Right, let's get one thing out of the way: bridge has a reputation.
People think it's complicated, stuffy, something old people play in hushed rooms with disapproving looks.
That's what I thought too.
Then I sat through a lesson where the teacher spent forty minutes full of jargon before anyone touched a card. Half the room looked terrified, the other half were asleep.
I became Education Officer for the Welsh Bridge Union to fix that.
Mini Bridge is where we start. If you can play Snap, you can play this.
Four people sit around a table. You and your partner face each other – you're a team. The other two are the opposition.
What are you trying to do?
Win more cards than the opposition.
Everyone gets 13 cards.
Cards run from Ace (the boss) down to Two (apprentice).
Suits have a pecking order:
Everyone plays one card, going clockwise. Highest card wins.
If someone leads with a spade and you've got spades, you play a spade. Only when you've run out can you play something else.
Before play begins, one suit gets crowned as 'trumps.' Trumps beat everything else.
Say hearts are trumps. Someone leads the ten of spades. You haven't got any spades left. Play even the tiniest heart – the two – you win.
Feels like cheating the first time. It isn't. It's tactics.
Who gets to choose the trump suit? The person with the most points.
What are points? I'll show you now.
Before anyone plays, everyone values their hand:
Ace = 4 points
King = 3 points
Queen = 2 points
Jack = 1 point
The whole pack contains exactly 40 points. When everyone announces their totals, they should add up to 40.
Bridge hands in books and online games are shown like this:
Here's how we count:
♠ A = 4 ♥ Q = 2 ♥ J = 1 ♦ A = 4 ♦ K = 3 ♣ K = 3 ♣ Q = 2
Total: 19 points
The partnership with more combined points plays the hand. The player with the highest count is crowned Declarer. Their partner becomes Dummy.
Declarer looks at both hands and chooses which suit will be trumps.
What if you don't have a clear long suit – everything's evenly spread? That's where 'no trumps' comes in. But that's Part 2 of this series.
Declarer then plays both hands. No hints from Dummy – they do as Declarer asks.
The person to Declarer's left plays the first card. Then clockwise around the table.
The winner of the trick leads the next one. Thirteen tricks total.
Want to try it?
Once you've got the hang of this there's a whole world of bridge waiting.
May the points be with you.