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If you enjoy a game – to stretch those shrinking brain cells – then the Pro Bridge 610 could be the answer, and it’s a lot easier than travelling to a Bridge club.

I have had one for just over a week and while I am still a novice at using it I am enjoying the time spend with it enormously. I doubt that an expert would gain that much but beginners and intermediate players will certainly sharpen their game.

The unit is 24x15.5x3.5cm the last measurement is a maximum that only applies to the rear of the unit where the 3xAA batteries are inserted. The left side has a monochrome screen 7x9cm that displays all the information for bidding and playing.

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The rest of the face is divided horizontally the top half has 3 rows of 7 bar buttons for bidding and card selection while playing. The lower part has a five position wheel and 6 buttons should you prefer to enter your bids or select your cards in this way.

There is a backlight but providing the area you are using it has reasonable lighting it should not be required.

The box contains the unit above and an 80 page four language manual. So first you need to find 3xAA batteries there is a socket for a mains adapter and at the price of the unit this certainly should be provided as standard. I am aware it is made to be sold in various countries but lots of other electrical equipment is supplied with multiple plugs and you select the one required for the country you are in. I think this would be an ideal travelling companion for those who spend time in various countries, so the plug pack would be very useable and of course it would cut down on battery use.

Pro Bridge 610 can play both Rubber and Duplicate Bridge and exploring the menu system will find it supports a range of bidding styles – great for the intermediate player – as well as supporting various degrees of difficulty.

In my initial uses I found the small card symbols above the four rightmost bottom line bar keys difficult to read especially the club and spade symbols, maybe if they were a little larger, obviously once you know the placement you no longer look. I also found that having to select the suit before the card number when leading a little annoying – again fine when you know – as you need to press enter to confirm once both are selected.

Any deal can be played randomly or by number but a feature that may appeal to the more advanced played is the ability to edit any deal and thus seeing if a particular contract is possible to win!

There are lots more choices and I am still getting to grips with exactly what is on offer. This is the best portable Bridge game I have found but it has one very large problem the price at around £150 is far to high. Now if it was say £69.99 then it would fly off the shelves.

Link www.saitek.com/chess/uk/610.htm