Play Bridge Online Free With an AI Partner Against the Computer

Bridge (contract bridge, to give it its full name) is a trick-taking card game for four people in two fixed partnerships. If you have played Spades, Hearts or Whist, the card play will feel familiar, with thirteen cards each, following suit, and the highest card taking the trick. Two things are new. Every deal starts with an auction, where the partnerships bid for the right to choose trumps by promising to win a number of tricks. And once the play begins, one hand is laid face up as dummy and played by its partner, the declarer. You sit South. Your partner North (Rory at the table) and both opponents, West (Alex) and East (Sam), are computer players.

The first time you open the game, a "New to Bridge?" card offers "Learn with one deal". Lesson 1 skips the auction and has you defend a 3NT contract with your partner. The first three tricks are arranged so that you follow suit and win with an ace, lead to a trick your partner wins, and discard on a suit you have run out of, and then you play the remaining ten yourself. "Learn the card play" in the side panel starts the lesson again whenever you like.

Bridge card game rules for playing one deal

The deal. Each player gets thirteen cards. Partners sit opposite each other, North–South against East–West.
The auction. Starting with the dealer and going clockwise, each player makes one call per turn, choosing a bid, Pass, Double or Redouble. It ends when three players in a row pass after a bid.
The contract. The last bid is the contract. Its suit becomes trumps (in no trump there are none), and its number sets how many tricks the bidding side must take.
The opening lead and dummy. The player on declarer's left leads to the first trick. Declarer's partner then puts their whole hand face up as dummy, and declarer plays both hands.
Thirteen tricks. Play goes clockwise, and whoever wins a trick leads the next one.
The score. If the declaring side took enough tricks it scores the contract, and if not, the defenders score for every trick it fell short.

Terms you will see at the table

Term	Meaning
Call	Any action in the auction: a bid, Pass, Double (X) or Redouble (XX)
Contract	The final bid: a level from 1 to 7 and a suit or NT (no trump)
Declarer	The player who plays the contract, from their own hand and dummy
Dummy	Declarer's partner, whose cards lie face up after the opening lead
Defenders	The other partnership, trying to stop the contract
Vulnerable	A side that scores bigger bonuses and pays bigger penalties on this deal
Partscore, game, slam	Contracts worth under 100 trick points, 100 or more, and a level of 6 or 7
HCP	High-card points: ace 4, king 3, queen 2, jack 1, so 40 in the whole pack

Auction calls: bids, Pass, Double and Redouble

A bid is a number from 1 to 7 with a suit or NT, and the number counts tricks beyond six. So 1♥ promises seven tricks with hearts as trumps, 3NT nine tricks with no trumps, 4♠ ten tricks, a level of 6 twelve tricks (a small slam) and 7 all thirteen (a grand slam).

Each bid must outrank the one before it with either a higher number, or the same number in a higher denomination, ranked from lowest to highest as ♣, ♦, ♥, ♠, NT. Over 1♠ you can still bid 1NT, while over 1NT the cheapest suit bid is 2♣.

Pass is always allowed. You can Double only the opponents' bid, and only if it has not been doubled already, and the doubled side can then Redouble. A new bid by anyone cancels a double or redouble. If all four players pass before anyone bids, the deal is passed out. In One deal and Four deals the same dealer deals again and the passed-out deal does not count; in Rubber it scores 0–0 and the next player deals.

On your turn the bidding box lays out every call you are allowed to make, a row for each level and a column for each denomination, with Pass, X and XX underneath. Tap a bid and a card opens with what it would tell your partner, for example "What 1NT means: 15–17 points · balanced", and only the card's own button sends the bid, so you can look before you commit.

Who declares, who is dummy and who leads

Declarer is not simply whoever made the last bid, but the player on the side that won the auction who first named the contract's suit (or NT). Two auctions with North dealing show the difference.

North 1♦, East Pass, South (you) 1♥, West Pass, North 2♥, East Pass, you 4♥, then three passes. You named hearts first, so you declare 4♥, North is dummy, and West makes the opening lead.
North 1♠, East Pass, you 4♠, then three passes. You bid the game, but North named spades first, so North declares, you are dummy, and East leads.

Playing or watching the dummy hand

When you declare, dummy goes down after the opening lead, and you choose the cards for both hands. If dummy wins a trick, the next lead has to come from dummy.

When your partner declares, a card asks who plays the contract. "I'll play" turns the table so North's hand is at the bottom and your own hand is the dummy across from it, and you play both. "Computer plays" leaves the contract to North while you watch. When East or West declares, you and your partner defend, and the hand opposite declarer is dummy.

Following suit, ruffing and no-trump tricks

You must follow the suit that was led whenever you can, and the status line reminds you ("Follow Hearts when able"). Only when you have none of it can you play a trump (ruff) or throw any other card. A trick is won by the highest trump in it or, if no trump was played, by the highest card of the suit led, while in a no-trump contract only the suit led counts. Aces are high.

Bridge scoring for trick points, games, slams and penalties

A deal is scored when all thirteen tricks have been played. If the declaring side took at least six plus the contract level, it scores, and otherwise the defenders collect a penalty.

Denomination	Trick points for each trick bid, undoubled
♣ ♦ (minor suits)	20
♥ ♠ (major suits)	30
NT	40 for the first, 30 for each one after

Only the tricks you bid count toward game, and a double multiplies them by 2, a redouble by 4. A contract worth 100 trick points or more is a game: 3NT (100), 4♥ or 4♠ (120), 5♣ or 5♦ (100). Anything lower is a partscore.

When the contract is made	Not vulnerable	Vulnerable
Partscore bonus	50	50
Game bonus	300	500
Small slam (level 6), on top of the game bonus	500	750
Grand slam (level 7), on top of the game bonus	1,000	1,500
Each overtrick, undoubled	trick value	trick value
Each overtrick, doubled (redoubled: twice this)	100	200
Making a doubled / redoubled contract	50 / 100	50 / 100

Tricks short	Undoubled, not vul.	Undoubled, vul.	Doubled, not vul.	Doubled, vul.
1	50	100	100	200
2	100	200	300	500
3	150	300	500	800
4	200	400	800	1,100
each one more	+50	+100	+300	+300

Redoubled penalties are twice the doubled ones. Some totals worked out with those tables:

2♠ made exactly scores 60 + 50 = 110, or 140 with an overtrick.
3♦ with two overtricks scores 60 + 40 + 50 = 150. That is eleven tricks, but only the 60 you bid counts toward game, whereas if you bid and make 5♦ the same eleven tricks score 400.
4♥ made scores 120 + 300 = 420 not vulnerable or 620 vulnerable, and 450 with an overtrick.
3NT made scores 400 or 600, while 6♥ not vulnerable scores 180 + 300 + 500 = 980.
In 2♥ doubled and made, the trick points become 120, a game, so 120 + 300 + 50 = 470.
4♠ doubled and two down gives 300 to the defenders, or 500 if declarer was vulnerable.

One deal, Four deals or Rubber scoring

The Scoring mode setting in the side panel has three choices. Bidding and play are the same in all of them, and changing the setting starts a new game.

	One deal	Four deals	Rubber
Length	Board 1 only	Boards 1 to 4	Until one side has won two games
Your cards	Best Hand	Best Hand	Dealt at random
Vulnerability	Nobody	None, N–S, E–W, Both in turn	A side that has won a game
Bonuses	50, 300 or 500 on each deal	50, 300 or 500 on each deal	700 or 500 for the rubber, plus honors

In more detail:

One deal is a single deal, scored by itself. It is always board 1, so North deals and nobody is vulnerable. It uses Best Hand, where you are given the strongest of the four hands by high-card points (or one tied for strongest), so you will often have enough to open the bidding.
Four deals plays boards 1 to 4, each scored on its own with the tables above, and adds them up. The deal goes round North, East, South, West, and the vulnerability runs None, North–South, East–West, Both. Best Hand applies to every deal.
Rubber is the traditional home game. The cards are dealt at random (no Best Hand) and the deal passes clockwise. Trick points carry over from deal to deal as a partscore until a side reaches 100 and wins a game, when both sides' partscores are wiped. A side that has won a game is vulnerable, and the first side to win two games takes the rubber with a bonus of 700 (two games to none) or 500 (two games to one). The per-deal 50, 300 and 500 bonuses are not used. Slams, overtricks, doubles and penalties score as before, and honors count 100 for four of the five top trumps (A K Q J 10) in one hand, 150 for all five, and 150 for all four aces in a no-trump contract. So a made 2♠ leaves 60 below the line, and a later 2♥ adds 60 more, reaching 120 and winning a game.

With only one table there is no other result to compare against, so none of the modes uses IMPs or matchpoints. The score is plain total points, with games and partscores on the scoreboard in Rubber.

The bidding system your AI partner plays

Your partner and both opponents bid a simplified natural system in the style of Standard American, where you count your high-card points, open with about 12, and look for eight cards between the two hands in hearts or spades. All three computer players read every call the same way, and that is the reading the bidding box shows you before you bid. The calls you will meet most often:

Call	What it shows
1♣ or 1♦ opening	11–21 points (10–21 in fourth seat), at least 3 cards in the suit
1♥ or 1♠ opening	11–21 points (10–21 in fourth seat), at least 5 cards in the suit
1NT opening	15–17 points, balanced
2NT opening	20–21 points, balanced
2♣ opening	22 points or more, nothing to do with clubs; partner must keep bidding
2♦ in reply to 2♣	A waiting bid that says nothing about diamonds
2♦, 2♥ or 2♠ opening	Weak two: 5–11 points and a six-card suit
3♣, 3♦, 3♥ or 3♠ opening	Preempt: 5–10 points and 7 or more cards
Raising partner's 1♥ or 1♠	To 2: 6–9 points with 3+ support; to 3: 10–12; to 4: 13+
A new suit in reply	6+ points and 4+ cards at the 1 level, 10+ points at the 2 level
1NT in reply to a suit	6–9 points, balanced
Double of an opening bid	Takeout: 12+ points, at most two cards in their suit, 3+ in each of the others

Stayman and transfers over partner's 1NT

Three replies to a 1NT opening are conventions, not suits:

2♣ is Stayman. It asks the 1NT bidder for a four-card major and needs 8+ points. The answer is 2♥ or 2♠ with four of that suit, or 2♦ with neither.
2♦ is a transfer to hearts and 2♥ a transfer to spades. Each shows five or more cards in the next suit up, and the 1NT bidder simply bids that suit, so the contract is played from the stronger hand.
2NT invites game with 8–9 points, and 3NT bids it with 10 or more.

So if you open 1NT and your partner replies 2♦, bid 2♥. The card for that bid reads "Completes partner's transfer."

First deals as declarer and defender

Before you play to the first trick as declarer, count. In no trump, add up the tricks you can take at once with top cards in both hands and pick the suit that can supply the rest. In a suit contract, count the cards that will lose and decide whether dummy's short suit can ruff some of them before you draw trumps.

Drawing trumps is counting too. In 4♥ with eight hearts between your hand and dummy, the opponents hold five. Lead trumps until they have none left.

Watch your entries. Say your hand has ♦A 4 and dummy ♦K Q J 10 5, with no other way to reach dummy. Play the ace first and then the 4 across, and dummy's diamonds run. Lead the 4 to the king first instead, and your ace has to win the second round in your own hand, stranding dummy's J, 10 and 5. Cash the high card from the shorter side first.

On defense, lead the suit your partner bid if they bid one. Against no trump, a long suit of your own is the usual start, because its small cards can win tricks once the high ones are gone. The old rules of thumb, second hand low and third hand high, are a fair default, and dummy, the one other hand you can see, tells you which suits declarer will try to run.

In the auction, a partnership needs about 25 points between the two hands to bid game in no trump or a major, and with less, settle for a partscore. Check who is vulnerable before you compete, as two down doubled costs 300 when you are not vulnerable but 500 when you are.

Bridge, formally Contract Bridge, combines a four-player partnership auction with declarer-and-dummy play, thirteen tricks, and One Deal, Four-deal Total Points, or Rubber scoring.

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