Before you read any further, please take time to watch this simple four minute long video. An introduction to bridge. This will prepare you for what is to follow on these pages. (Please ignore the scoring shown in the video).
Having watched the above video, the idea behind the game should be a lot clearer. These lessons are aimed at people who have little or no knowledge of the game of bridge. If you have played whist or solo whist you will know what a trick is so you are half way there. If you really don't know what constitutes a trick in cards please read this section before moving on the the actual bridge lesson section below.
Bridge is really two games in one. The first is an Ebay type auction where all four players are trying to outbid each other. They are each bidding to take a certain number of tricks. In fact, as bridge is played in pairs, it would be better to say that each pair are trying to outbid the other.
Eventually someone will back down and whichever pair have made the highest bid now have to actually do it else face penalties which can range from trivial to very severe.
Once the bidding is completed the second part of the game comes into play. This is where the players actually play the game with each side trying to take as may tricks as possible in almost exactly the same way as whist based games.
It would be fair to say that the auction, (known as the bidding), causes more trouble amongst newcomers to the game than the play but in fact the play is just as important as is the defence. For this reason it makes sense to start this section with a detailed but simplified guide to the bidding process in bridge.