Duplicate Bridge Scoring System

This invention relates to scoring duplicate bridge tournaments and, more particularly, to systems utilizing computers for speed and accuracy.

Duplicate boards for playing whist, auction bridge and now contract bridge have been known for approximately one hundred years, examples of which may be found in the patented literature. By the aid of duplicate boards, bridge hands can be preserved for subsequent play at another table. This is made possible first, by playing the cards in "duplicate style", namely, by each player retaining his own played cards, turning them face down as played in his own stack or row and, second, by each player returning his played hand to a corresponding pocket in the duplicate boards. The board is then passed to the next table. Ultimately, a comparison can be made to determine which pair performed better with given cards.

Over the years, the format for a session of duplicate bridge in medium or large tournaments has become standardized. One of the factors is that a bridge session of three hours is too short, and one of four hours is too fatiguing. The standard session is, then, three and one-half hours. To accommodate a session of about three and one-half hours, the field is broken down into "sections" (usually lettered) of thirteen to sixteen or seventeen tables each. At the start of the session, two duplicate boards are placed at each table and the cards, if not predealt, are then dealt by the players.

Since it takes about fifteen or sixteen minutes to play two boards (bridge hands), thirteen rounds of play provide about three and one-half hours of entertainment or competition. After each round, that is to say, the playing of the two boards, the East-West players move to the next table in the section in one direction, while the boards are moved to the next table in the opposite direction. If more than thirteen tables are in the section, there are still but thirteen rounds, in which, North-South pairs will not play all East-West pairs and vice versa; and not all of the boards in the section will be played.

Just how many tables there may be in a section depends upon chance if entries are taken up to the starting time of the event on an open entry basis. If attendance is miscalculated, sections may be added or deleted at the last moment. Thus, instructions may be dispatched for all those in section F to return to the entry station for reassignment to tables in sections A, B, C, D and E; or instructions may be dispatched for those assigned to tables 15 and 16 in sections A, B, C, D, E and F to return to the entry station for reassignment to new section G. This is done in order to keep the section size to a working maximum of sixteen or seventeen. The working size is so limited for several reasons. One reason is to ensure that all players play essentially (more or less) the same set of boards so that the same reasonably fair comparison can ultimately be made across the entire field. Another reason is that a single scorer is ordinarily assigned the task of scoring one section. If the section is too large, the task of tabulating scores from pickup slips to a master sheet and then match pointing and cumulating becomes burdensome to the point where results are delayed and/or accuracy is compromised. A competent scorer should, with the assistance of one helper or caddy, complete the scoring task within thirty minutes following the final round of play.

Computerized scoring has long been proposed in order to improve accuracy and speed. The most obvious systems utilize humans to read the pickup slips and to key punch the information thereon into the computer. Such a system was demonstrated, for example, by Minneapolis Honeywell for a large tournament held in the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, Calif., in August, 1962. While accuracy and speed may be improved by such key punch systems, there is no cost advantage, since as much human effort is required during the bridge session to key punch information as to post manually.

In order to circumvent the key punch step, I proposed systems whereby players encoded a set of data cards corresponding to the bridge hands or boards. Thus, each duplicate board carried its own data card. In one such system, a binary punch and dial was provided at each table such as shown, for example, in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,364,339 issued Jan. 16, 1968 and entitled MATCH POINT DUPLICATE BRIDGE SCORER. In another such system, a mark sense card was provided as shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,236,523 of Clyde R. Stein issued Feb. 22, 1966, whereby use of a bulky punch mechanism was unnecessary. In both cases, the bridge scores remain with the duplicate board until the session is over, whereupon the cards are processed. It is essential that the scores be concealed from view at least until the board is played. In order to conceal the scores, Stein shows resilient concealer strips that snap into position beneath ledges or into slots to overlie discrete spaces of the data card.

Undoubtedly, a mark sense system is superior to a punch mechanism since mark sense requires only a pencil. However, partial prepunch makes it possible to use a simple stylus, obviating a punch mechanism. Yet, for purposes of making corrections, an eraser is simpler than positive patchwork. Problems with the mark sense system of the Stein patent are that the card itself is hard to read (which is conducive to error by the players) and that the card is quite large. Since the card itself is large, the duplicate board that holds it is correspondingly large, about two or three times the size of a present day standard aluminum duplicate board. A great deal of playing room is consumed. The card requires a special reader. Thus, standard readers have twelve read heads spaced on quarter inch centers for feed through line by line reading of a card three and one-quarter inches wide. The Stein duplicate board is expensive to mold and assemble and the concealer strips are hard to manipulate, gather and retain.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a practical mark sense system for duplicate bridge scoring utilizing a standard or near standard data card, three and one-quarter inches wide, with twelve mark areas compatable with read heads on quarter inch centers. Once a readable card format is devised, other objects are accomplished: a compact and relatively inexpensive card holder can be provided for attachment to the back of a standard duplicate board. Extra table space is not needed.

Another object of this invention is to provide improved card holders that neatly and efficiently hold a data card and which conceal scores previously applied by strips or tabs permanently attached to the holder.

Another object of this invention is to provide a new exceptionally readable type style that itself locates the areas to be marked without requiring guide blocks.

The main objective of the invention, namely the use of a standard data card, is achieved by a combination of features. The most significant feature is the card arrangement whereby the scores are entered according to the round number (1 to 13) rather than by the pair number. Thus, the computer program is relied upon to assign the score to the proper pair number instead of requiring the card to carry that information. Accordingly, the card space for marking the EW pair number is eliminated; it is merely necessary to mark in a control space the board number and the section number, the machine operator independently advising the computer the number of tables in play in each section. Thus, from the table number, the section size, the board number and the section designation, the scores on the data card can be unscrambled. Only thirteen data spaces are needed irrespective of section size, since the data space is not numbered for the NS pair number. The design of the type reduces the width of the data space so that the overall card length is held to under eight inches.

In one form, the card holder is a die cut polypropylene folder comprising a back part attached to the back of the duplicate board, and a front part. The data card has holes registering with short posts projecting upwardly from the back part. The front part has a series of concealer strips or tabs hinged to a lateral base or binding strip of the top part. Plastic CANOE.RTM. clips (trademark of Illinois Tool Works, Inc.) serve as ideal releasable closures for the tabs, cooperating with holes in the back part of the folder.

In another form, the card holder takes the form of a die cast frame in the back of the duplicate board itself into which the data card is fitted. Individual concealer tabs or strips fit into the frame. Each tab contains springs cooperable with detent recesses formed in the sides of the frame. Movement of the tabs lengthwise of the data card in one direction is permitted, while movement in the other direction is limited. At the start of the session, data spaces corresponding to rounds 2 through 13 are concealed; at the end of the first round and after data is entered for round 1, the tab over round 2 is moved downwardly to snap into place over the data space for round 1, exposing the data space for round 2. Similarly, all data lines are progressively exposed round by round. To reset the board, the concealer tab or strip over line 1 is removed as by a key, and replaced over the data space for round 13.

A detailed description of the invention will be made with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein like numerals designate corresponding parts in the several figures. These drawings, unless otherwise indicated, are to scale.

FIG. 1 is a pictorial view of a conventional duplicate board, the improved holder being attached to its back;

FIG. 2 is a pictorial view of the board and holder of FIG. 1, but showing the reverse or back side;

FIG. 3 is a view of the data card showing the arrangement of data lines;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view of the holder;

FIG. 5 is a further enlarged transverse sectional view taken along a plane corresponding to line 5--5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a pictorial view of a modified form of a duplicate board, and showing its reverse or back side, including an integral frame for the data card;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary view showing part of the data card frame;

FIG. 8 is a further enlarged transverse sectional view taken along a plane corresponding to line 8--8 of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a still further enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken along a plane corresponding to line 9--9 of FIG. 8, and illustrating the spring latch mechanism;

FIG. 10 is a pictorial view of computer hardware for use with the date card; and

FIG. 11 is a full view of the data card.

The following detailed description is of the best presently contemplated modes of carrying out the invention. This description is not to be taken in a limiting sence, but is made merely for purposes of illustrating the general principles of the invention, since the scope of the invention is best defined by the appended claims. Structural and operational characteristics attributed to forms of the invention first described, shall also be attributed to forms later described, unless such characteristics are obviously inapplicable or unless specific exception is made.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, there is illustrated a conventional duplicate board 10 having four pockets 12, 14, 16 and 18 for reception of playing cards (not shown) corresponding to bridge hands. Secured to the back of the board 10 is a holder 20 for a data card 22 (FIG. 3). The data card 22 is divided by fifteen transverse clock lines 24 into fourteen individual data spaces 26. Each of the data spaces 26 is exactly six "IBM" units wide. The top space 26a identifies the card and the duplicate board with which it cooperates. This space 26a contains two lines of machine language to be pencil marked, and one line of non-machine language. One of the machine lines has twelve read spots on one-quarter inch centers for numbering the card from 1 to 39. The other machine language line identifies the section by letters A, B, C, D, E and F. The top space 26a preferably is encoded before the board is distributed to the table, as by tournament personnel.

Thus, the bottom line is printed "RD 1" (round 1); the next bottom line is printed "RD 2", etc. Each space 26b provides two lines for marking the bridge score in machine language and one line for handwriting the result (contract by whom played and the number result MADE or DOWN). Traditionally, the North player fills out the score and one of the opponents, West or East, approves it. The holder is attached to the duplicate board so that, when the board is turned over, the data card and holder are addressed to the North player. The handwritten line, by formula well known to the players, determines the bridge score. Hence, after the session is over, the correspondence of the handwritten line to the machine written line in the data space can be verified by a checker.

The individual data card spaces are compactly arranged to be highly readable. For this purpose, the first of the two machine language lines contains numerals on one-quarter inch spacing designating hundreds, namely, 100, 200, 300 . . . 900, as well as letters M (designating 1,000) and MM (designating 2,000). The second of the two machine language lines contains numerals on one-quarter inch spacing designating the tens, namely, 10, 20, 30, . . . 90. Thus, virtually all possible bridge scores can be marked off by one or a combination of two or three marks. (A score of over 3,000, while possible, is virtually unheard of.) The second line also contains letters to mark off which side obtained the plus score, that is, either NS (North-South) or EW (East-West). At the right hand end of each space is an "OK" square which the West player initials to indicate agreement with the score as written by North.

The machine lines for spaces 26b are made readable and discrete by a combination of several features: The numerals are printed on a slant. The lead numeral is emphasized and the following ciphers are de-emphasized. No brackets are used around the letters or numerals. The type style for the lead numerals is bold and clear. The ciphers for the hundreds are reduced to oversized dots, which as such are highly readable without consuming space.

Instead of marking the numerical score in machine language, it might be simpler to mark the contract and the result, relying upon the computer to determine the bridge score. However, six individual pieces of information would have to be marked off: (1) the denomination, that is, NO TRUMP, SPADES, HEARTS, DIAMONDS, CLUBS or PASS; (2) the contract level, numbers 1 to 7; (3) the contracting side or seat, that is, NORTH, SOUTH, EAST or WEST; (4) whether DOUBLED, REDOUBLED or UNDOUBLED; (5) whether MADE or SET; (6) the number 1 to 13 MADE or SET. Except for the mark at PASS, the lack of exactly six marks signals an anomaly which must be resolved by a line for the score handwritten in arabic numbers. The chances of a player omitting one of the six essential pieces of information is substantial, whereas the chances of failing to mark the machine lines on card 22 are far less. Moreover, players are accustomed to writing by hand the contract, by whom, made or down, on conventional manual score sheets; hence, the use of machine language for the score is only a very slight change from previous standard. From a more practical standpoint, the six items for marking require a total of 33 or 35 marks. No compact arrangement of such marks has yet been devised that is easily readable both by man and machine.

All printing on the card, except the clock lines 24, is done with ink that is not picked up by the reader. For example, this printing may be in reflective red and the clock lines 24 in non-reflective black.

The holder 20 for the card 22 comprises two die cut polypropylene parts, a back part or platen 28 and a cover 32 forming a folder-like structure. Polypropylene about 0.035" has been found to provide optimum characteristics of flexibility, rigidity, etc. The back part 28 is secured to the back of the duplicate board 10, either permanently, as by rivets or adhesive, or detachably, as by snaps or, in this instance, rubber bands 34. The holder 20 and its card 22 remain with the corresponding duplicate board until the end of the session or tournament. The back part or platen 28 carries two posts 36 that register with the holes 38 in the top margin of the card, thereby to locate the card in a fixed position relative to the platen 28. The holes 38 are preferably punched as a part of the printing process so that registry between the holes 38 and the printed matter is ensured. The posts 36 may simply be short rivets the shanks of which frictionally fit holes formed in the platen.

The holder cover 32 has a base or binding strip 40 at the left hand side. Projecting from the binding strip 40 are thirteen individual concealer strips or tabs 42 corresponding in width to the width of the spaces 26b. The tabs 42 are part of the same piece of material as the base or binding strip 40. Holes 44 at the proximal ends of the tabs eliminate stress concentration. The tabs are hinged to the base or binding strip 40 by the aid of a hot score 46. Very slight resistance is offered to hinge movement of the concealer tabs away from coplanar relationship with the base of binding strip 40. Hundreds of thousands of cycles of movement of the tab are possible without fatigue failure.

The cover 32 is attached to the back part 28 by the aid of heavy duty staples 48 so that the concealer tabs 42 precisely cover the spaces 26b. Preferably the tabs are printed to show the round number so that the proper tab is lifted by the North player.

Normally, the concealer tabs are all secured in covering relationship. For this purpose, CANOE.RTM. clips 50 such as manufactured by the Fastex Division of Illinois Tool Works, Inc., are provided, one for each tab. The clip 50 is a one-piece molded fastener having a head 52 and a shank 54. The proximal portion of the shank diverges and the distal portion converges. The clip 50 projects through a mounting hole 56 (FIG. 5) at the distal end of the tab 42. The shank 54 of the clip clears the right hand edge 58 of the data card and enters a registering hole in the holder back 28. Cam action due to the diverging nature of the clip shank 54 secures the clip 50 to the tab and, furthermore, urges the tab toward the platen 28, thereby tightly covering the data space 26b so that it is effectively concealed. The top and bottom edges of the tab 42, accordingly, do not gap, which they might do if the tab were prevented from full closing by some snap or other mechanism positioned between the parts of the holder. The clip 50 interposes nothing; it merely projects through aligned holes.

As shown in FIG. 1, the distal ends of the clips 50 laterally clear the corresponding edge of the duplicate board 10 so that the back of the duplicate board 10 does not interfere with proper closure. The mounting of the holder on the board ensures this relationship. Furthermore, the overlying relationship facilitates release of the clips simply by application of digital pressure to the rounded end of the clip shank 54 until the clip pops out of the back plate hole 60. Alternately, the clip 50 can be released by digitally engaging an overhanging terminus of the tab 42.

After each round of two boards is played, the boards are passed to the next table. Preferably, an announcement, verbally and/or visually, is made that the change is for a specific numbered round. This reminds the North player what tab to lift. If everything goes as intended, thirteen spaces of information will be filled in precise order on each card. In order to assist the North player in determining what tab to lift, the score approval at previous tables is made visible. This is achieved by providing windows 62 over the "OK" square. Preferably, the West player scribbles his initial through the window 62. In the middle of the session, after say six rounds, the approval of the scores for the first six data spaces is visible at the windows 62; hence, the North player automatically lifts the tab for round 7, which has the first clean or unused window.

At the end of the session, the top edge 64 of the data card is lifted until the rivets or posts 36 are cleared, access being provided by a thumb hole 66 in the platen 28. The card can then be pulled easily from the holder for processing of data. Placement of a new data card for the subsequent session is achieved by the reverse process.

The data cards are processed by the computer hardware such as illustrated in FIG. 10. It includes a card reader 68 that, for example, returns the processed card out the same slot 70 into which it was inserted; a programmable computer proper, including a keyboard 71 for control and instructions; a disc reader 72 for transmitting the program from a disc to the computer; a monitor 74; and a printer 75. An APPLE II PLUS computer is quite suitable for use in the system. A series of secondary monitors 76 provide remote viewing by interested players during the processing. A program for processing such data cards is on file with the Library of Congress under Copyright Registration TX 434-823 in the name of Continental Counterparts, a copy of which appears below as EXHIBIT A hereto.

The system preferably utilizes a reader of the type shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,058,056 to Irwin Rubin entitled MICROPROCESSOR CONTROLLED CARD READER/PRINTER, issued Nov. 15, 1977, whereby characters are printed along the right hand edge of the card as illustrated in FIG. 11. The characters indicate what marks the reader picked up and the match point score assigned for that score. Thus, opposite round 10 appears 05E9, which means that the reader saw a score of 050 for EW, and that a match point score of 9 was assigned for that score.

The row of characters is printed only if the card is free of anomalies; should anomalies be present, the card is returned and the anomaly or anomalies announced on the monitor so that correction can be made. Anomalies may be failure to assign the score to EW or NS; duplication of marks (incomplete erasure); or impossible score; etc. As the card is accepted and as the card edge is printed, the monitors provide a unique display for view by the machine operator and players. The display shows the bridge score as picked up by the reader, the East-West and North-South pair numbers opposite the bridge scores, as determined by machine processing, and the match points assigned for each bridge score, also determined by machine processing. Before the match points are entered and accumulated for the total score of each pair number, a succeeding card must be fed into the reader or, in the case of the last card of the set, a command must be fed into the keyboard answering the displayed question: "IS THIS LAST BOARD CORRECT". Thus, even though the computer has accepted the card as free of anomalies, the machine operator can, particularly if there is no time pressure, check a suspicious score and reject the information as by a suitable keyboard command "R" for REJECT. Correction can be made by erasure if necessary, and the card can be put through the reader a second time on a different mode to avoid overprinting. Players watching the remote monitors can observe the process and take off their scores board-by-board. The printer 75 reproduces whatever is printed along the edge of the card so that a trace of corrections made on a card is obtained, and so that corrected cards can be identified.

After all cards of a section are processed, a printed recap sheet is produced along with printed section results. The encoded data cards are immediately displayed for all to view. Requests for score corrections can be made, should the players note any player input errors or reader failures to pick up marginal or improper marks.

In the form of the invention shown in FIGS. 6 to 9, the back of the duplicate board provides an integral frame 80 about a recess 82 for the data card 22. The duplicate board may be made by injection molding of high impact polystyrene.

Fitted in the frame are a series of twelve identical fabricated plastic concealer tabs or strips 84 that overlie the card. Each concealer strip is essentially rectangular, corresponding in size to the size of the data card spaces 26b. The side edges of the strips are flat and slidably engage the side surfaces 86 and 88 of the frame recess 82. At the start of the session, the twelve strips 82 overlie data card spaces corresponding to rounds 2 through 13, thereby exposing the space for round 1. After the space for round 1 is encoded, the concealer strip over the space for round 2 is slid over the space for round 1, concealing it and at the same time, exposing the space for round 2. The board is passed on to the next table. The North player need not uncover any space, since the correct one is already uncovered. There is but one unused space for the North player to use. The possibility of error is very largely eliminated, particularly since the tabs can move only in the forward direction, there to be locked in place until the end of the session.

In order to lock the concealer strips in place, two plastic springs 90 are provided for each of the concealer strips, one at each side. Each spring in this instance is generally G-shaped and fits a shallow, generally square bottom opening recess 92 in the strip. The recess is closed and the spring retained by a cap 94. Each spring has a tongue 96 that extends through a guide channel formed by walls of the recess and projects laterally beyond the side of the concealer strip. The tongue cooperates with ratchet or detent recesses 100 formed along the side surfaces of the frame recess 82. Each recess 100 has a shoulder 102 perpendicular to the frame edge, and a ramp part 104 that together fits the correspondingly shaped end of the tongue 96. The spring, in the position shown, is slightly coiled in its recess, which develops pressure tending to urge the tongue 96 outwardly and into engagement with the side wall of the frame and into engagement with the ratchet or detent recess 100. The spring force exerted on the ramp part 104 tends to maintain the spring fully seated, whereby the adjacent data card space is fully exposed. Application of force to the strip will cause the ramp 104 to retract the spring tongue 96 so that the strip can be moved downwardly into the open space just encoded. Reverse movement, however, is prevented by the shoulder 102. Downward movement is limited by the bottom of the frame or by engagement with the next concealer strip. Hence, exact positioning of the concealer strips is achieved without deliberate alignment by the user; the ratchet or detent recesses achieve perfect automatic alignment.

Instead of springs on the tabs and latch recesses in the frame, springs could be provided on the frame with latch recesses on the tabs. Friction and an overlying ledge arrangement could also be provided together with some release device for the end tab.

When the session is over, the bottom concealer strip is removed and reinstalled at the top of the stack of concealer strips. This is achieved by a simple key, pronged tool or by narrow instrument (not shown) inserted into one or both slots 106. The slots 106 provide access to parts of the spring, as at 108, that can thereby be engaged for release of the latch. Before the bottom strip is replaced at the top, the card can be lifted from the recess as by push holes (not shown) for moving the upper edge of the card above the frame for grasp and removal.