Minibridge is a simplified version of the game of Bridge, essentially Bridge without the bidding phase. It is an excellent way to start learning Bridge without all the complexities of bidding for a contract. Anyone familiar with trick taking card games and the concept of trump suits, will be up and playing within minutes.
Minibridge was first developed in France and the Netherlands as an introduction to bridge for school children and was soon acknowledged as an excellent game in its own right.
Differences between Bridge and Minibridge
This paragraph is for those familiar with Bridge. If you are new to Bridge, please read the full explanation
of the game.
In Minibridge there is no auction for the contract. Instead, each players' High Card Points (HCP)
are displayed for all to see and the partnership with the highest total plays the contract. The declarer is
the player with the highest point count in the partnership. The dummy hand is then displayed and the declarer
must decide what suit to play the contract in (or no-trumps) and whether it is a "part-score" contract or a "game" contract.
In a part score contract the declarer must make at least 7 tricks (equivalent to a 1 level contract) and in a game contract must
make at least 9 tricks (no-trumps), 10 tricks (major suit) or 11 tricks (minor suit) - as in Bridge.
The play of the hand then follows exactly as per Bridge with the same scoring at the end of the hand.
Minibridge Plus is a variation that moves it closer to Bridge (see below).
Education and Practice
In this version, you can play a game (first partnership to 1000 points), or practice individual hands. In practice mode, at completion you can see what other scores are possible with different contracts. You can also get information at any point as to how many tricks you can win for each card in your hand.
Minibridge Plus
Minibridge Plus introduces a couple of changes that bring it closer to Bridge. Differences are:
Daily Challenge
Participate in the daily challenge to try make it on the leaderboard. Everyone gets dealt the same five hands and you are declarer in three of them. Final score is North/South - West/East + 1000 points (to avoid negative net scores). You will need to register and login first to play. Registration is free and takes less than a minute.