by the entered score. This feature may be used when the stated contract and the stated score are inconsistent. Such inconsistencies are flagged on the 'Travellers' printout by means of a question mark.

3

0 (i.e. Zero) indicates that the hand was 'Passed Out'

4

A Percentage Score - examples follow:

50% indicates a 50% score to North/South and a 50% score to East/West
60% indicates a 60% score to North/South and a 40% score to East/West
30% indicates a 30% score to North/South and a 70% score to East/West
60%20% indicates a 60% score to North/South and a 20% score to East/West
30%40% indicates a 30% score to North/South and a 40% score to East/West

5

'A' indicates that a 'Manual Scoring type of Average' is required. The use of this feature is not recommended, the use of Percentage Scoring being preferred. The feature's inclusion is to enable direct correspondence with Manual Scoring Methods. Please use '50%' rather than 'A' unless you have a very good reason not to.

6

'B' indicates that the score line is to be 'Blanked Out'. This is a useful one to remember.

7

'=' or 's' indicates that the contents of the immediately preceding score line will be copied to the current line. The Equals sign may be followed by an integer (n, say) indicating that line n of the score sheet will be copied to the current line. For example '=3' means 'Copy the scoring information from line 3 to the current line'.

8

'E' followed by an integer means that the East/West pair number indicated on the current line is to be exchanged for the specified integer. This feature may be used when, for whatever reason, boards are played by pairs which are different from those specified in the definition of the movement, for example where North/South has played the East/West hand and vice versa.

In the case of a two winner movement it may be necessary to use Tasks/Event data to convert the event into a one winner movement. This has the effect of defining the movement in terms of absolute pair numbers. Use the 'E' feature in the manner described above and then remember to convert back to a two winner movement.

In general, each line should be terminated by a Tab character or a down arrow so that the system moves easily to the next line. Using a down arrow on the final line of a traveller will ensure that the traveller for the next board follows automatically. Similarly, using an up arrow on the top line of a traveller will cause the previous traveller to appear

The Scores window may be closed in the usual Microsoft windows manner

Viewing the results

A new event should have been set up or an existing event opened for this option to be available. It is clearly necessary to enter player names and scores as described above before this option can sensibly be selected. You can have the Match Points printed out either as whole numbers or to one decimal place. Click the Options button then check/uncheck Integer Results to select your prefered option.

Click the Results button to initiate the calculation and display of results

To print the results click the printer symbol at the top of the results window

Printing the Travellers

Click the Travellers button to initiate the traveller display

To print the travellers click the printer symbol at the top of the travellers window

Printing the EBU Master Points schedule

Click File/Print/Master Points to initiate the display

To print the Master Point schedule click the printer symbol at the top of the Master Points window

Creating a New League Table (or Series)

Click the Add to Series button
In the File name box type the name that you wish to assign to your new league table. This name should be up to 8 characters followed by the 4 characters .ser
Click the OK button
Enter the title by which you want the series to be known (or accept the default title) and click on OK
Click on Yes to print the series
Click OK on the Print League Table window

Updating an existing League Table (or Series)

A new event should have been set up or an existing event opened for this option to be available. It is this event that will be added to the selected League Table. Please note that BridScor contains logic to prevent you adding the same event to a League Table twice.

Click the Add to Series button
When the Please Select or Create a Series File window appears, click on the already created series file in order to update it with the current event.
Click the OK button
Click on Yes to print the series
Click OK on the Print League Table window

Using the Internet to distribute results

In addition to producing results, travellers and league table positions in printed format BridScor will produce the information in html format. The html file produced by BridScor can be e-mailed to other members of your club so that they can see the event details at the earliest opportunity whilst the hands are still fresh in their minds - just attach the html file, BridScor.htm, to your e-mail.

Or, if you prefer, the html file is in a format that can be published directly on your web site. In this latter case you will need to consult your Internet Service Provider for instructions on uploading html files to your web space using a File Transfer Program (FTP). It's a bit more complicated than sending e-mails but normally it's very easy to do once you've got the hang of it.

To produce the html results file, BridScor.htm, simply click the www button. You will be asked whether you want to include league table information and, if you reply yes, you will be prompted for information on which league table you wish to include. The html file is then written to your \BridScor\BridData directory.

Please note that any html file can be viewed by simply (double)clicking it.

Creating Results in ECats (Simultaneous Pairs) Format

Please see the ECats bridge web site for details of ECats Simultaneous Pairs.

Click Tasks/Results in ECats format to initiate the creation of the ECats files. It is important to note that the ECats files are created within the \BridScor\BridData folder. There are 4 of them :- c.txt, p.txt, r.txt and e.txt. Please see the ECats bridge web site for details on transmitting the 4 text files to ECats.

Ideally you should use the latest version of the BridScor program to create the ECats files. The latest version can be installed by downloading and running BridProg.exe from the Internet and confirming that UnZipping is required. Running BridProg.exe will install the latest version of BridScor.exe into folder \BridScor overwriting the existing version.

Other Features

The program has features additional to those mentioned above which are not described in detail within this document. Some of these features are mentioned below :

Maintenance of the movements database. Please click here for more details.
Creation of sets of randomly dealt hands via Tasks/Hands. At the click of a button the randomly dealt hand sets can be converted to html format so that they can be published on the Internet or emailed. Click here to see an example. So, if you like, you can generate random hands, print curtain cards, deal the boards and play the hands. Then you can score using BridScor and produce printed and/or Internet results including full traveller details and a listing of all the hands.
Conversion of Event data files and/or Series data files into CSV (comma separated variable) format so that the data can be available for analysis by other applications such as, for example, spreadsheets.

Howell Movement Cards

A set of Howell movement cards can be downloaded from the internet. It is recommended that new users wishing to score Howell movements utilise these built in movements, at least to start with. Please click here for further details.

Data Export to Comma Sepatated Variable (.CSV) Format Files

Data can be extacted from BridScor's event (.sco) files into CSV format by clicking Tasks/EventsToCSV enabling analyses of data which are outside the scope of the BridScor program to be performed by using, for example, a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel. CSV files can be opened by Excel. It is also possible to extract CSV format data from League Table files, where these are maintained by the user, by clicking Tasks/Series/ProduceCSVfiles. You must be using BridScor version 5.96 or later for this feature.

Installing the Latest Version

If you have a version of BridScor already installed on your computer then you can download and install the latest version as follows:

Ensure that BridScor is not currently running on your computer
Click on www.bridscor.fsnet.co.uk/BridProg.exe (program may take a little while to download)
When prompted, click on Open
When prompted, click on Unzip (then OK, then Close)

This procedure will install the latest version of BridScor.exe into folder \BridScor overwriting the existing version.

Backing Up etc

As with any computer system, regular backing up of the system’s files is strongly recommended. Copying the whole of the BridScor folder and its subfolder, BridData, to floppy discs, CDR etc. is suggested. This ensures that if your computer system fails or becomes corrupted for any reason then backup copies of essential files are still available. If you need help to backup the essential files to floppy discs then click File/Backup in order to be guided through the process. Remember to have several floppy discs on hand.

With regular use of BridScor the Database Files, Bridge.Mdb and Bridge.Ldb, can become somewhat large, internally complex and inefficient. It is strongly recommended that the user should click on File/Compact Database from time to time, before opening any events. Compacting the database files every three months or so should be more than adequate. From version 5.4 onwards this procedure is carried out automatically by BridScor itself.

Deleting Old Event Files

Old event files (.sco files) can simply be deleted from your \BridScor\BridData folder if and when you are quite certain you have finished with them. Each event scored by BridScor creates an event file within the \bridscor\briddata folder. By default all such files have a name based on the event date (yymmdd) and have a .sco file extension. If you want to get rid of old .sco files then simply delete them using the usual Microsoft Windows file deleting method (i.e. wthin My Computer click on an old .sco file so that it becomes blue and then click file/delete). You may prefer to create an archive folder and move old event files to it rather than actually deleting them. Old League Table files (.ser files) can be deleted in the same way.

Document Author
Bob Anderson
bob@bridscor.fsnet.co.uk

1	A Contract - examples follow: Four spades by West making 9 tricks is entered as '4sw9' or '4sw-1' Four spades by North making 10 tricks is entered as '4sn10' or just '4sn'. '4snt' will also work Three no trumps by South making 7 tricks is entered as '3ns7' or '3ns-2' Five clubs doubled by East making 12 tricks is entered as '5cxe12' or '5cxe+1' Two hearts redoubled by North making 8 tricks is entered as '2hxxn8' or just '2hxxn' Note 1: 'n' is used to denote no trump contracts. Do not use 'nt' Note 2: When a contract is entered its score is calculated based on the contract and on vulnerability as defined for the particular board. It is strongly recommended that contracts are entered whenever possible rather than just entering scores
2	A Score - examples follow: 100 indicates a score of 100 points to North/South -150 indicates a score of 150 points to East/West Note : when a Score is entered on a line which already contains contract data (as in 1 above) then the contract data remains but the automatically calculated score is replaced by the entered score. This feature may be used when the stated contract and the stated score are inconsistent. Such inconsistencies are flagged on the 'Travellers' printout by means of a question mark.
3	0 (i.e. Zero) indicates that the hand was 'Passed Out'
4	A Percentage Score - examples follow: 50% indicates a 50% score to North/South and a 50% score to East/West 60% indicates a 60% score to North/South and a 40% score to East/West 30% indicates a 30% score to North/South and a 70% score to East/West 60%20% indicates a 60% score to North/South and a 20% score to East/West 30%40% indicates a 30% score to North/South and a 40% score to East/West
5	'A' indicates that a 'Manual Scoring type of Average' is required. The use of this feature is not recommended, the use of Percentage Scoring being preferred. The feature's inclusion is to enable direct correspondence with Manual Scoring Methods. Please use '50%' rather than 'A' unless you have a very good reason not to.
6	'B' indicates that the score line is to be 'Blanked Out'. This is a useful one to remember.
7	'=' or 's' indicates that the contents of the immediately preceding score line will be copied to the current line. The Equals sign may be followed by an integer (n, say) indicating that line n of the score sheet will be copied to the current line. For example '=3' means 'Copy the scoring information from line 3 to the current line'.
8	'E' followed by an integer means that the East/West pair number indicated on the current line is to be exchanged for the specified integer. This feature may be used when, for whatever reason, boards are played by pairs which are different from those specified in the definition of the movement, for example where North/South has played the East/West hand and vice versa. In the case of a two winner movement it may be necessary to use Tasks/Event data to convert the event into a one winner movement. This has the effect of defining the movement in terms of absolute pair numbers. Use the 'E' feature in the manner described above and then remember to convert back to a two winner movement.