What Is Bridge?
Bridge is widely considered the greatest card game ever invented. Four players form two partnerships and compete across many hands. Every hand has two phases: first a bidding auction where teams predict how many tricks they will win, then actual card play where they try to fulfill that prediction. The team that wins the bidding becomes Declarer — they try to make their contract. The other team are the Defenders — they try to stop it. Bridge rewards memory, communication, and precise card play.
What You Need
- One standard deck of 52 playing cards
- Four players in two partnerships — partners sit across from each other, North-South versus East-West
- A score pad
Understanding Tricks
A trick works as follows: one player leads a card face-up. Going clockwise, each other player plays one card face-up. The highest card of the suit that was led wins the trick — unless a trump card was played, in which case the highest trump wins. The winner of the trick leads the next one. Each hand contains exactly 13 tricks.
Card Rankings Within Each Suit
From highest to lowest: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.
The Bidding Auction
Before any cards are played, both teams compete in a bidding auction to determine the contract — how many tricks the winning team commits to winning, and in what trump suit.
A bid consists of a number (1 through 7) and a denomination (Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, Spades, or No Trump). The number represents tricks promised ABOVE six — so a bid of 1 means winning 7 tricks total, a bid of 4 means winning 10 tricks, and a bid of 7 means winning all 13 tricks.
Denominations rank from lowest to highest: Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, Spades, No Trump. To outbid someone you must bid a higher number, or the same number in a higher denomination.
- Starting with the dealer and going clockwise, each player either makes a bid higher than the previous one, says Pass, says Double (challenging the current bid), or says Redouble (countering a Double).
- Bidding ends when three players in a row pass.
- The team that made the final bid wins the auction. The player on that team who FIRST mentioned the winning denomination becomes the Declarer. Their partner becomes the Dummy.
Playing the Hand
- The player to the Declarer’s left leads the first card.
- After the first card is led, the Dummy places their entire hand face-up on the table, organized by suit, for everyone to see.
- The Declarer now plays both their own hand AND the Dummy’s hand — making all decisions for both.
- Each player must follow suit if they have a card of the led suit. If they have none, they may play any card including trump.
- The highest card of the led suit wins — unless a trump was played, in which case the highest trump wins.
- The winner of each trick leads the next one.
Scoring
If Declarer wins at least as many tricks as their contract:
- Minor suits (Clubs, Diamonds): 20 points per trick bid
- Major suits (Hearts, Spades): 30 points per trick bid
- No Trump: 40 for the first trick, 30 for each additional
- Reaching 100 points in a single hand or cumulatively earns a Game
If Declarer falls short of their contract, the Defenders score penalty points per undertrick.
Winning
The partnership that wins two Games wins the Rubber and earns a bonus. Add all scores — the higher total wins.
Tips for New Players
- Count your high-card points before bidding: Ace=4, King=3, Queen=2, Jack=1. With 12 or more points, you usually have a hand worth opening the bidding with a 1-level bid.
- As Declarer, count your trump cards and plan to draw out the Defenders’ trumps early.
- As a Defender, lead the top of a sequence — if you hold King-Queen-Jack of a suit, lead the King.