The cards are shuffled and 52 cards are dealt, 13 to each of the 4 players. Partners sit opposite each other around a table. Thus North and South play against East and West.

The aim of the game is for each partnership to win as many tricks as possible. A trick consists of each of the 4 players playing one of their cards.

The game has two main parts:

A. The Bidding (also known as the auction)
B. The Play of Cards

A. The Bidding

1. Every player gets a chance to bid. Bidding proceeds in a clockwise rotation.
2. You bid by choosing a level and a suit type. Example: 1♣, 2♥, 3 No Trumps (NT), 4♠.
3. Every suit type in bridge has a value. This is the suit ranking:

No Trumps is worth more than
♠ is worth more than
♥ is worth more than
♦ is worth more than
♣

This is important when choosing a level to bid, and for scoring. When you make a bid, you have to bid more than the previous person’s bid. Example:

4. Each time you bid, you are contracting to take 6 tricks + the level you bid. Example: If you bid 4 Hearts, you and your partner combined must win 6+4 = 10 tricks. If you bid 7NT, you and your partner combined must win 6+7=13 tricks.
5. If you don’t think you and partner combined can undertake to win more tricks than the current bidding shows, you can Pass, Double, or Redouble.
Double suggests that you think the opponents will not win as many tricks as required. Doubling increases the number of points available on the deal.
Redouble suggests that you think the opponents have erred by doubling. Redoubling further increases the number of points available on the deal.
6. The bidding part of bridge ends after 3 consecutive passes has been made. The last bid made becomes the final contract, and the person who first bid that suit or notrump becomes the declarer. In the example below, the contract is 2 Spades. The declarer is North because he bid Spades first.

B. The Play of Cards

1. The player sitting to the left of the declarer gets to play the first card, which is called the opening lead.
2. After the opening lead is made, the declarer’s partner lays all his cards face up on the table. The partner of the declarer is known as the dummy. The declarer is responsible for playing cards both for himself and for the dummy.
3. After a card is lead to a trick, the other 3 players must follow suit if they can (in a clockwise rotation). For example, if a spade is lead to a trick, you must play a spade if you have one. The highest card in the suit wins the trick (Aces are high, then K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 and 2 which is the smallest card). Whoever wins a trick leads the first card to the next trick.
4. If a player is unable to follow suit to a trick, he is allowed to play any of his cards to that trick. This is known as making a discard.
5. The bidding sometimes designates one suit as the trump suit. In the example above, where the final contract is 2 Spades, Spade is trump. The highest trump that is discarded in a trick will win that trick. That is the only way a discard can win a trick, and it is called “ruffing”.
6. The play of the cards continues until all the cards have been played out in the form of 13 tricks.

After all 13 tricks are played the score is entered the cards are shuffled, the dealer rotates in a clockwise manner, and another bridge deal is played.