Learning To Play Bridge - Lesson 16

The term ‘Game has a special meaning when you play bridge. If you and your partner bid to game you earn extra bonus points on top of the points you receive for each trick won

If you can

Bidding Game -what is it?

Bidding to ‘game’ means you have bid to the level where you are entitled to extra bonus points just for bidding up to that level. If your contract stays below the level of game it is then called part game and your bonus is much smaller. To obtain this bonus you must bid and make your contract, if you don’t, points are awarded to your opposition but on a different scale. The partnership vulnerability affects only the ‘game’ bonus points not the ‘part game’ contracts and many more points are allocated for a vulnerable game contract.

When you are learning to play Bridge on 60SecondBridge, the game will handle all the scoring for you but it is still important to know how the scoring works so you can choose the best strategy.

‘Game’ or ‘part game’ bonuses are allocated at the end of each round as follows:

any part game contract successfully bid and played, scores a bonus of 50 points on top of points for the tricks made
any ‘game’ contract successfully bid and played, scores a game bonus of 300 if not vulnerable and 500 if vulnerable on top of the points awarded for the tricks played and won.
if you fail to make your contract the opposition gets points allocated, you and partner get none (when playing against the computer it is recorded as a minus score eg. -200)

If a partnership have enough points in their combined hands, they should bid always try to bid up to the “Game” level.
You need at least 25 HCP between you and your partner to bid game in NoTrump (i.e. 3NT), 26 TP for game in 4♠ or 4♥, and 27 TP to bid game in 5♦ or 5♣. These point requirements are approximate, subject to partnership agreements, and don’t guarantee making the game contract.
If responder has 13 points or more, then it is right to bid game, because Opener already has shown an opening hand and responder has extra points: 13TP (opener) + 13TP (responder) = 26 TP

This is a ‘lite’ version of the lessons available to members. Our full interactive lessons include in inbuilt Bridge term glossary, instant quiz to test your knowledge and multiple practice hands to play on each subject. Our members area also delivers a new Hand of the Day lesson each day, daily Bridge competitions and unlimited random practice hands to play.

The Number of Points and Tricks contracted to achieve Game” · Bidding 3NT requires 25 HCP and winning 9 tricks

· Bidding 4♠, 4♥ requires 26 TP and winning 10 tricks

· Bidding 5♦, 5♣ requires 27 TP and winning 11 tricks

Clubs	Diamonds	Hearts	Spades	NoTrump	Tricks Required
1C Lowest Ranked Bid	1D	1H	1S	1NT	= 7 tricks
2C	2D	2H	2S	2NT	= 8 tricks
3C	3D	3H	3S	3NT	= 9 tricks
4C	4D	4H	4S		= 10 tricks
5C	5D				= 11 tricks

Exercise: Your partner opens the bidding with 1NT. What do you respond holding this hand below?

Responder

♠Q 8 7
♥A 7 6
♦K 9 8 6
♣Q 7 4

Answer: With 11 points jump to game in 3NT.