Bridge

About this board game

Bridge is a four-player standard-deck trick-taking card game played in two partnerships, with a typical play time of 60 minutes. Its central challenge is to communicate through bidding, choose a successful contract, and then take enough tricks to fulfill it.

The game begins with an auction. Partners bid to exchange information about their hands and determine which partnership wins the bid. The resulting contract specifies how many tricks that partnership must take.

• Auction: Partners communicate through bids to establish the contract.
• Dummy hand: A hand from the winning partnership is placed face-up on the table.
• Trick-taking play: The winning bidder plays their own hand and the exposed dummy hand.
• Defense: The opposing partnership tries to take enough tricks to make the contract fail.

After the auction, the player from the successful partnership who won the bid plays one hand normally while controlling the face-up dummy hand as well. This open information gives the declarer greater control, while the defenders work together to stop the contract from succeeding.

Formally known as Contract Bridge, Bridge developed from the 17th-century game Whist. An early form appeared in 1886, Auction Bridge followed in 1904, and Harold Vanderbilt transformed it into Contract Bridge in 1925 with an improved scoring method.

The duplicate version changes how results are compared. Multiple pairs play the same hands separately, reducing the effect of being dealt good cards and helping isolate the role of skill. With its blend of partnership communication, bidding judgment, and tactical trick-taking, Bridge rewards careful decisions throughout every hand.