Way before more than 70% of computers in the world were powered by Windows, the default option was DOS.

This might give away my age, but I have plenty of great childhood memories of the operating system: Getting to know command line programming, firing up either Pac-Man or Tetris – and then subsequently developing nightmares of being haunted by both.

Now and then I get the urge to fiddle with technology: If you didn’t know, you can download an emulator like DOSBox to force older or incompatible games to work on Windows. (The download link is on their website, and there are similar programs available for everything from an Atari system through to a Gameboy.)

Here are some of the best bridge games for DOS.

Grand Slam Bridge

Grand Slam Bridge is the earliest created program listed here, released back in 1987 by Electronic Arts Inc. It gives you everything you could want if you’d like to relive DOS and why it was great: While it might just be pure nostalgia due to finding a copy of Grand Slam Bridge when I was pretty young and first discovering cards, I still like Grand Slam Bridge every now and then.

According to the game’s credits, the bridge expert for the game is none other than Steve Robinson (Member of the ACBL Hall of Fame since 2003).

MVP Bridge

MVP Bridge was first published in 1994, credited to Steve Estvanik from Cascoly Software.

A little research notes that Steve was also instrumental in creating and programming Green, Towers and Everest: The Iceman’s Apprentice.

Again, for a quick game, this is a great, old classic.

Later on, it transformed into MVP Bridge Deluxe for Windows, another fun one to keep around the PC for a bit of nostalgia.

Micro Bridge

I found Micro Bridge listed in An Overview of Computer Bridge Systems, an appendix to Search and Planning Under Incomplete Information. (The book itself is a great read for any fans of AI, computer learning and how it relates to bridge.) 

The description states, “This is a DOS program with VGA graphics that can function in duplicate mode, pair match mode, or allow two human players to play against the PC at the same time via a serial link.” and the game is credited to both Tomio Uchida and Yumiko Uchida from Japan.

Back then, the listed price was $60 – or 8, 000 yen.

It might take some searching to find a copy, but this is a great little part of bridge history that’s worth playing if you’re on a DOS-binge.

Bridge Master

The first release of Bridge Master was in 1992, and it’s another one of the early bridge games I remember clicking my way through.

Unlike many other games, it offered a little more in terms of bridge instruction. (Even if you had no clue what you were doing at the time, the program could and would help you out.)

It also had a bit more of a visual feel to it, and a nice, weirdly comforting wooden-looking backdrop. Also, a nice included feature is that you could change around the play and strategy settings for your opponent.

Of course, Bridge Master was one of our own – made by Bridge Base Inc.

Bridge Olympiad

Bridge Olympiad is another classic worth mentioning on any list of great bridge games.

Visually, it was great: And your cursor was a little pencil. Players also finally had avatars, and you were allowed to see statistics about each player (e.g. Bid Level: Normal or Aggressive: Less).