How to Play Contract Bridge

Bridge has a reputation for being difficult, but the rules themselves fit on a few pages. What takes a lifetime is getting good at it, and that is half the fun. If you have ever played Whist, Spades or Pinochle, you already know how tricks work. Bridge adds one big idea: before the cards are played, the two partnerships hold an auction to decide how many tricks one side promises to take, and which suit will be trump.

These are the rules our free online Bridge game uses. Where people commonly play differently, we say so, and the rule variations page covers those in more detail.

The Players and the Cards

Bridge is for four players in two partnerships. Partners sit opposite each other. Players are named after the points of the compass: North and South are partners against East and West. In our game you are South and your computer partner is North.

A standard 52-card deck is used, with no jokers. Aces are high: the order in each suit is A, K, Q, J, 10, 9 down to 2. The dealer deals all the cards one at a time, clockwise, starting with the player on the left, so everyone gets 13. The deal moves one seat to the left after every hand.

Counting Your Points

Before you bid, you need a way to judge your hand. Almost everyone uses high-card points:

There are 40 points in the deck, so an average hand has 10. Long suits are worth something too: many players add one point for every card over four in a suit. A useful guide is that a partnership with about 25 points between them can usually take nine or ten tricks, and about 33 points will take twelve. Our game shows your points at all times while you bid.

The Bidding (the Auction)

The dealer speaks first, then each player in turn clockwise. On your turn you make one call:

• A bid names a number from 1 to 7 and a suit or notrump, such as "2♥" or "3NT". The number is how many tricks over six your side promises to take. So "2♥" promises 8 tricks with hearts as trump, and "3NT" promises 9 tricks with no trump suit at all.
• Pass means you don't want to bid now. You can still bid later if the auction goes on.
• Double can only be said right after an opponent's bid (or after passes that followed it). It raises the stakes: if they make their contract they score more, and if they fail you score more.
• Redouble can only be said after an opponent has doubled your side's bid. It raises the stakes again.

Every bid must be higher than the one before it. A higher number always beats a lower one. With the same number, the denominations rank, from lowest to highest: clubs ♣, diamonds ♦, hearts ♥, spades ♠, notrump. So after 1♥, you could bid 1♠ or 1NT, but to bid diamonds you would need 2♦. Hearts and spades are called the major suits; clubs and diamonds are the minors.

The auction ends when three players pass in a row after a bid. The last bid becomes the contract, doubled or redoubled if that was the last thing said about it. If all four players pass without anyone bidding, the hand is "passed out": the cards are thrown in and dealt again.

Worked example: an auction

You are dealer. The bidding goes:

You open 1♠, West bids diamonds, North supports your spades and you jump to game. Three passes follow, so the contract is 4♠: your side must take 10 tricks with spades as trump.

Declarer, Dummy and the Opening Lead

The declarer is the player of the winning side who first named the suit (or notrump) of the final contract. In the example above you bid spades first, so you are declarer even though North also bid spades.

The player on the declarer's left makes the opening lead. Then the declarer's partner lays all 13 cards face up on the table, sorted by suit. This hand is the dummy. From then on the declarer plays both hands: their own and the dummy's, each in its proper turn. The dummy's owner just watches.

In our game, when you are declarer, North's cards appear at the top of the screen and you tap them when it is the dummy's turn. When North is declarer, you are the dummy: your cards stay face up and North plays them. When West or East is declarer, you and North defend.

Playing the Tricks

• Whoever leads may play any card.
• The others play in turn clockwise and must follow suit if they can.
• If you can't follow suit, you may play any card, including a trump.
• The highest trump wins the trick. If no trump was played, the highest card of the suit led wins. In a notrump contract there are no trumps, so the highest card of the suit led always wins.
• The winner of each trick leads the next one. All 13 tricks are played.

When the declarer can see that every remaining trick is theirs, they may claim them instead of playing it out. Our game offers a Claim the Rest button when you are declarer and that is certain whatever the defenders do.

Scoring

Our game uses Chicago scoring: a match is four deals, each scored on its own, and the side with more points after four deals wins. (Classic rubber bridge scoring is available as a house rule.)

Vulnerability

A vulnerable side earns bigger bonuses but pays bigger penalties. In Chicago: deal 1, nobody is vulnerable; deals 2 and 3, the dealer's side is vulnerable; deal 4, both sides are.

When the contract is made

Doubling doubles the trick score, and redoubling multiplies it by four. That is why 2♥ doubled (120 points) counts as a game. The contracts that make game on their own are 3NT, 4♥, 4♠, 5♣ and 5♦.

When the contract fails

The defenders score for each trick the declarer is short (each "undertrick"):

Redoubled penalties are twice the doubled ones.

Worked examples

• 4♠ made exactly, not vulnerable: 4 × 30 = 120 trick points, plus 300 for game = 420.
• 3NT made with an overtrick, vulnerable: 40 + 30 + 30 = 100, plus 500 for game, plus 30 for the overtrick = 630.
• 2♦ made, not vulnerable: 2 × 20 = 40, plus 50 for a part score = 90.
• 2♥ doubled made, not vulnerable: 2 × 30 × 2 = 120 (a game!), plus 300 game bonus, plus 50 for making it doubled = 470.
• 6♥ made, vulnerable: 180 + 500 for game + 750 for the slam = 1,430.
• 4♠ doubled, down two, vulnerable: the defenders score 200 + 300 = 500.

Words You Will Hear

• Opening bid: the first bid of the auction.
• Balanced hand: no singleton or void and at most one doubleton, such as 4-3-3-3 or 5-3-3-2.
• Fit: eight or more cards in one suit between you and your partner.
• Part score: a contract below game. Game: a contract worth 100 trick points or more.
• Overtrick / undertrick: a trick more than, or short of, the contract.
• Ruff: to trump a trick when you can't follow suit.
• Finesse: trying to win a trick with a card that isn't the highest, hoping the higher card is with the opponent who has already played.

Helpful Features in Our Game

• Your points always shown while you bid, with your suit lengths.
• Tap any bid in the bidding grid to see what it means in our system.
• Hint suggests a bid or a card and explains why. Why? explains each computer move.
• The contract in big letters during the play, with the tricks you still need.
• Show All Hands and Replay This Deal after each deal, so you can learn from every hand.

Ready for more? Our Bridge strategy guide writes out the whole bidding system the computer uses. If you would like to practice trick play without bidding first, try Whist.