Scoring

Many people shy away from learning the scoring system for bridge. It is however a very important element of playing Bridge as frequently you may choose to bid a contract that you know cannot be achieved but stops the other pair from bidding a better contract. This sacrifice situation is fairly common but you can only make correct judgements if you know how the scoring works and can balance your penalties against your opponents bonuses.

Scoring for Duplicate Contract Bridge - Points Value

For Each Trick	Un-doubled	Doubled
C or D	20	40
H or S	30	60
NT 1st Trick	40	80
NT Subsequent Tricks	30	60

Bonus Points	Non Vulnerable	Vulnerable
Part Score	50	50
Game: Bid & Made	300	500
Small Slam: Bid & Made	500	750
Grand Slam: Bid & Made	1,000	1,500

Doubled Contract: Bid & Made	50	50
Redoubled Contract: Bid & Made	100	100
Each Overtrick: Undoubled	Trick Value	Trick Value
Each Overtrick: Doubled	100	200

Penalties	Non Vulnerable		Vulnerable
	Un-doubled	Doubled	Un-doubled	Doubled
First Undertrick	50	100	100	200
2nd & 3rd Undertricks	50	200	100	300
4th + Undertricks	50	300	100	300
A redouble, doubles the doubled value of the trick score, overtricks and undertricks

Scoring for Rubber Bridge - Points Value

Rubber Bridge scoring accumulates points below the line and bonus points above the line. The only points that are allowed below the line are those that consist of the trick values of contracts bid and made.

For example: Biding 2NT and making 3NT would result in 70 points below the line and 30 points above the line.

Points are accumulated below the line until 100+ points are reached. At this point the first game has been achieved and this side becomes "Vulnerable". The first pair that completes 2 or 3 games ends the Rubber. At this point all the points are added up below and above the line to find the overall winner.

Scoring is the same as contract bridge except for making a games, with all bonuses and penalties going above the line . To score the games see the table below:

2 Game Rubber	700
3 Game Rubber	500
1 Game: Unfinished Rubber	300
Part Score: Unfinished Rubber	50

A typical Rubber Bridge score card for 1 pair would look like that shown below:

North/South	East/West
30	200
50
700
--------------------	--------------------
70
40
---------
100

1st Contract: N/S bid 2NT making 3NT (70 pts below the line & 30 pts above)
2nd Contract: N/S bid 2C making 2C (40 pts below the line) and completing the first game. i.e. the first to reach 100 pts.
3rd Contract: E/W bid 3NT making only 8 tricks (Penalty of 50 pts to N/S)
4th Contract: N/S bid 4S making only 8 tricks i.e. 2 off vulnerable (a penalty of 200 pts to E/W)
5th Contract: N/S bid and make 3NT (100 pts below the line),
NS have made their second game and completing the Rubber (bonus 700 pts).
N/S have won the Rubber by 790 pts.