Category
Bridge & Games
Game systems and bridge ideas, currently including bidding conventions, sacrifice scoring, and a probability puzzle.
Topics
BridgeBridge bidding, scoring, and strategic tradeoffs worth being able to recall at the table.2History of GamesHow enduring games evolve: rules mutate, cultures adapt them, institutions standardize them, and strategic depth can survive enormous historical change.5Probability GamesSmall games and puzzles where probability and state tracking matter.1
All Entries
Bridge
- New Minor ForcingNew Minor Forcing (NMF) is a responder convention used after opener rebids 1NT. Responder bids the unbid/new minor artificially to force opener to describe the hand further — especially threecard support for responder's fivecard major and four cards in the other major.
- Vulnerability and Sacrifice ScoringA bridge sacrifice is worthwhile only if the penalty for going down is cheaper than the score the opponents would have earned making their contract. Vulnerability changes both sides of that comparison.
History of Games
- History of Games: How Rule Systems EvolveGames are unusually durable cultural objects.
- Mancala: A Family of Sowing Games"Mancala" is often treated as the name of one board game.
- Go: Territory, Influence, and 2,500+ Years of ContinuityGo is one of the oldest continuously played strategy games.
- Chess: From Chaturanga to the Modern QueenModern chess did not appear fully formed.
- From Whist to Contract BridgeContract bridge belongs to a long family of tricktaking card games.
Probability Games
- Why HTT Beats TTH Head-to-HeadThere are two different questions that are easy to accidentally mix up: