Bridge — Rules
General
- Contract Bridge is played by four players in two partnerships. You always sit South (bottom) and your partner North (top); the opponents are West and East.
- A 52-card deck is used; everyone gets 13 cards. Ace is high, then King, Queen, Jack, 10 … 2.
- The deal passes clockwise every hand. South deals first.
Auction
- The dealer calls first and the auction goes clockwise. On your turn you make a bid, say Pass, Double an opponent's bid or Redouble when your side has been doubled.
- A bid is a level (1–7) and a strain: ♣ Clubs, ♦ Diamonds, ♥ Hearts, ♠ Spades or NT (no trump). The level is the number of tricks over six: 4♠ = spades trumps, at least 10 tricks.
- Each bid must be higher than the last: first by level, then at the same level ♣ < ♦ < ♥ < ♠ < NT.
- Three passes after a bid end the auction; the last bid is the contract. If all four pass, the cards are redealt (same dealer, same vulnerability).
- The first player of the contracting side to name the contract's strain is the declarer; the partner is dummy.
Play
- The player on declarer's left leads. Then dummy's hand is laid face up; declarer plays dummy's cards.
- If you are declarer, you play both your own cards and your partner's (dummy's) open cards. If your computer partner wins the contract, you play the hand: the table turns, your partner's (declarer's) cards move to the bottom, your own cards stay on top as dummy and you play both hands.
- You must follow suit; if you cannot, you may play any card (you do not have to trump).
- The highest card of the suit led, or the highest trump, wins the trick; the winner leads next. There are no trumps in NT.
Bidding system (option)
- Natural (default): every bid means what it says; "1♠" really wants spades.
- Conventions: the computer players use three common conventions; if you make the same bids your partner reads them as conventions too. Conventional bids are underlined in the auction with their meaning next to them.
- Stayman: after partner's 1NT opening (no interference) 2♣ = "do you have a 4-card major?" (8+ points). Opener answers 2♦ none, 2♥ four hearts, 2♠ four spades.
- Transfer: after partner's 1NT, 2♦ = "I have 5+ hearts", 2♥ = "I have 5+ spades". Opener bids the next suit (2♥ or 2♠), so the strong hand plays the contract.
- Blackwood: once a suit is agreed, 4NT = "how many aces?". Answers: 5♣ 0 or 4, 5♦ 1, 5♥ 2, 5♠ 3. The asker then bids the slam or stops at the five level if aces are missing.
- Contract points (per trick over six): ♣ ♦ 20, ♥ ♠ 30; NT 40 for the first, 30 for the rest. Doubled ×2, redoubled ×4.
- Game bonus: if contract points are 100 or more it is a game: 300 non-vulnerable, 500 vulnerable. Otherwise a part-score bonus of 50.
- Slams: small slam (6) 500 / 750 vulnerable; grand slam (7) 1000 / 1500 vulnerable.
- Overtricks: undoubled at trick value; doubled 100 each (200 vulnerable); redoubled twice that. Making a doubled contract adds 50, redoubled 100.
- Undertricks (scored by the defenders): undoubled 50 each (100 vulnerable). Doubled non-vulnerable: 100, 200, 200, then 300 each; doubled vulnerable: 200, then 300 each. Redoubled twice that.
- Honours (to whichever side holds them): in a suit contract all five trump honours (A K Q J 10) in one hand 150, four of them 100; in NT all four aces in one hand 150. Honours count in both Chicago and Rubber.
Format
- Chicago (4 deals) — default, the most popular form in the USA. Four deals, each scored separately. Vulnerability: deal 1 none; deals 2 and 3 dealer's side; deal 4 both.
- Chicago (8 deals) — the same rules for two rounds (8 deals).
- Rubber — the classic form. Contract points go below the line and accumulate; the first side to reach 100 wins a game and part-scores are reset. A side that has won a game is vulnerable. The first side to win two games wins the rubber: 700 bonus for 2–0, 500 for 2–1. No game or part-score bonuses in Rubber (the rubber bonus replaces them).
Result
- At the end the side with more points wins; partners get the same result. Equal points is a draw.
Playing on KafaDinle.com
- Computer players never cheat; they cannot see your cards or any hidden information.
- Chance elements such as shuffling and dice use a secure random number generator and give no one an advantage.
- Scored / Test: a scored game counts for the leaderboard of that game and level. Test games are not recorded anywhere; they have no move timer and undo can be enabled.
- Points: at every level a win is +1, a draw 0, a loss −1. In 3–4 player games the sole winner gets +1, the last place −1, the others 0; a shared first place gets 0, a shared last place −1. Partners get the same points. The number of hands or target does not change this.
- Move time: in a scored game you must move within the time you chose (chess 20–600 s, default 240 s; other games 30–600 s, default 180 s). A countdown is shown with a warning in the last 30 seconds. Tap the countdown to mute or unmute the warning sound. End-of-hand windows do not count.
- Leaving the table: in a scored game the Exit button, starting a new game of the same kind, closing your account, losing the connection for more than 3 minutes, running out of move time and long inactivity all count as leaving:
- Leaving in the first hand or in a one-hand game is a loss (−1).
- Later, if you are in sole first place on the completed hands, no points are recorded; otherwise it is a loss.
- In partnership games: if your team is ahead you get no points and your partner +1; if level, you −1 and your partner 0; if behind, both −1.
- In chess the material is compared (pawn 1, knight 3, bishop 3, rook 5, queen 9): behind in material is a loss; level or ahead scores 0.
- Resigning in chess counts as a loss.