The Basics: What is Bridge?
Bridge is a trick-taking card game for four players in two partnerships. You sit North–South or East–West, opposite your partner. A standard 52-card deck is used — no jokers. The Ace is the highest card; then King, Queen, Jack, 10 down to 2.
The Deal: Getting Your Cards
One player (the Dealer) shuffles and deals all 52 cards clockwise, face down — one card at a time — giving 13 cards to each player. Pick up your cards and sort them by suit. Keep them hidden from the other players.
The Auction: Making Your Bid
Starting with the Dealer and going clockwise, each player bids or passes. A bid names a number (1–7) and a suit (♣ ♦ ♥ ♠) or 'No Trumps'. Each bid must be higher than the last. When three players in a row say 'Pass', the auction ends and the last bid becomes the contract.
The Contract: What You Must Win
The final bid is the contract. The number in the bid plus six tells you how many tricks you must win. So a contract of '3 Hearts' means you must win 9 tricks (3+6) with Hearts as the trump suit. The player from the winning side who first bid the trump suit becomes the Declarer.
Dummy's Hand: The Face-Up Cards
The player to Declarer's left leads the first card face-up on the table. Then Declarer's partner (called Dummy) lays their entire hand face-up for everyone to see. Declarer now plays both their own cards and Dummy's cards — trying to win the contract.
Playing Tricks: How to Win
Each player plays one card per trick, following suit if possible. If you have no cards in the suit led, you may play any card — including a trump. The highest card of the suit led wins the trick, unless a trump is played, which beats all other suits. The winner of a trick leads the next.
Scoring: How Points Are Counted
If Declarer wins at least as many tricks as the contract required, their side scores points. Win fewer and the defenders score penalty points. Club and Diamond tricks score 20 points each; Hearts and Spades score 30; No Trumps score 40 for the first then 30 each. First side to 100 points wins a Game!
Quick Reference: The Four Suits
Full Guide
Bridge is widely regarded as the most intellectually rewarding card game ever devised — and with over 60 million players worldwide, its enduring appeal is no mystery. The game rewards memory, logical thinking, strategic planning and the subtle art of communication with a partner.
Learning bridge online as an adult is entirely achievable. The basics can be grasped in an afternoon, and most online platforms offer robot games that let you practice without the pressure of a human partner. Major platforms like Bridge Base Online (BBO), Funbridge and RealBridge all offer free trials so you can find the environment that suits how you learn.
Counting your High Card Points (HCP) before the auction is one of the first skills every new bridge player should develop. The standard scale awards Ace=4, King=3, Queen=2 and Jack=1, giving the entire deck 40 HCP. Typically 12+ HCP is needed to open the bidding.
Once you understand the basics, the question becomes which platform to play on. BBO has the most complete free tier and is the default for live human play and ACBL masterpoints. Funbridge has the strongest AI for solo training. RealBridge has video bridge for those who want to play with people they can see and hear. We compare all six major platforms in our independent reviews.
Bridge is fundamentally a partnership game, and that partnership dimension is part of what makes it so rewarding. You and your partner are trying to communicate the contents of your hands through the auction — telling each other about your strength, your suit lengths, and your overall intentions, all through a sequence of coded bids. The standard system in North America is SAYC; the standard in the UK and much of the Commonwealth is Acol.
Understanding the scoring system early makes the game much more enjoyable. The most important threshold is 100 trick points, which constitutes a 'game'. In major suits (Hearts and Spades), you need to bid and make 4 of a kind (10 tricks) to reach 100. In No Trumps, just 3NT (9 tricks) is enough.