Videos

For bridge card games the cards are automatically distributed among four players with the “HWSW Bridge card dealer” as shown in the next video.

The software “HWSW Bridge card reader” runs on a computer and uses a webcam in order to scan and save the suit and rank of all the cards for a bridge tournament. First the software is configured and learned to recognized the ranks and symbols. Second the games of the tourname are scanned and saved to a file.

Apply the next steps in order to learn the symbols:

• Sort a stack of cards by suits and then by rank. The suits are sorted in the order spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs where the spades are located at the bottom. The ranks are sorted in the order Ace, King, Queen, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 and 2 where the Ace is located at the bottom.
• Place the sorted stack in the container of the dealer.
• Start the software “HWSW Bridge card reader”.
• Adjust the detection area for the suits and ranks by selecting menu item “View - Folders - Profile”.
• Open the file “Areas.xml”. Adjust the coordinates of the detection areas for the suits and ranks. Save the file “Areas.xml”.
• Learn a new deck by selecting menu item “Settings - Learn deck”.
• Create a new folder in the folder “HWSW\Bridge card reader\Profile\Decks” and give the folder a unique name, for example the manufacturer/brand of the cards. Confirm the new folder by pressing the “Select Folder” button.
• Ensure the menu item “Settings - Learn deck” is checked.
• The cards Ace of Spades is be visible by the camera.
• The rank and symbol are not yet recognized by the software. A unrecognized card does not have a red square around the symbol and rank.
• Learn the current card by pressing menu item “Settings - Learn card”. The card is now recognized. A recognized card contains a red square around the symbol and the rank.
• Rotate the roller of the camera until the King of Spades is visible.
• The Spades should aready be surrounded with a red square because this suit has already been learned.
• The King is not recognized and is learned by pressing menu item “Settings - Learn card”.
• Repeat this process for the rest of the cards.
• Disable learning the deck by selecting menu item “Settings - Learn deck”. Thus ensure this menu item is not checked.
• Save the profile by selecting the menu item “Profile - Save as...” and create a zip file in the folder “HWSW\Bridge card reader\Profiles” or in one of its subfolders. Give the zip file a unique name, for example the manufacturer/brand of the cards.
• Restart the application and ensure the saved profile is located within menu item “Profile - Profiles”.
• After the software is restarted the last used settings are reloaded and the cards should be recognized immediately.

The software “HWSW Bridge card reader” is used to scan a new bridge card tournament. This can be done after the profile is configured properly and the symbols are learned the software. Apply the next steps in order to scan a new bridge card tournament:

• Start the software “HWSW Bridge card reader”.
• Create new tournament file by pressing menu item “File - New”.
• The scanning of multiple games Place the shuffled stack of cards in the dealer and scan the game with the software. Repeat placing the shuffled stacks and scanning the games until a complete tournament is scanned. Once the tournament is scanned it can be saved to a file with the menu item “File - Save...”. The saved csv file can be used by bridge software in order to calculate the points of a tournament.

The scanning of one game is shown in the next video.