Help CenterHelp CenterBBO is becoming a members' club. Here's what that means, and why.
For over 25 years, BBO has been free and unlimited. That was the right choice when the internet was young and bridge needed a home online. It worked: BBO became the home of online bridge, and many of you have been part of it for decades.
But BBO was never just a website. It's one of the great communities in the game. Friends who meet at the same table every day for years. Partners who have never met in person but play together every week. Players who teach, kibitz, share hands, and help beginners. That community is what makes BBO special, not the software.
Today we're changing how BBO works, and here's what it means for you. From now, free play is capped at 6 deals a day. If you're used to playing unlimited deals, this is a big change. The cap covers some of what you play, not all of it: Social Bridge, free challenges and free tournaments draw on your 6 daily deals. Just Play Bridge stays unlimited. Paid tournaments and challenges don't count at all, so your daily deals stay untouched however many you play.
There's still plenty to do that doesn't use your deals. Watch and kibitz any table, follow live broadcasts of the big events, stay in touch with friends and partners, and play as much as you like when a member invites you to their table.
Running BBO has never been free, and we've absorbed those costs for a long time. But that's not the real reason. The real reason is the next 25 years. Bridge is passed from one generation to the next, and in a world full of distractions, keeping it thriving takes deliberate work, and deliberate investment.
That's why we're redefining BBO membership, and it's based on an idea that you are all familiar with - the bridge club. You pay dues to your local club and your federation because that is what keeps a club going. Membership works the same way. It's not a barrier to play. It's how a community looks after its own future.
For 25 years, advertising and tournament entry fees carried BBO. Neither can fund what comes next. Membership can - and it goes straight into the platform itself: tournament and director tools, reporting, club administration, player analysis, the games, and finding your way around. The things you and your club use every day.
Some tournaments still cost BB$ to enter, and that hasn't changed. It works like any club: your membership keeps the club running, while certain events carry their own costs, such as federation fees and masterpoints. The entry fee covers those. You don't need a paid plan to play them, and membership doesn't include them.
Some of you have played here for ten or twenty years: thousands of deals, partners found, beginners helped. That loyalty counts. Because of it, many of our most loyal players will have Premium membership at no charge, in recognition of what they have given to BBO. Nothing to do, nothing to pay. If that is you, you will hear from us.
Here's what we commit to: improving the BBO experience, with better analysis, games, navigation, and tools to find new partners. These are commitments, not hopes. We will build them, share a roadmap so you can see what's coming, and each year show you what your membership funded.
Premium members get unlimited play across eligible free games, no ads, advanced robots, video chat, their own tables and team matches, Arena, Group Challenges, and Bridgerama+. But more than any feature, membership means this: the community you love will still be here, and still thriving, for the players who come after you.
Thank you for being part of the BBO community. Here's to the next 25 years.