A Brief History of the World’s Greatest Game—Bridge
By Robert Locke
The game of Bridge was not invented overnight. Well, actually it was. Let me explain.
Its name derives from the Russian card game biritch, but the game as we know it today actually developed over many centuries from much simpler trick-taking games such as loo, euchre, ruff, trump, triomphe, quadrille, ombre, ecarte and many others all coming into and going out of fashion in various capitals of the world. If you’re familiar with the characters of Jane Austen, for example, you’ve seen them at dubitable and redoubtable play at these games in their parlors.
The 18th Century saw the advent of whist, whose name perhaps came from the provocative sound—in the silence of the concentration at the table—of whisking up the four cards into the trick. Whist became the direct predecessor of bridge-whist with its cumulative inventions over decades of dummy, declarer, and bidding and finally developed by 1904 into a game called Auction Bridge. (And it seems to me that when a game has grown in complexity enough to require an adjective, even multiple adjectives, it also deserves capitalization.)
Auction Bridge, with its innovations in variant scorings for major and minor suits and no-trump contracts, required a more profound collaboration between partnerships during the bidding section of the game which in turn created fervent new partnerings in parlors worldwide. But it was not until 1925, literally overnight during a cruise through the Panama Canal, that Harold Vanderbilt and his gamy entourage invented the scoring scheme which soon became known far and wide as Contract Bridge. With new emphasis on the concept of vulnerability as well as above-and-below the line scoring for games and bonuses, Contract Bridge took the game a giant leap forward.
Duplicate Bridge, where the four hands are replicated and put into boards to be rotated and played by different partnerships around the room—around the city, county, continent and even around the planet—advanced the ever-growing trend toward skill as opposed to mere luck of the deal. Many Bridge players became increasingly discontent with Rubber Bridge, the simpler version of Contract Bridge played at parties everywhere, and began attending tournaments of Duplicate Bridge. These pairs events with matchpoint scoring broke up into Swiss Team events with IMPs (International Match Points) and Victory Point scales.
In only a few years after Contract Bridge hit the public like a global tidal wave, the first big names in Bridge hit the heights of popularity with Ely Culbertson and his

 wife Jo challenging international bridge stars to matches of hundreds of rubbers that were broadcast live on the radio. Oswald Jacoby, Charles Goren, Alfred Scheinwold—only a few of the great names that popularized their systems of playing the new game most advantageously—authored multiple books on the game. The first Official Encyclopedia of Bridge by the American Contract Bridge League was published in 1964 in a staggeringly thick volume of 691 pages with a bibliography of seven pages. Through the “new revised edition” of 1971, the 3rd edition of 1976, the 4th edition of 1984, the 5th edition of 1994 and the 6th edition of 2002, The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge has steadily grown until it is now more than 1000 pages weighing more than four pounds, its bibliography more than forty pages.
The World Team Championships began as an annual event with the Bermuda Bowl and became a biennial event in 1963, continuing to the present day. The World Bridge Federation has mounted its World Bridge Olympiad every four years since 1960, now superseding it with World Mind Sports Games to include international competitions of Chess, Go, Draughts and Xiangqi.
.
The development of Bridge is, of course, not stopping here and now. Talk to any Bridge player worth his or her salt, and you’ll quickly hear, “I’ll never get this game right!” With the advent of computers, Bridge is now easily played by millions of strangers online day or night. Also possible now are calculations as to the total number of deals possible of the fifty-two cards of four suits and thirteen denominations, but the figure is so astronomical, with the number 53 followed by nine commas and 27 digits, that there aren’t enough illions to say it in words.
Though played as avidly by little kids as centenarians (I’ve known more than one!) bridge extends in an endless span over a bottomless chasm with dizzying heights above and below and beyond. More than thrilling, bridge is temptation itself, every new deal. Sit down. Pick up a hand. Open up your mind. What an adventure lies ahead of you!
© 2010, Robert Locke ☺
 

Contract bridge, the game we play, is 100 years old this year! 
Time to have a party?
“The modern game of contract bridge was the result of innovations to the scoring of auction bridge by Harold Stirling Vanderbilt and others. The most significant change was that only the tricks contracted for were scored below the line toward game or a slam bonus, a change that resulted in bidding becoming much more challenging and interesting. Also new was the concept of "vulnerability", which made sacrifices to protect the lead in a rubber more expensive. The various scores were adjusted to produce a more balanced and interesting game. Vanderbilt set out his rules in 1925, and within a few years contract bridge had so supplanted other forms of the game that "bridge" became synonymous with "contract bridge".”

What happens, in scoring terms, when a board is passed out?

The answer, in simple terms, is that both pairs score zero.  However, right off the bat, it’s important to distinguish between this kind of zero and the kind which players complain about receiving in terms of matchpoints.  Let me explain.

When you pass the board out, you receive a score of zero.  When the opponents bid and make a contract, or when you bid to a contract but don’t make it, you get a negative score (for instance, going down down one scores -50; if the opponents bid and make 3D, you score -110).  Those negative scores are worse than zero.  On the flip side, if your side bids and makes a contract, or if the opponents bid a contract but don’t make it, you get a positive score (for instance, if you set the opponents one, you score +50; if you bid and make 4S, you score +620).  Those positive scores are better than zero.

Back in the old days, when paper travelers used to accompany each board on its trip around the room, here’s what it might have looked like on the traveler for an imaginary board where many N/S pairs bid and made 2H:

• N/S pair 1 playing E/W pair 6 bid and made 2H.  N/S score +110 and E/W score -110.
• N/S pair 2 playing E/W pair 5 bid 2H and made 3H.  N/S score +140 and E/W score -140.
• N/S pair 3 playing E/W pair 4 bid 4H and went down 1.  N/S score -50 and E/W score +50.
• N/S pair 4 playing E/W pair 3 passed out the hand.  N/S score 0 and E/W score 0.
• N/S pair 5 playing E/W pair 2 bid and made 2H.  N/W score +110 and E/W score -110.
• N/S pair 6 playing E/W pair 1 bid and made 2H. N/W score +110 and E/W score -110.

Here’s the N/S scores arranged from highest to lowest:

• N/S Pair 2, +140
• N/S Pair 1, +110
• N/S Pair 5, +110
• N/S Pair 6, +110
• N/S Pair 4, 0
• N/S Pair 3, -50

And here’s the E/W scores arranged from highest to lowest:

• E/W Pair 4, +50
• E/W Pair 3, 0
• E/W Pair  6, -110
• E/W Pair 2, -110
• E/W Pair 1, -110
• E/W Pair 5, -140

As you know, you get one matchpoint for every pair you beat, and 1/2 matchpoint for every pair you tie.  N/S pair 2 beat all 5 other pairs for 5 matchpoints, and their E/W opponents, pair 5, were beaten by every other pair for zero matchpoints.  N/S pairs 1, 5, and 6 each tied two other pairs and beat two other pairs — they each get 3 matchpoints.  E/W pairs 1, 2, and 6 each tied two other pairs and beat one other pair — they each get 2 matchpoints.

Now look at the table that passed out the hand.  N/S pair 4 beat one pair and receive 1 matchpoint; E/S pair 3 beat four pairs and receive 4 matchpoints.  So their score of zero did not result in zero matchpoints in either case.

What we can see is that, if the pairs your way are bidding and making a contract, or setting the opponents, passing out the hand is bad for your partnership.  If the pairs your way have a contract made against them by the opponents, or are being set in their own contract, then passing out the hand is good for your partnership.  (And if everybody is passing out the hand, passing it out will bring you an average.)

Put more simply: if the hand belongs to your side, passing it out is bad.  If the hand belongs to the opponents, passing it out is good.

Teams vs Pairs
Most experienced players rate teams competition highly and many prefer Teams to Duplicate Pairs.
Because of the differences in scoring, different tactics are appropriate.
In the regular club pairs sessions, your score is compared to all other pairs holding the same cards. You are awarded 2 match points for every pair whose score you exceed and 1 for each pair your score equals. If your score is the best on a board played 10 times, your score is 18, regardless of the margin over other scores. The key to success is how often you are ahead of your opponents (the other pairs sitting in your direction).
In teams, you have only one opponent. He or she is sitting in your seat at your current opposition’s home table. The key to winning is how much you do better than your opponents on each board.
An example. In pairs you bid 3S and make an overtrick for 170. All other pairs bid the vulnerable game scoring 620. You have the bottom score on this board worth 0. But you can get it all back on the next hand by scoring 110 when your opponents all score 100. At teams you will lose 10 imps on the first board. The second board will be scored as no gain to either side, so you are still 10 imps behind.
This has the following implications for teams play:
1. Declarer’s top priority is making the contract. Typically in teams you may deliberately sacrifice a possible overtrick if by doing so you can guarantee making the contract. This is usually incorrect at pairs.
2. Defenders’ top priority is to defeat the contract rather than simply try and limit the overtricks.
3. Play in the safest contract. This applies at any level. Game, slam or partscore.
4. Keep your teams overcalls sound. Especially at the two level vulnerable. At pairs
you are overcalling based on the probability of finding a playable contract. If two thirds of your pairs overcalls result in a good score, it doesn’t matter how bad is the third one. A single big minus in teams can cost you a match.
5 Bid your games. At pairs (either vulnerability) you should bid a game if you rate it a 50% or better chance. Be more aggressive in Teams, especially vulnerable. Stretch to bid a vulnerable game with a 40% or better chance of making. You will be come out ahead (provided the failing games are undoubled, minus one).
6 Bid a small slam with a 50% or better chance of success. (As you should in pairs). But in Teams If there is a choice of denomination, choose the safest slam.
Bid a grand slam only if 13 tricks are certain. There is nothing worse than failing in a grand slam and then finding that your opponent played only in game or part score at the other table.
7. Your main gains will come from bidding games missed by your opponents, and from accurate part score bidding. Small plusses at both tables really help your score along.

 

Dundee Bridge Club welcomes visitors. You can buy a coffee and biscuit beforehand and a alcoholic drink afterward! 
Quite a few Spoons players are going to classes there. Quite a few Spoons players are members.
The relaxed Thursday mornings are ideal for anyone wanting to give a ‘real’ bridge club a try. 
email the secretary in advance to let him know you are coming. 
 

Dundee Bridge Club's current weekly schedule of events at the Bridge Club is:-

• Tuesday evening           -       19:00     -     MP Pairs                  -    24 boards 
• Wednesday afternoon   -       13:00     -     MP Pairs                  -    24 boards 
• Thursday morning         -       10:00     -     Relaxed Bridge        -    18 boards 
• Friday afternoon            -      13:00      -    MP Pairs                  -    24 boards 

Guests are welcome to play but it is polite practice to ask the club secretary if it’s ok to go along. secretarydundeebridgeclub@gmail.com

Free parking too!
Dundee Bridge Club Ltd
297 Perth Road
Dundee
DD2 1JS

Telephone 01382 665699

Scottish Bridge Youth Summer Camp 2025 – 11th-13th July at Stirling University 

Looking for a fun, enriching summer experience for the whole family? Join us at the Scottish Bridge Summer Camp at the beautiful Stirling University campus from 11th to 13th July.

This three-day camp is the perfect blend of learning, adventure, and socialising. Whether you're a seasoned bridge player or a complete beginner, you'll enjoy:

🎴 Bridge Lessons and Tournaments

• Expert-led sessions tailored to different skill levels.
• Thrilling tournaments where participants can compete for exciting prizes.

🌳 Outdoor Activities

• Enjoy the stunning surroundings of Stirling with organised outdoor games and activities.
• A chance to relax, explore, and bond with fellow participants in a fun and active environment.

🎉 Social Events and Parties

• Unwind in the evenings with lively social events, including themed parties for all ages.
• Meet new friends and create lasting memories with like-minded bridge enthusiasts.

The camp is designed for children, teens, and their family members, making it a fantastic way to spend quality time together while discovering the joys of bridge.

• Age Group: The camp is designed for participants aged 11-18.
• Adult Attendance: Adults are not required to attend with the child, though they are more than welcome to join.
• Residential or Daily: This is a residential camp.
• Accommodation: Accommodation is provided and fully catered with breakfast, lunch, and dinner included.
• Activities: In addition to bridge tournaments, the camp offers outdoor activities and opportunities for socialising.
• Cost: The cost is £85 per person, which includes accommodation and meals.

📧 Reserve Your Spot Today with a £20pp deposit!

Spaces are limited, so don’t miss out! Contact m.c.rushworth@stir.ac.uk for more information.

CLICK HERE TO RESERVE YOUR PLACES FOR THE SUMMER CAMP

Join us this summer for a unique combination of learning, fun, and community at the Scottish Bridge Summer Camp!

“Another good day's play at the BirnamArts.  A full house at 15 tables, and fourteen 2-board rounds played.

One hand springs to mind.  On board 4 playing against Derek & Priscilla from Perth, as dealer, sitting West,  I picked up

♠ A Q 9 8 7 5

♥ A

♦ 10

♣ A J 5 4 3​

15 points all working together well, and 6-5 in the black suits - what a cracker!

My partner Hazel held

♠  -  

♥  J 9 6 5 2

♦ A J 7 2

♣ K Q 9 7

As best as I can remember, we bid spades - hearts - clubs and Hazel supported clubs.  We finished in 5♣ 

I always agonise between drawing trumps and cross-ruffing - often unwisely trying a bit of both, and rarely with great success.

The computer says all 13 tricks are on in clubs, but I was pleased this time to get away with 12 (for a second top).  Top marks go to Deannie & Angus  McMaster from Inverness  who not only made 12 tricks, but bid it too.  Well done them - and they finished the day on the podium with the silver. 
3NT makes 9 tricks and 4♠  also makes. Both these contracts were bid more than once. Hands like this aren’t the easiest to bid and it’s hardly surprising that 4 pairs didn’t reach game and only one pair did the slam. “
Derek French

BriAn is an electronic scoring system for the game of contract bridge. Using Android smartphones and iPhones, BriAn can support duplicates, tournaments and café bridge. BriAn can also function as a personal scoresheet for a tournament, or as a record for social game of rubber or Chicago bridge. 

Other than players' phones, no equipment is required to run a duplicate using BriAn: no club laptop, no PC, no transponder box. The app which players use to enter scores is available on iPhone and iPad as well as Android phones and tablets. The app is free for players to download.

Brian runs on high-resolution, touch-sensitive colour displays, which are much easier to use. BriAn supports a much wider range of activities than simply entering scores, and presents a much wider range of information; for instance BriAn displays hand diagrams for played boards, and gives movement instructions at the end of each round, obviating the need for movement cards. 

The BriAn duplicate scoring system is also much cheaper for club directors, since they need to purchase fewer, if any, scoring terminals, and the unit cost of those terminals is lower, and there is no software license fee. Brian can be used to support games which are spread out over multiple venues, such as ‘Café bridge’ events. Finally, BriAn comes with various non-internet modes of use including a personal scoresheet and a rubber/Chicago bridge scorer.

Three spot on Times articles from Andrew Robson. 

Play Bridge with your kids and grandkids!
 

Bridge might be best known as the sport of retired adults, but did you know there are SO many benefits for young people? Here are some of our favourites!

1. Highly Sociable: Bridge is a partner game, best enjoyed with friends. Whether you're teaming up with friends or meeting new people at a bridge club, it's a chance to connect with people from all walks of life.

2. Mentally Stimulating: Think of bridge as a mental workout. It challenges  analytical skills, memory, and strategic thinking.

3. Competitive Spirit: Bridge offers a healthy dose of competition. Whether you're playing casually with friends or diving into tournaments, the competitive side is motivating.

4. Transferable Skills: Bridge helps you in all aspects of life, especially your career. The skills you develop—like teamwork, communication, and strategic thinking—are highly transferable skills.

”Bridge is like cerebral cage fighting, a peculiar mixture of risk analysis, memory, maths and terrifically low cunning. ” Melanie Reid

16 tables. 26 boards. All went well! 
Players came from Dundee, Elgin, Edinburgh, Stirling, Killin, Preswick and Achnacloich! 
 Bridge, food and prizes for a bargain price of £20 per player.

Tournament Director was David McLeod. Not many questions!
 Our USP- the delicious cream scones- welcomed all players! 

The BirnamArts Bridge Day is becoming a regular event and everyone should have a go at it.  I played with Hazel Grant last Monday and we thoroughly  enjoyed the day.  

We duly arrived at Graham Bullock's table, who for the second time was TD.  He is a long term partner of mine so of course I was anxious to give him a proper drubbing.  Success on the first hand, board 4.  They got themselves into an impossible 4S going 3 off.  +300 for us was a joint top - great stuff!  

Then came board 5.  Graham competed to 3D and we let him play in it.  3S by us was on but we didn't bid it.  3D should go down, but of course he made it - a complete top for them.

So there you go - you win some and you lose some.

Derek French

Hazel Grant and Derek French, the winners EW. 

“Computers may be able to play good chess – a distinctly inferior game – but when there will be a computer able to compose a 5th Symphony or paint a Mona Liza, then ‐ and only then ‐ shall I accept that computers can play good bridge.”
Victor Mollo

The smallish Scottish weekend congresses are always good fun. Usually in a 3 star hotel, all in rates, with lots of competitive bridge and a nice town to explore. 

Recommended….

February

Newtonmore, run by the Ness Club Inverness. 

March

Oban, run by Oban Bridge Club

Strathpeffer, run by Dingwall Bridge Club

August

Montrose, run by Central District

October

another in Newtonmore, run by the Ness Club

November

Arran, run by Paisley Bridge Club

‘BridgeDays’ is dedicated to the development of the wonderful sport of bridge! 

The winners EW were David Deards and Paula Fuge. Winners NS were our TD, Graham Bullock and Ron Barker. All went smoothly and the TD commented it’s the first tournament he has ever directed where there wasn’t a single call for him! We are a friendly well behaved gang of bridge players!
The results are up…in results. 
The Raffle organised by Mary Little made £125 and the day was in profit too. The start of money being raised for our chosen 2023 charity Alzheimer Scotland 

BridgeDays duplicates are scored using the BriAn electronic scoring system.  The BriAn system (= "Bridge on iPhone and Android") uses mobile phone technology to replace traditional tabletop scorers.  Players can use their own smart phones or other devices, such as iPads, or use android scoring tablets supplied by the club.

We believe BriAn is a very player-friendly system that has advantages over other systems.  When results are entered for each deal, the next screen shows the full lay-out of the deal, the available tricks in each suit and a full travelling score slip in a single screen. Results of previous boards and a full table of current rankings can be accessed from any device via a menu. The bridge director can create and modify games, adjust scores if necessary and create final files suitable for posting to the web.

If you have a suitable android or iPhone you can become a scorer simply by downloading the free BriAn Bridge app.  Go to the app shop in the normal way and search for "Brian Bridge". It's free to install and easy to use,  You can read more about BriAn Bridge on the website http://www.brianbridge.net.   Using your own phone, iPad or tablet is fun but entirely optional - extra scoring tablets are always available.

Phone scoring - a few pointers

Make sure you check the board number shown as well as the contract, in case the boards have been played in the wrong order. 
Names are given at the beginning of the round, so you can check that you are playing the right people. 
All scores must be written on paper travellers, even if entered on your phone. 
 

Common problems 

App crashes: restart app and tap screen when prompted to restore

Wrong board number: tap one of the black levers on either side of the board number to correct

No connect: first try turning WiFi off. If that doesn't work, try connecting to the venue's WiFi, or suspend phone scoring and catch up later. 

Entered the wrong score: tap the black < beside the board number to go back, then tap 'cancel score', confirm and enter the correct score. 

Watch out for Helen Erichsen's first novel.

The novel follows Cilla, 22, a bridge-playing contract killer who specialises in murder that look like death by natural causes.

What's not to like about a grand sunny summer day out, full of mental sport and nice food , meeting old friends and making new ones, in a lovely Arts Venue by the Tay? Some comments from participants.

"We had a wonderful day and met a wonderful group of people." Sean from Elgin

"such a lovely day. Well organised well done" Jenny from Aberlour

" so enjoyable . The organisation ran so smoothly,it was nice to meet many people from different places .

"The venue was very suitable the food and staff excellent." Pam from Kirriemuir

"a great day....brought joy to so many" Mary from Dundee

"thank you for the great day...It was fun..... the staff and everything, especially using the larger space downstairs, were excellent. I even began to enjoy doing the scoring on my phone - will not be anxious about it next time!!" Vivien from Dunkeld 

"Very many thanks for organising a great day at Birnam again. Really enjoyed it and the food was also served up very well and much enjoyed " Carol from Blairgowrie 

"congratulation on another very successful day of bridge. I heard nothing but praise for the day and the organizing of it all. Again lovely lunch and not forgetting the morning scone and a well needed cup of tea to round the event off,  excellent…😁😁" from Fiona from Blairgowrie 

Thank you, everyone, for coming, from Achnacloich to Aberlour, from Prestwick to Glamis. Having fun. Plus raising some funds for MacMillan Cancer Support. Hope to see you on Monday 19th September.