Bridge

The Bridge is also referred to as Contract Bridge, which is a tricky card game played with a standard 52-card deck. It is usually played between 4 players, grouped in two separate teams. The game has been popularized globally since 1896s. The sport is regarded as one of the most played card games in English countries. Any card player who plays the highest-ranked cards at the table wins the trick at the end. The World Bridge Federation (WBF) is the international governing body of the sport. The bridge game has a massive count of supporters and players around the world with plenty of clubs and tournaments. With the evolution of internet and computers, it is widely played online.

Objective

The objective is to earn higher scores than the opposite team or players. Players try to collect the high card points (HCP) which consists of an Ace card worth of 4 points, followed by King with 3 points, Queen with 2 points and Jack worth of 1 point. All the participating players sit at a circular table with the distributed cards. The scoring of tricks is as follows -

• 20 points per odd trick if the trumps used are Clubs or Diamonds.
• 30 points per odd trick if the trumps are Hearts or Spades.
• In case of no trumps, 40 points are allotted for the first trick and then 30 points for all the additional odd tricks.

History of Bridge

The game of bridge was originated earlier in Italy and France. In 1596, Francesco Berni described a game in his book named as "Triomfi". In the late 19th century, the game of bridge re-evolved. 

In 1886, the first-ever standard rulebook was written by John Collinson in Ottoman, Istanbul. Many theories described that the game was invented by the British soldiers during the Crimean War and named it after Galata Bridge. In 1904, auction bridge emerged out in which the players bid together to determine the contract and the declarer. 

The modern bridge, which is widely popularized holds its ideas from auction bridge based on the formats designed by Harold Stirling Vanderbilt. 

After 1997, personal computers and the internet opened a wide amount of strategies to play this game by sitting inside a house. 

Variants

Duplicate Bridge

Duplicate bridge is a very popular variant of the regular bridge played in clubs and tournaments. It's similar to the regular contract bridge, but with some exciting deals to the different sets of players. The game is usually played between 4 or 8 players.,

Chicago Bridge

It is popularized by many other names such as the Four Deal Bridge or Short Bridge. In this variant, the rules are similar to the contract bridge and are played by 4 players over four deals. The Chicago Bridge originated in Chicago during the 1960s. It was primarily played in the Standard Club of Chicago only. ,

Rubber Bridge

It is the most popular and basic variant of contract bridge, played by 4 players. The 2 teams usually play in clubs for money. If either of the teams becomes first to win two rounds of the game, then only one rubber is completed. Each round of Rubber Bridge presents a total of 100 or more scores. A new round of the game begins if a pair has won the total points for simultaneously two games so that they can conclude the rubber. The money pay-out depends on a designated per-point scale. ,

Honeymoon Bridge

Two players play honeymoon Bridge with a single deck of cards. The game involves a rotating trump, and the players cannot bid in between the ongoing game. The game time is also short for Honeymoon Bridge.

Mini Bridge

Mini bridge is a form of the bridge which is usually organized by the English Bridge Union. The game was developed in France to teach young players the basics of bridge. Later, this short version of the game became popular among the adult. This game can be played by many players which inhibits complex amounts of bidding. The game timing is very short, and hence it's been played and liked by a vast number of people. ,

Auction Bridge

Auction Bridge is one of the oldest variants of the bridge. The game has a different kind of scoring where the players over tricks the counting during the round. Hence, other players are required to bid high so that they can win the contract.