Skills required Tactics and Strategy Random chance Low to Moderate Type Trick-taking game Cards 52 Play Clockwise | Playing time Origin England Players 3-4 Deck Anglo-American | |
Card rank A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 | ||
The card game auction bridge, the third step in the evolution of the general game of bridge, was developed from straight bridge (i.e. bridge whist) in 1904. The precursor to contract bridge, its predecessors were whist and bridge whist.
Contents
Auction bridge trick scoring, bonus scoring, and penalty scoring are radically different from contract bridge, and there is no concept of vulnerability in auction bridge.
Bidding rules are nearly the same, although in contract bridge bidding many complex artificial bids and bidding systems have evolved.
Origin
It is not certain to whom auction bridge should be credited. A letter in The Times (London), January 16, 1905, signed by Oswald Crawford, describes auction bridge as first played in 1904, while a book by "John Doe" (F. Roe), published in Alláhábád, India, in 1889, puts forward auction bridge as an invention of three members of the Indian Civil Service stationed at an isolated community, designed a three-handed form of bridge to compensate the lack of a fourth player. Their key contribution was the concept of competitive bidding for the declaration.
Play
The bidding, play and laws are the same as contract bridge.
Scoring
Auction bridge scoring is as follows: