How Can Four People Play Bridge Remotely?
Shark Bridge is the most complete bridge game for your iPad, iPhone, Mac and Windows computers. In 2006 Shark Bridge introduced itself to the world of computer bridge games. In 2009 and 2010 it won the individual event at World Computer Bridge Championship, in 2011 and 2014 Shark won the team event at the World Computer Bridge Championship.
(March 2020) These are difficult times and many people have asked us how they can play bridge with their friends when they have all been told to stay at home. We all have to mindful of social distancing and many folk are choosing to self isolate to protect themselves and their friends and family. For many people their regular bridge games are a social highlight and there is no need to miss out – here at Blueberry Bridge we can help you.
Play duplicate bridge on the web, anytime, anywhere, on a friendly and modern interface. Learn, improve and have fun by comparing your results with your friends and other members. No partner necessary: you play with a world champion robot. Play Bridge Online. Play bridge and learn with simple, effective lessons. Hands courtesy of Sky Bridge Club. How to play bridge. How to play bridge Scoring in bridge. Bidding System ABC bridge. Rule of 20 Overcalls Doubles Unusual 2NT Michaels Cue Bid Responder changes suit Reverse Bids Fourth Suit Forcing Negative Double. Funbridge is an online bridge game allowing you to learn and play duplicate bridge wherever and whenever you like. Bridge is a card game played with four people who play as two competing teams of two players called 'pairs' (North-South and East-West). The players of the same team sit across from each other at a card table.
The folk at No Fear Bridge have put together some set hands so that you can still play bridge with your friends, whilst staying safe in your own home.
What You Need
- You will need to use a video meeting app. Suggestions include Skype, Facebook, Facetime, What’sApp, Google calling, Zoom. All allow multiple people to take part in the same call. You can see and talk to each other and enjoy your game of bridge while staying safe at home.
I suggest you do a practice run to make sure everyone is comfortable with your chosen calling /video meeting app. You can us any device – a laptop, phone, tablet. But you might find a smaller device easier to use if you want to move it to show your cards.
- Before you start playing – you will need to decide who is playing N, S, E or W.
Once you’ve decided, each person should download the relevant sheet, which shows just their own hands.
Download the North hands HERE (as a .jpg image) or HERE (as a Word document)
Download the South hands HERE (as a .jpg image) or HERE (as a Word document)
Download the West hands HERE (as a .jpg image) or HERE (as a Word document)
Download the East hands HERE (as a .jpg image) or HERE (as a Word document)
- Paper and pen – to keep track of the bidding, which cards have been played and which partnership have won each trick.
Playing the game
Decide which hand you are playing. There are 24 hands to choose from.
Each player selects their cards from their own pack to make up their hand.
Bidding proceeds as normal. Make sure everyone has heard each bid. If you use bidding boxes you might like to select your bid and show it to the camera on your device so everyone can see it. But this is where your paper and pen will come in handy – write down each player’s bid.
Play commences as usual, but when the dummy hand is laid out, the person who holds those cards can tell everyone else which cards are in the hand (and/or show it to the camera on their device so everyone can see it). Everyone else can then place a dummy hand on their own table, removing cards as they are played, so everyone can see which cards are in dummy.
Play Bridge Online With Three Friends
About The Set Hands
All these hands were originally played in a duplicate bridge session at bridgeclubs.live.com, so we also have a sheet of other players’ results so you can compare your own performance with the original results – download it HERE
Another fun way of enjoying bridge together would be to access some of the fun activities on the No Fear Bridge website – www.nofearbridge.co.uk (or www.nofearbridge.com if you live in the US).
Try the daily quiz and see who can get their name nearest the top of the leader board.
However you choose to play remotely while self isolating or maintaining social distancing, have fun.
Play Bridge Online With Friends Free
Last updated February 2020
Bridge software can provide online play, but because it resides on your computer you can play offline when you need to which is an advantage when you’re on the road.
Bridge software allows you to play a game with a robot/software or with friends online. Some bridge software presents as an app, some as a downloadable program, some as a browser-based program and some as a combination of all of these. As the technology advances the lines between software and app have blurred.
On this page, we specifically list software. These are the engines and robots behind many online clubs and apps. See the menu at left for contract bridge apps listings.
World Computer Championships Play Bridge Software
The list below is alphabetical. Medalists from the annual World Computer Bridge Championships are indicated next to their name.
Bridge Baron, USA : Silver Medal 2007. Bronze Medal 2010.
Bridge Baron Bridge Software. Bridge Baron participates annual in Computer Bridge World Championships where it has historically reached top positions: 1997: 1, 1998: 4, 1999: 7, 2000: 5, 2001: 5, no entry in 2002, 2, in 2003 and 2004. More recently it earned Silver in 2017, Bronze in 2016, and Bronze in 2014. Bridge Baron is available for Mac as well as Windows.
Website: www.bridgebaron.com
Blue Chip Bridge
Blue Chip Bridge participated in Computer Bridge World Championships where it reached the following positions: 1998: 5, 1999: 6, 2000: 6, 2001: 6, 2002: 6, 2003: 7, 2004: 6, 2005: 6 and 2006: 6. It hasn’t been seen at the Championships lately but it’s still around. “The best program for Acol players” Zia Mahmood. Windows only.
Website: www.bluechipbridge.co.uk
Jack : Bronze Medal 2007. Silver Medal 2008. Gold Medal 2009. Gold Medal 2010. Bronze 2011. Gold 2012. Gold 2015.
Jack is the a times World Computer Bridge Championships Gold medalist – 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2015. Jack has not entered the championships since. Praised for its user friendliness. A good review of Jack can be found on Computer Bridge here ->
Website: www.jackbridge.com
Micro Bridge, Japan : Silver 2014. Bronze 2015. Silver 2016. Bronze 2017. Silver 2018. GOLD 2019.
Micro Bridge has participated in all the ACBL Computer Bridge World Championships. Although the Japanese have yet to win gold, Micro Bridge is always a top-finisher. Read more on Computer Bridge here ->
Website: http://www.osk.3web.ne.jp/~mcbridge/
Q-Plus Bridge, Germany : Bronze Medal, 2007, Silver Medal 2011. Bronze 2012. Bronze 2015. 4th 2018. 4th 2019.
In the early years of computer bridge Bridge King (predecessor of Q-Plus) participated in the Computer Bridge World Championships where it finished 3 in 1991, 1 in 1992, 3 in 1993. Q-Plus Bridge participated in Computer Bridge World Championships where it reached the following positions: 1997: 2, 1998: 2, 1999: 5, 2000: 2, 2001: 4, 2002: 5, 2003: 5, 2004: 5, 2005: 3, 2006: 4. 2018 Bronze. According to Computer Bridge, QPlus is one of the oldest Bridge Programs. The total development time (since its start in 1990) is now approximately 22.000 hours.
Website: www.q-plus.com
WBridge5, France: Gold Medal 2005, 2007 & 2008. Silver 2009. Silver 2010. Bronze 2011. Silver 2012. Bronze 2014. Silver 2015. Gold 2016 Gold 2017. Gold 2018. Bronze 2019.
WBridge5 won the World Championships for the first time in 2005. WBridge5 had already been very close to the Computer Bridge World Championship title for a few times before that, losing a final to Jack by 1 IMP in 2002, losing a chance in 2003 when Bridge Baron pulled a stunt and WBridge5 didn’t make the final by just a few points. In 2005 WBridge won its first Gold. In the final, which was broadcast live on Bridge Base Online, 4-time reigning World Champion Jack was defeated. Since then WBridge is always in the top 4, and is the reigning champions winning gold in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Wbridge5 as the machine used in FunBridge (now GoToBridge) and is also available for online play on sites Bridge Now and BridgeEZ. Read more about this robot on Computer Bridge here ->
Website: http://www.wbridge5.com/
TCS Bridge Bot, India
TCS BridgeBot is being developed by Tata Consulting Services, Prasad Ramesh Bokil, Prasad.Bokil@tcs.com. They played in the 2018 and 2019 Championships placing 6th in 2019.
Website: https://www.tcs.com/
Meadowlark Bridge, USA.
Entered in the 2018 championships where it placed 9th and in the 2019 Championships where it withdrew before the completion of the round robin. Meadowlark Bridge is being developed by Rodney Ludgwig, rod@fmendoscopy.com
Synrey Bridge, China. Silver 2017. Bronze 2018. Silver 2019.
Synrey Bridge made it’s appearance on the international stage in 2016 and won Silver against WBridge5. Website features an App recently ported into English. You can now play online with Synrey Bridge read about that here ->
Website: http://www.synrey.com/root.html
Robo Bridge, The Netherlands. 2017, 3rd. 2019, 5th.
Robo Bridge has participated in the World Championships a few times now, winning a Bronze medal last year. RoboBridge is also a web-based online Play Against the Robots.
Website: http://www.robobridge.com/
Shark Bridge, Denmark. Gold 2014, Bronze 2016.
Shark Bridge has been around for a while and continues to develop its software and interfaces. It’s available as an app or as software.
Website: http://www.sharkbridge.info/
Play Bridge Online With Friends Reviews
Play & Learn Software
Some of these have both downloadable software and mobile apps – in these cases, we try to list the products both on this page and on our Contract Bridge Apps page.
Will-Bridge – play bridge online against a world champion computer. Includes Discover Bridge for novices with Eddie Kantar and Intermediate Match Play with more advance modules coming soon. This is not downloadable software.
Rays Bridge Game : USA Website: raysbridgegame.com
My Bridge Trainer: Germany
Software to teach and practice Defensive Play, Beginner and Intermediate. With the MyBridge Trainer you can play Bridge for free in the demo version. The full version contains 151 hands. To learn more about the product, play the demo version free of charge and without obligation. Software available for Windows. Website: www.mybridge.shop
BridgePro – website claims is the most advanced, affordable contract rubber bridge computer card game on the market today. Available for Windows and Mac, Free Trial Download. Also available as an app and listed on our apps page.
Blue Chip MiniBridge is a freeware Minibridge game for Windows – with a short course included in the software to show you the ropes if you’re new to playing.
Micro MiniBridge was created by 3Web and is available in several languages for international players (and those curious about what a “rubber” is referred to in Japanese…
BJ Bridge is a contract bridge game for mobile devices, set up so that you can partner up with other players for a game or two via Bluetooth connection.
GnuBridge is a bridge game designed for Linux, described as “open source” – which means that programmers are welcome to add their two cents to the software, and it’s completely free to modify and play.
Play Bridge Online With Friends
XContractbridgeis a Contract Bridge simulator for Windows and Linux. It was sent to us by Chris Burkinshaw of Bitbase Software. Thanks! You can download a free trial for Windows or Windows Mobile.
Bidding Questis a great bridge-bidding software available for Windows, Mac and Linux bridge practice software in three platforms: Windows, Mac & Linux.
BridgeThink is described as “a contract bridge tutorial and training program”. According to the official website, it has more than 600 deals – and cool bridge quizzes. Free to download, and excellent reviews.
Quick Bridge was developed and sent to us by Wesley Steiner. Downloadable to Windows, the software is also available as a web-based game.