Hoyle Card Games (Jewel Case)

Hoyle Card Games (Jewel Case) | Using it to learn Bridge - pretty good!

pc & video games:

Hoyle Card Games (...

	Hoyle Card Games (Jewel Case) Windows \| Encore Software, 2005 average customer review:based on 14 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Deal yourself in! Whatever your favorite card game Hoyle® puts you right in the middle of the action. With Hoyle Card Games you'll learn to hold'em and fold'em like a pro with insightful in-game tutorials and strategy guides. So shuffle the cards and deal yourself in for hours of fun. Hoyle Card Games contains 18 classic card games and teaches you the official rules "according to Hoyle®." Hoyle Card Games includes: - 5 Card Draw - Bridge - Cribbage - Gin - Go Fish - Hearts - Old Maid - Pinochle - Rummy 500 (new) - Solitaire - Spades - War - Many More! For over 200 years "According to Hoyle®" has meant playing games right. The legacy continues with Hoyle Card Games. System Requirements:Windows® 98SE/ME/2000 SP4/XP SP1 Pentium® 166 MHz processor or faster 16 MB RAM (128 MB for Windows 2000/XP) 100 MB Hard Disk Space 4x CD-ROM 800x600 @ 16 bit color display Format: WIN 98ME2000XP Genre: ENTERTAINMENT Rating: E UPC: 705381100256 Manufacturer No: 10025

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Great games

The first one I received would not run on my computer but the one they sent to replace worked great.

Using it to learn Bridge - pretty good!

I am taking a bridge class at a local bridge studio. All the information can be very overwhelming and for a variety of reasons, I am unable to attend the supplemental practice sessions. So I wanted a piece of software that I could practice with.

I had read a lot of poor reviews of lots of different brands of Bridge software along the lines of "the robot players make stupid mistakes" etc etc. I already had [...]multiple experiences like this at free online game sites (the robot partners at pogo site Bridge game NEVER EVER bid, no matter what cards they hold!).

So, long story short, I didn't have high hopes. But this disc was priced right so I decided to give it a whirl. So far I can tell that the robots are for the most part conforming their behavior to what we are learning in class so it's been very very good practice. I played with the computer players muted so I didn't have to endure the silly comments.

As another reviewer mentioned, it is rather annoying to have to have the disc in your drive whenever you want to play. I realized the reason is copyright protection and I suppose that's fair enough. Installation was a tiny bit counter-intuitive but nothing horrible.

FYI I am running XP.

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The Deck Is Stacked

This is a neat tool to hone your skills but does not duplicate playing conditions.

Luck and skill are main ingredients to any card game. The problem the software makers had was that, unlike in chess software, the computer card player in this software is not smarter than the average human player. So, the software creates an "equal" playing field by stacking the deck in favor of the computer opponent(s). In the case of partner playing, the human partner's computer partner plays a notch or two under the skill level of the computer opponents. So, the software "levels the playing field" by giving the opposing team better cards and a less skillful computer opponent.

I used this software primarily to play Canasta. What I found was that at the highest opening meld level (120 points), the computer team had little or no problem coming up with the opening meld 50% or more of the time. In contrast, the human-computer team came in easily about 10% of the time. So, based on the luck of the initial deal the computer team had a 5 to 1 advantage.

Also, as the game progresses the human led team gets far fewer wildcards (about 20% vs. 80% for the computer team). At the end of each hand the computer team rarely had wildcards left in their hand, the human players' computer partner often did and thus did not play as "smart" as the other computer players.

The bottom line is:

1. This is a fine tool to hone your thinking/strategy skills because you play with the deck stacked against you (especially as the hands proceed toward the end of each game).

2. It does not duplicate real playing conditions. If you would get frustrated by the luck of the draw being mostly against you and having a computer partner who plays dumber than the computer opponents, you might want to think twice about getting this software.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

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