- Score sheets
- Card games
- Bridge
How to keep score in Bridge
To keep score in bridge, draw a line across the sheet. Points for the tricks you bid and made go below it, and 100 below the line is a game. Everything else goes above: overtricks, bonuses and the defenders’ penalties. Two games win the rubber, and the bigger total wins.
- 4 players, 2 partnerships
- One 52-card deck
- First side to two games
- 100 below the line is a game
Tabletales is free on iPhone and iPad.
This is the real app screen, live, on Teams. Open the Scorepad to see each deal: a side’s points go under one partner, and the teams bar adds them up.
Bridge
The classic partnership bidding and trick-taking game, where the side that wins the auction promises a number of tricks, only the tricks it promised count toward game, and a rubber ends when one side wins two games.
Year from BoardGameGeek.
How to play Bridge, in brief
Four players form two partnerships, partners opposite. An auction opens each deal, and the winning side must take the tricks it bid.
- Deal 13 eachDeal a 52-card deck.
- Hold the auctionFrom the dealer, clockwise, each player bids, passes, doubles or redoubles. A bid is tricks past 6 plus a trump suit (it beats the others) or notrump, and must outrank the last. Three passes end it.
- Declarer plays two handsOn the winning side, whoever named its suit first is declarer. After the opening lead from declarer’s left, the partner’s hand goes face up for declarer to play.
- Play 13 tricksEach player plays one card to a trick, following suit if able; the highest trump, else the highest card of the suit led, wins.
- Win two gamesMade contracts build toward games; two games win the rubber.
What you bid goes below the line. The rest goes above.
This is rubber bridge, scored with a line across the sheet. The side that wins the auction promises a number of tricks past six. Only those promised tricks count toward a game; overtricks, bonuses and penalties are real points too, but they never help you reach 100.
What a deal is worth
| What you score | Points |
|---|---|
| Each trick bid past six, in ♣ or ♦Below the line | 20 |
| Each trick bid past six, in ♥ or ♠Below the line | 30 |
| NotrumpThe first trick past six 40, each one after 30 | 40, 30 |
| Contract doubled or redoubledThe trick score doubles, or goes to 4 times | ×2, ×4 |
| Each overtrickAbove the line at the trick rate. Doubled 100 (200 vulnerable); redoubled 200 (400) | Trick rate |
| Making a doubled contractRedoubled: 100 | 50 |
| Small slam, grand slamVulnerable: 750 and 1,500 | 500, 1,000 |
| Honors in one hand4 of the top 5 trumps 100; all 5, or 4 aces at notrump, 150 | 100, 150 |
| Each undertrick, to the defendersUndoubled 50, or 100 vulnerable. Doubled: 100, 200, 200, then 300 each (vulnerable 200, then 300 each); redoubled twice that | 50 |
| Winning the rubber2 games to 0: 700. 2 games to 1: 500 | 700, 500 |
- Score the contract below the lineIf you make it, the tricks you bid past six score at the suit’s rate. Doubled, work the trick score out first: the keypad has no times key.
- Put everything else aboveOvertricks, 50 for making a doubled contract, slams, honors, and the defenders’ points when a contract goes down.
- Draw a line at 100A side with 100 below the line wins a game. Both sides start the next game from zero below the line, and a side with a game is vulnerable.
- Two games take the rubberAdd 700 for a rubber won 2 games to 0, or 500 for 2 to 1. Then add everything above and below the line: the bigger total wins, by the difference.
Deal 5: doubled, made, and the rubber.
You and Dev are Team A, Mara and Jonas Team B. You and Dev make 1 notrump with an overtrick. Mara and Jonas make 4♠ for a game, then go down one in 3 notrump. You and Dev make 5♣ for a game of your own. On deal 5, with both sides vulnerable, Mara and Jonas make 2♥ doubled with an overtrick. On the Scorepad above, that deal is typed under Mara as 120 + 50 + 200 + 500, and Tabletales adds it up.
| Team | Below the line, then above | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Mara and Jonas | Below: 4♠ on deal 2, 2♥ doubled on deal 5. Above: making it doubled, a vulnerable doubled overtrick, the rubber 2 games to 1120 + 120 + 50 + 200 + 500 | 990 |
| You and Dev | Below: 1 notrump on deal 1, 5♣ on deal 4. Above: the overtrick on deal 1, and 100 when Mara and Jonas went down one vulnerable40 + 100 + 30 + 100 | 270 |
The totals in the app. The line on paper.
Tabletales is a scorepad and scrapbook for game night. For rubber bridge, type the points each side earns, deal by deal: Tabletales adds them up and shows the final margin. Keep the line, the games and who is vulnerable on your sheet.
- Pick TeamsTap a letter to put each player on Team A or B, partners on the same letter. The teams bar adds the partners’ points and puts the trophy on the side ahead.
- A deal on the keypadType a side’s points for the deal under one partner, or type them the way you add them (120 + 50 + 200 + 500) and Tabletales adds it up.
- What stays on paperThe Scorepad has no line, so part-scores toward game, vulnerability and the two-game finish are yours to track. Duplicate matchpoints and IMPs need other tables’ results, so they are out.
- And the night is keptSave it with who played and a photo from the table. Each game gets a history: how often you play it, who with, and who wins.
- Everyone who was there
- Photos from the table
- Bridge, with its scores
Common Bridge scoring mistakes
- Putting overtricks below the lineOnly the tricks you bid count toward game. Overtricks go above.
- Carrying a part-score into the next gameOnce either side makes game, both start again from zero below the line. The old points still count in the final total.
- Adding 300 or 500 for each gameThose are Chicago and duplicate bonuses. Rubber bridge pays 700 or 500 once, for the rubber.
- Doubled penalties on an undoubled contractUndoubled undertricks are a flat 50 each, or 100 vulnerable.
Bridge scoring, answered
- How do you keep score in bridge?
- Draw a line across the sheet. Points for tricks you bid and made go below it; overtricks, bonuses and penalties go above. 100 below the line is a game, and at the end both parts are added together.
- How many points is a game in bridge?
- 100 below the line, from one contract or from part-scores added together. In Chicago and duplicate, each game made earns a bonus of 300, or 500 vulnerable, instead.
- What is the bonus for winning a rubber in bridge?
- 700 if you win it 2 games to 0, and 500 if it goes 2 games to 1.
Bridge score sheet
Print one for the table: Team A and Team B, sixteen deals, with what goes below the line and what goes above side by side, and the scoring at the bottom. Draw a line under the deal where a side makes game.
Score another game
This page scores rubber bridge. Chicago plays four deals with a set pattern of vulnerability and pays for each game at once; duplicate scores each deal alone, counts no honors, and compares tables by matchpoints or IMPs. A rubber stopped early gives 300 for a game won and 100 for a part-score. Rules checked on 19 October 2026 against Pagat, Wikipedia and the ACBL.
Keep score tonight. Keep the night for good.
Tabletales adds up every hand, then saves the whole night: the games, the scores, the photos and who was there.
