What is Solitaire Bridge?

Solitaire Bridge is a new take on bridge - play a game without waiting for partners or opponents! Currently you can play five solitaire bridge games:

Instant Robot Tournament and Weekly Free Tournament

Instant Robot Tournament combine the best of a tournament and a single player game. You will be dealt deals from a past tournament you haven't played before and have your scores compared against players in those tourneys. If you do well, you will receive points. Instant Robot Tournaments have a small BB$ entry fee.

Once a week, on Friday morning, a new, free instant robot tournament is available. You can play as many times as you like. The free version does not offer points.

Just Play Bridge

This is a no-frills, infinite stream of bridge hands, scored Total Points style. This is a "Best Hand" game. Play as many hands as you like, at your own pace! The highest scorers are listed on a leaderboard. The leaderboard resets daily.

There is a Just Play Bridge - 2/1 version, and a Just Play bridge - Acol version: pick your favorite system and start playing!

Bridge 4

Bridge 4 is a mini game consisting of four random deals. Bridge 4 is a "Best Hand" game, which means your hand will always contain at least the same high card points (HCP) as the next highest HCP hand. Try to accumulate as many total points as you can in those four deals. The highest scorers are listed on a leaderboard. The leaderboard resets daily.

Just Declare

Just Declare is a simplified version of bridge where you always play the hand, and the contracts are pre-determined. All contracts are makeable. Play as much as you like, at your own pace. The highest scorers are listed on a leaderboard.  The leaderboard resets daily.

Bridge Master

Bridge Master is a challenging game designed to improve your declarer play. You get to choose from a series of instructional deals to play. You are always declarer. The deals are carefully constructed to provoke you to find the best possible play; if you take the correct line of play you will always make your contract. On the other hand, if you make any mistake, the program will always defend perfectly and defeat your contract. A "Show solution" button is available to explain the correct play.

About the robots

The robots used in BBO play relatively simple and natural bidding systems. All games use the 2/1 system (click here for the 2/1 system notes), except for the Just Play Bridge Acol, where the robots play Acol (click here for the Acol system notes).

You can find out the meaning of any bid by clicking on that bid as it appears in the bidding diagram. Furthermore, when it is your turn to bid, moving your mouse over the buttons for the various possible bids will show an explanation of the bid you are considering (as your robot partner will understand it). These explanations can be somewhat cryptic, but reading them carefully before you bid will help you to avoid misunderstandings with your robot partner.