DO NOT PRESS THE POWER-ON KEY (PWR) UNTIL THE DIRECTOR IS READY.

The BridgePad looks like a calculator. It stays at the North seat thoughout the Game. North will enter CONTRACTS and RESULTS, not scores.

SUMMARY OF OPERATIONS

The main thing to remember is READ THE DISPLAY! Do what it says. Watch where the blinking "cursor" is -- that's what you're about to enter. Use the "Next" key to move forward, the "Back" key to move back.

First Table:

1. When Director says so, turn power on.

2. Tell unit what table it's at

3. Tell unit who is sitting there, by entering ACBL numbers of players. Life masters press the XX key for your letter -- a screen will appear to select your letter.

4. Enter "Verification Code" for E/W. If a Howell movement, enetr one for N/S also. Do not use the code 00.

All Tables

1. At each round, verify round number, pair numbers, and board numbers. Be careful when you have a sitout.

Playing: repeat for each board

1. Bid hand.

---- North enter Contract.

2. Play hand.
---- North enter result.

3. E-W verifies contract and result, and OK's contract and result by entering Verification Code

4. Press next to see traveler displayed

Move On

1. Unit stays behind, at North

The display has a cover. Open the cover, and rotate it around to the back, where the cover serves as "feet" for an easel effect.

When instructed to do so, press the PWR key at the lower right of the keyboard.

The Keyboard

The keyboard has 25 keys. Some keys have a dual function.

♠A, ♥K, ♦Q, ♣J, NT -- When entering a contract, the suit portion of the keys (♠, ♥, ♦, ♣) and the NT key indicate the suit of the contract and NO TRUMP. (The AKQJ portion of the keys can be ignored for now.)

XX (Double or Redouble key) -- Press the XX key once to indicate a DOUBLED contract; press the XX twice to indicate REDOUBLED.

N/S, E/W -- Use one of these keys to specify the declarer. The N/S key specifies NORTH if pressed once and SOUTH if pressed twice. The E/W key specifies EAST if pressed once and WEST if pressed twice.

PASS -- The PASS key is used to indicate a pass-out hand.

- (Minus sign key) -- The minus sign key is used to enter contracts going down.

NEXT -- The NEXT key is used to enter data into terminal and move on to the next field.

BACK -- The BACK key is used to correct an entry by moving to the previous field.

NP/LP -- This key is used for NO PLAY and LATE PLAY situations. If this key is pressed once, it indicates that the board has not been played (NO PLAY) or that the Director will have to make an adjustment to the score manually. When North presses this key twice it, indicates LATE PLAY.

ERROR -- The ERROR key is used if you notice an error in one of the boards. You will be asked to correct the contract and the score.

PWR -- The PWR key has two functions. It is used to turn the unit on. The screen is automatically turned off after 30 seconds of inactivity to conserve power. To turn the screen back on, press the PWR key again. No data is lost when it switches itself off. Simply pressing the PWR key allows you to continue from where you were.

Getting Started

Once the unit has been turned on, it will display a message that it is ready, and ask you to press the NEXT key when you are ready to begin. After the unit verifies that it can communicate with the game computer, it will ask you to enter your section number and table number. If you make a mistake, simply press the BACK key and reenter the section or table number.

The E-W pair will be asked to enter a 2-digit "Verification Code" of their choice, used for "signing" the result entered by North. E-W can choose any two digits except 00 as their code. If a Howell movement is being used, N-S will be also asked for their code, for use when they sit E-W later in the game.

ACBL Number

The unit can collect players’ ACBL number and enter them into the game computer, where the player names are looked up. If the director enables this option, each player will be asked for his or her ACBL number. Since Life Masters have a letter in their number, they are asked to press the XX key in order to enter a letter (displayed on the screen) followed by 6-digit number. Players who are not Life Masters should ingore that instruction and just enter a 7-digit number. Players who are not ACBL members should enter 0, and the Director will have to enter their names manually.

At this point, the table unit is completely initialized and ready for the game to start.

Playing the First Board

 The unit will display the table number, round number, the pair-numbers of the N-S and E-W pairs that should be playing this round at this table, and the board numbers to be played in this round. For example:
Table: 1 Round: 1
Pairs: NS: 01 EW: 02
Boards to play
10 11 12

Sometimes, the Director may not be sure of the total number of tables in the game or is too busy to initiate the ACBL scoring software. If the movement information is not yet available from the system, information about board numbers, rounds, and pairs for the table will not displayed until the Director has done so. In that case, the unit will ask you for the pair and board information.

Players should always verify that they are at the correct table and that they have the correct boards available for play, and that the unit is also correct. If not, the Director should be contacted.

By pressing NEXT the first board number to be played will be entered. A board may be played out of order, in which case a warning message will be displayed along with a confirmation request.

At this point the display will look something like this:
Board: 10
Contract: By:
Made: For:
EW Approval code:
The board should be bid at this point. While the board is being bid, the unit will probably turn its display off to conserve the batteries. Press the PWR key to turn it back on, and enter the Contract and the Declarer.

The contract is entered by pressing a number followed by the trump suit key (♠, ♥, ♦, ♣) or NT. If the contract was Doubled, the XX key should be pressed once, and if it was Redoubled, the XX key should be pressed twice. If the contract is Passed Out, the PASS key should be pressed. If the Director decides to enter the score manually (NO PLAY), the NP/LP key should be pressed once. If the Director declares a Late Play, the NP/LP key should be pressed twice. To enter the declarer, press the N/S key once for N or twice for S, or press the E/W key once for E or twice for W.

After the board is played, North should enter the Result. Use the PWR key to turn the screen back on. The display will look the same as it was before.

You then follow standard practice in entering the result (labeled "Made"). You can enter either the number made or the number down.

For example, if the contract was 4 NT, and 7 tricks were taken, you can enter "1"(made 1NT), or "-3" (down 3). If 10 tricks were taken, 4 (made 4NT) would have to be entered. If a player bid and played miserably, taking only 3 tricks at 4NT, -7 (down 7) would have to be entered. A negative value is always taken as "going down".

Knowing the vulnerability, the unit then calculates and displays the actual score.

The E-W pair should verify that North entered the info correctly, and if OK enter its 2-digit code in the next field. If North did it wrong, hand the unit back to North and explain.  If your code has been forgotten, the Director should be called to look it up on the game computer.
Board: 2
Contract: 2HX By: S
Made: 4 For: 670
EW Approval code: 23
If E-W sees an error, the BACK key should be pressed instead of the code so North can make the correction. After the code is entered, the NEXT key should be pressed to transmit the results to the game computer.

Traveler Data

First, the unit displays a percentage indicating how well North/South did.  (East/West did the opposite.)  The unit will then display the results from the boards played in the current round at this table.

Then it will show a comparison of the results of the board just played with the results of that board played on other tables. This is similar to looking at the traveler: the results are displayed as the contract and score. Of course, these results are only meaningful after the first few rounds have been played.

Continue Playing the Round

Pressing the NEXT key will bring up the same display of information as was shown at the start of the round, except the list of boards to be played will not include the board that has been completed.
Table: 1 Round : 1
Pairs: NS: 01 EW: 02
Boards to play 11 12
The number of the next board to be played should be entered by North and then the board should be played. After the board is played, the results should be entered just as for the first board.

Once all the boards in the round have been played, the display will show the new round number, the new pairs who should be at the table, and the new boards to be played at the table.

End of the Game

Once all the boards in the game have been played, the unit will display the message “The game is over”. If there is an outstanding Late Play for this table, the pairs involved can play the missed board at this point and enter the results of the game as any other board.

At the end of the game any player can request to see the final results of the game. The player will be asked to enter their pair number, for example “NS01”. The server will send the final result which will be displayed in the following fashion:
Final Standing 56%
Brd pts brd pts
1 1.0 6 0.0
2 0.0 7 …
3 2.0 8 …
4 1.5
5 0.5
In this example there were 8 boards to play. Pair NS01 played only boards 1 to 6 (skipped boards 7 and 8). On board 1 it got 1 point out of maximum 2 points.

This article is taken from the manufaturer's documentation, and has been simplified for our use. Here is a link to the original:

Player Guide.pdf