Bridge

Choose partners and mark four deals

This guide uses traditional Chicago, or four-deal bridge, from the ACBL Laws of Rubber Bridge, Appendix 4. Its contract points can carry toward a game; it is different from scoring every deal independently. Ordinary playing cards work. Keep a second differently backed deck only if you want to shuffle the next deal while playing this one.

Choose two pairs and sit partners opposite each other. For a random start, everyone draws a card from a shuffled deck: the two highest are partners, and the highest deals first. Break equal ranks by spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs. Return the drawn cards. Cards rank ace high, then king, queen, jack, 10 down to 2; there are no special jokers.

Draw two score columns labeled with the pairs' names. A horizontal line separates bonuses and penalties above from contract points below. Leave space for further lines below. Also write deal numbers 1–4 with their dealers. Mark vulnerability: deal 1 neither pair; deals 2 and 3 the dealer's pair only; deal 4 both pairs. Vulnerability means larger penalties and some larger bonuses. This schedule stays fixed regardless of earlier results.

Have the player on dealer's left shuffle and the player on dealer's right cut. Deal one card at a time face down clockwise, starting left, until each person has 13. Count before bidding and keep cards private. Gather and redeal an incorrect deal with the same dealer and deal number.

Use the auction to choose a promise

Give your bids shared meanings

Auction rules tell you what is legal; a bidding agreement helps partner understand what you hold. For a first session, this guide suggests a simple house agreement: suit bids describe at least four cards in that suit; raising partner shows at least four-card support. An opening 1 notrump shows 15–17 high-card points and a balanced hand, shaped 4-3-3-3, 4-4-3-2 or 5-3-3-2. Other notrump bids suggest fairly even suits. Every double means you expect to defeat the opponents, rather than asking partner to choose a suit. Use no artificial bids, forced responses or secret signals. Tell both opponents this agreement before dealing. Experienced pairs may instead disclose their own shared system.

Count ace 4, king 3, queen 2 and jack 1 to estimate strength; these hand-evaluation points are not the score. As conservative starting advice, open at the lowest level in a longest suit with about 13 high-card points, or use the agreed 1 notrump opening. Partner can show a different four-card suit or support yours. Look for eight cards in one suit between your hands. Stay low when combined strength is uncertain; another legal bid is a larger commitment, not a requirement to keep talking. This starter agreement is a learning aid, not Standard American Yellow Card.

Play thirteen tricks

Separate contract points from bonuses

Agree on the trick count before mixing cards. If the declaring pair makes its target, score only the tricks promised beyond six below the line: 20 each in clubs or diamonds; 30 each in hearts or spades; 40 for the first notrump trick and 30 for each further one. Multiply these contract points by two if doubled or four if redoubled. Extra tricks are overtricks: put 20 each above the line in an undoubled minor-suit contract, or 30 each in an undoubled major or notrump contract. Overtricks do not help complete a game.

A pair completes a game when its contract points since the latest line reach at least 100, in one deal or across several. Give it 300 above the line if not vulnerable on this deal, or 500 if vulnerable. Draw a new horizontal line under both pairs' contract points. Both now start a fresh game count at zero; the points already written still count in the final total. A game does not end the four-deal session. Add no best-of-three rubber bonus.

On deal 4 only, if the declaring pair makes a contract but its current game count remains below 100, give that pair an extra 100 above the line. A partscore already sitting there earns no bonus unless that pair makes a partscore on deal 4. Earlier partscores get no separate bonus.

Example: on deal 1, North–South bid 2 hearts and take nine tricks. Record 60 below and 30 above. On deal 2, East–West bid 1 notrump and take seven: record 40 below for them. On deal 3, North–South bid 2 diamonds and take eight: add 40 below, completing their game with 60 + 40. If North was the first dealer, North–South are vulnerable on deal 3, so add 500 above and draw a line across both columns. East–West's old 40 remains in their final total but cannot help complete their next game.

Score doubles, slams and failed contracts

For making a doubled contract, add 50 above the line; for making a redoubled contract, add 100 instead. Doubled overtricks are 100 each if not vulnerable or 200 if vulnerable; redoubled overtricks are 200 or 400 each. These replace ordinary overtrick values. Multiplying contract points can itself complete a game: 2 hearts doubled and made gives 120 below the line.

If the declaring pair falls short, it gets no contract points or overtricks. The defenders score above the line for each missing trick. Undoubled: 50 each when declarer is not vulnerable, 100 each when vulnerable. Doubled, not vulnerable: first missing trick 100, second and third 200 each, every further one 300. Doubled, vulnerable: first 200, every further one 300. For redoubled penalties, double the corresponding doubled total. Down three doubled is therefore 500 not vulnerable or 800 vulnerable.

Bid and make level 6 for a small slam: add 500 above if not vulnerable or 750 if vulnerable. Bid and make level 7 for a grand slam: add 1000 or 1500. These are extra to any game and double/redouble bonuses. Taking twelve tricks in a lower contract does not earn a slam bonus.

This traditional format also scores honors, even if the contract fails. After play and before gathering the hands, a player can show four of A-K-Q-J-10 of the trump suit originally held together for 100 above, or all five for 150. At notrump, all four aces originally in one hand earn 150. Honors may belong to either pair; they never complete a game. Do not combine cards across partners to claim them.

Check each result and finish together

After scoring a played deal, dealer passes left and the next numbered vulnerability applies. After deal 4, add every point above and below all lines in each column. The higher total wins. House finish: equal totals are a draw; begin a fresh four-deal set if everyone wants another. Reset both score columns and the vulnerability schedule for the new set. A fifth active player waits or joins the next set.

Explain one unscored trick before dealing: lay out four example cards, demonstrate following suit and trump, then return them all to the deck. During scored deals, keep hands private except dummy. Say calls clearly and write them in order if anyone struggles to remember. Ask opponents about their bidding meanings on your turn, and discuss what worked after the deal, rather than coaching partner during it. Let new players make a manageable contract instead of pushing every auction toward a slam.

For this friendly session use these explicit house remedies. Catch a wrong count before bidding and redeal. If an insufficient bid, illegal double or call out of turn is caught before the next call, withdraw it and take the proper legal turn; partner must not use the revealed intention. If the auction has progressed, abandon the deal and redeal at the same numbered slot. Catch a wrong-hand lead or failure to follow suit before the trick is gathered, return that trick's cards and replay it legally from its original leader. If already gathered, or if private cards or tactical help have affected later choices, abandon the deal and redeal at the same slot with previous scores unchanged. These generous learning remedies replace formal infraction penalties; they are not tournament law.

For a scoring disagreement, recount the intact trick piles and check contract, double status and declarer's vulnerability. Show any honor claim before mixing hands. Correct arithmetic before agreeing the final totals. House remedy when the result cannot be reconstructed: cancel that deal's points and replay its numbered slot with a fresh shuffle. The four-deal finish requires four valid played results, not four attempts.

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