Contract bridge

Contract bridge, usually known simply as bridge, is a trick-taking card game of skill and chance (the relative proportions depending on the variant played). It is played by four players who form two partnerships; the partners sit opposite each other at a table. The game consists of the auction (often called bidding) and play, after which the hand is scored. The bidding ends with a contract, which is a declaration by one partnership that their side will take at least a stated number of tricks, with a specified suit as trump or without trumps. The rules of play are similar to other trick-taking games, with addition of the feature that one player's hand is displayed face up on the table as the "dummy". Much of bridge's popularity owes to the possibility that it can be played in tournaments of an arbitrarily large number of players; this form is referred to as duplicate bridge. Competitions in duplicate bridge range from everyday ones in numerous small clubs to World Championships...