[Stephen Tu]

Quote

Out of pure curiosity, does anybody know when there was the very first possibility to play online bridge in WWW?

OKbridge came out in 1990 I think, I started playing on it (all ASCII text client run on Unix systems) in 1991. This when it was still "the internet" and no one really knows about it except computer geeks, and "www" as such does not exist yet, first web browser being invented around same time!

[Aberlour10]

Stephen Tu, on Oct 1 2010, 03:33 PM, said:

Quote

Out of pure curiosity, does anybody know when there was the very first possibility to play online bridge in WWW?

OKbridge came out in 1990 I think, I started playing on it (all ASCII text client run on Unix systems) in 1991. This when it was still "the internet" and no one really knows about it except computer geeks, and "www" as such does not exist yet, first web browser being invented around same time!

My fault, in everyday speach... I wrote WWW and meant Internet, these are of course not one and the same. Anyway I am a little surprised that there was online bridge play already at the beginning of the 90's.

[jdeegan]

I found BBO in 2005 after playing on OKBridge for a number of years. I saw immediately that Fred's model was far superior. No up front $100 buy in, open door for tournament directors world-wide, financial support from some big guns, and best of all, from my point of view, no Lehman score.

Like any REAL bridge player my entire sense of self-worth is determined by the result on the last bridge hand I played. The Lehman score catered perfectly to my needs. Unhappily, other players often felt the same way. Some players would bail out of any table at what they saw as the first sign that the combination of players at the table would lead to a session that would lower their Lehman rating. It made it hard to keep a table together.

Other players used OKBridge as a forum to berate their partners' frequent errors, real and imagined. What fun that was!

Even sicker was how the OKBridge mentality affected attitudes toward a well-known bridge character known to many by a name designated by a single English letter. After switching to BBO, this fellow has settled in to a nice niche, and he has become a healthy asset to our game. After all, this is a game, and we play games to have fun. Our colorful characters are part of the fun.

Here is to you G.E.O. Day. Let me pin a rose on that one. I got the mustard for it. I still recall playing your system in the morning game. Or the time you confronted Jim Jacoby at an obscure tournament in the desert town of Lubbock, Texas. You got right in his face, as you always do, starting a tale of a bridge hand under south goal of the Texas Tech basketball arena and ending it under the north goal. Every time Jim told (and retold) the story, we expressed our amazement that Jumbo could walk backward as fast as G.E.O. Day could walk forward.

Hurrah for BBO!!! Good luck for the next ten years.

[Aberlour10]

It remains a few weaks from now or?

[Rossoneri]

I started my account Dec 2003, after starting to learn the game and being told that BBO was far better than Yahoo or MSN...

[diana_eva]

Almost here :-) We decided to celebrate thru the whole month of April. One day cant be enough! Watch the lobby news for some fun stuff coming soon.

[1eyedjack]

Can't remember when I started playing on BBO, but feel that it must have been at around the time that OKB started charging a subscription. I joined the forum in March 2004. Perhaps it was around then? Is there any way of finding out?

[gordontd]

1eyedjack, on 2011-March-28, 00:48, said:

Can't remember when I started playing on BBO, but feel that it must have been at around the time that OKB started charging a subscription. I joined the forum in March 2004. Perhaps it was around then? Is there any way of finding out?

OKB always charged a subscription.

[Stephen Tu]

gordontd, on 2011-March-28, 01:03, said:

OKB always charged a subscription.

No, it was free until at least 1994 when I was still student. Probably started charging everyone toward end of '94, maybe 95?

[gordontd]

Stephen Tu, on 2011-March-28, 03:47, said:

No, it was free until at least 1994 when I was still student. Probably started charging everyone toward end of '94, maybe 95?

OK, but that's well before BBO existed.

[chasetb]

I joined at the beginning of June 2009; I had only started to learn bridge in March of that year. I love the Vugraph, the free express and bingo tourneys, and being able to watch other people. I don't care for people overrating themselves, and having to brave the random BBOer as a partner because my partners don't play on here. Overall, I am a big supporter, so Happy 10th Anniversity BBO!

[1eyedjack]

gordontd, on 2011-March-28, 05:25, said:

OK, but that's well before BBO existed.

Yes, in that case my memory must be shot to hell. I don't remember paying anywhere near 10 years' subs to OKB. I can imagine I may have paid a year or two, but I would have thought I would remember a decade. Nor do I remember taking 10 years out of online bridge. Oh well, one of life's mysteries.

[inquiry]

I started playing on BBO in mid 2002. Prior to that, I had played on the Game Zone or whatever it was called before MSN took it over. A lot of my friends had started moving from it to Okbridge and BBO, so I naturally enough followed.

Fred, who didn't know me from "adam", did me a favor (I doubt he even remembers it) in 2002 related to lin formats, so when I discovered the BBO forum (feb 13, 2003), I registered and became a very active user in an effort to make this forum a success. In part because I like talking about bridge, in part to indirectly pay Fred back for his kindness. Along the way, I somehow became an administrator here and a yellow in the gaming site.

[diana_eva]

We're having a Birthday Party tourney today, starts at noon EDT (6pm CET):

#314 Ind. BBO's 10th Birthday Tourney

BBO Rules apply, summarized to our no 1 Rule: BE NICE!
Undo is not allowed.
The winner gets 10 BB$

Have fun Maybe you get to partner Fred !