A unit of play in
bridge is called a
rubber. To win
a rubber you and your partner have to score two
games. This will earn
you a
rubber bonus of 700 if you opponents have not yet
scored a game, or 500 if they have.
After you have scored your first game you are said to be
vulnerable. Being vulnerable will increase you scores for the
second game, but also raise the penalties for not fulfilling a
contract.
Trick scores
If you and your partner make a contract you get a
trick
score for each
trick you win after the first six. The amount of
points depends on the strain:
So, if you make two notrump, you would get a trick score of 70, two
hearts would get you 60 and two diamonds with two overtricks would
earn you 80.
Games
In order to score a game you have to score at least 100 points in one
deal ore more. Only tricks contracted for during the bidding counts
toward the game score (this is to promote good bidding). Overtricks
will still count towards your total score but not towards the 100
points you need.
It's pretty obvious that it's good to score your games as fast as
possible. In order to score a game in one deal, you have to bid and
make at least three notrump, four hearts, four spades, five diamonds or
five clubs. These are called game contracts.
Slams
If you bid and make a contract of six of any strain, you have a
small slam. This will earn you a bonus of 500 if you are
non-vulnerable and 750 if you are vulnerable. A contract of seven is a
grand slam and gives a bonus of 1000 and 1500 respectively.
This slam bonus is not affected by doubling or redoubling.
Doubling and redoubling
If you make a contract that has been
doubled, the trick score
is doubled. This counts towards the 100 points you need to score a
game (i.e. a contract of two spades is enough since it would earn you
120 points). You also get a bonus of 50 points. Overtricks are worth
100 points regardless of strain; if you are vulnerable they are worth
200 points.
If you make a redoubled contract the bonuses are doubled yet
again. Needless to say, this will result in a quite heavy score if you
make the contract.
Penalties
If you do not make the contract, you will get
penalized. That is, you will get no points, but your
opponents will get a score which depends on the number of tricks you
failed to win, if you are vulnerable and if the contract was doubled
or redoubled.
- Not vulnerable - 50 points per trick.
- Vulnerable - 100 points per trick.
- Not vulnerable doubled - 100 points for the first trick, 200 for
the rest.
- Vulnerable doubled - 200 points for the first trick, 300 for the
rest.
- Not vulnerable redoubled - 200 points for the first trick, 400 for
the rest.
- Vulnerable redoubled - 400 points for the first trick, 600 for the
rest.
So, if you bid four hearts (vulnerable) but only manage to win eight
tricks (you need ten), your opponents would get 200 points, or 500 if
the contract had been doubled.
Honor Bonus
You get an extra bonus of 100 points if you hold four of the honors
(
ace,
king,
queen,
jack or ten) in trumps. If you have all
five the bonus is increased to 150. In the same manner a player who
holds all four aces when the contract is notrump earns a bonus of 150
points. These bonuses do not count toward the 100 points you need to
score a game.
Notes
In tournament play it's more common to play for International Match
Points (IMP) instead of rubbers. You get no bonuses for honors or
rubbers but instead get a bonus when you score a match. Also, it is
ofter pretermined which deals are vulnerable and which are not.