SCORING

Scoring in the full version of bridge is quite complicated so we don’t want you to get bogged down in that to start with. For the purposes of the information in the two panels below, we are disregarding two aspects of scoring – vulnerability and penalty doubles. When you feel ready to build these elements into your game you will find the information you need further down the page.

If you have started with minibridge you will already understand about the trick scores for the different suits and bonuses for part scores and game contracts. The first difference now that you are moving on to bidding is that part score no longer means just a minimum of seven tricks. Now you must make the number of tricks specified by your contract.

The second difference that we will introduce at this stage is slam bonuses – so you can get the big rewards you deserve for bidding and making such high-level contracts.
If you fail to make your contract, your opponents score 50 points for each trick by which you fell short of your target.

If you are using bidding boxes, the score for every making contract, whether doubled, redoubled, vulnerable or not can be found on the back of the relevant contract card. Penalties for undertricks are printed on the backs of the double and redouble cards. You can also look up these score or the full scoring tables that you will find via this link for making contracts and this one for undertricks.