Like any other game, scoring in Bridge is a very important element for players to be aware of. Good players will be able use their intuition without needing to know how the scoring works, but they should aim to keep a mental note of the most common scores at a minimum to allow them to make better judgements during competitive auctions, in particular.
Players also need to understand that scoring in Bridge is a two stage process: the ‘board score’ is first calculated, which is then used to determine the ‘match score’.
Board Scores
These are the scores determined at the end of the play of a hand, and are based on a multitude of factors:
– the number of tricks made by the declaring side
– the type of contract (part-score, game, small slam, grand slam)
– the board vulnerability
– whether the contract was doubled or redoubled.
Most times, players will determine the board score with the aid of a scoring device, such as a Bridgemate. But, as mentioned earlier, players should aim to remember the scores that recur the most. Specifically: part-scores, games, and defeated contracts.
Note: Scores for bidding and making slam contracts among other less-common contracts can be found in the section entitled “Further Board Scores” at the bottom of this webpage.
The most common scores awarded to the declaring side for making their contracts are:
| Type of Contract | Minor | Major | No-Trumps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Part-Score (starting from the 1-level) | 70, 90, 110, 130, 150, ... (Formula = Level x 20 + 50) | 80, 110, 140, 170, ... (Formula = Level x 30 + 50) | 90, 120, 150, 180, ... (Formula = Level x 30 + 60) |
| Game (non-vulnerable) | 400 (plus 20 for each overtrick) | 420 (plus 30 for each overtrick) | 400 (plus 30 for each overtrick) |
| Game (vulnerable) | 600 (plus 20 for each overtrick) | 620 (plus 30 for each overtrick) | 600 (plus 30 for each overtrick) |
The most common scores awarded to the defending side for defeating the declaring side’s contracts are:
| Type of Contract | Non-Vulnerable | Vulnerable |
|---|---|---|
| Undoubled | 50, 100, 150, ... (Formula = 50 x number of undertricks) | 100, 200, 300, ... (Formula = 100 x number of undertricks) |
| Doubled | 100, 300, 500, 800, ... then +300 for each additional undertrick | 200, 500, ... then +300 for each additional undertrick |
Match Scores
Match scores are based on one of two systems:
1. Matchpoint scoring
2. International Matchpoints (IMPs) scoring – often converted to Victory Points (VPs)
Matchpoint scoring
The main idea with Matchpoint scoring is that it doesn’t matter how much you win or lose by; it only matters what position your scores lie when they are compared to all other pairs in your field for each individual board that you play. Scores are then assigned a percentage (%) depending on their position.
For example: If only one North-South pair makes an overtrick when every other North-South pair in the same contract does not, that pair will score 100%. Likewise, if only one North-South pair goes down when everyone else is making 4S, that pair will score 0%. And if every pair in the room went down by one trick in a 4S contract, every pair will receive a score of 50%. Other variations of scores will yield other percentages, and the opposing pairs will always receive complement percentages.
The general strategy in Matchpoint-scored events is to maximise your overtricks, compete aggressively for part-scores, and double your opponents for penalties when you think they are going down.
IMPs scoring
In IMPs scoring, the amount you win or lose by is most important.
In IMPs Pairs events, the difference between a pair’s score for a board and the average of all North-South scores on that board (the “datum”) is determined before converting that value to IMPs using a logarithmic table of values. Typically, Swiss Pairs events will be Butler scored, meaning the top and bottom 10% of scores for each board are removed before the datum is calculated.
An alternative is Cross IMPs (or X-IMPs) scoring where the difference between a pair’s score on a board is subtracted from the score by each other pair sitting in the same direction, each of these is converted to IMPs and the score is the average of these. To put it mathematically, in the first we take the difference from the average in the latter we take the average of the differences.
For Teams events, rather than using a datum, the difference between scores for each board at two opposing teams’ tables is converted to IMPs.
For example: Team 1 is playing against Team 2. At Team 1’s table, North-South bid and make a non-vulnerable 4S for a score of +420. At Team 2’s table, North-South only bid to 3S but still make ten tricks for a score of +170. At the end of the match, Team 1 see that they received 420 points at their table and lost 170 points at the other table, for a net gain of 250 points, and this converts to +6 IMPs.
Team 2 experience the opposite case. Their team lost 420 points at the opponent’s table, and received just 170 points at their own table, for a net loss of 250 points, and -6 IMPs.
The general strategy in IMPs-scored events is to bid game contracts as often as is reasonable. The reason is because making game contracts is the sweet spot where lots of points can be obtained even though roughly a quarter of the tricks can be lost. More specifically, vulnerable game contracts are most desirable, and any game contract that has a minimum ~40% chance of making should be bid. (Around 40% is the ‘break even point’ for obtaining a profitable score.)
To dampen the effect of very high or very low IMP totals in a match, the total number of IMPs that a pair or team receive are converted to VPs.
Typically, VPs will be award out of 20 to each pair or team. A maximum win will yield a score of 20-0, a maximum loss will yield 0-20, a draw will yield 10-10, etc.
For more detail see the guide Understanding Bridge Scoring.
Understanding Bridge Scoring (PDF)
Further Board Scores
The scores awarded to the declaring side for bidding and making small slams (6-level) and grand slams (7-level) are in the table below:
| Type of Contract | Minor | Major | No-Trumps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Slam (non-vulnerable) | 920 (plus 20 for the overtrick) | 980 (plus 30 for the overtrick) | 990 (plus 30 for the overtrick) |
| Small Slam (vulnerable) | 1370 (plus 20 for the overtrick) | 1430 (plus 30 for the overtrick) | 1440 (plus 30 for the overtrick) |
| Grand Slam (non-vulnerable) | 1440 | 1510 | 1520 |
| Grand Slam (vulnerable) | 2140 | 2210 | 2220 |
The scores awarded to the declaring side for making doubled and redoubled contracts are provided in the three tables below for minors, majors, and no-trumps respectively:
Minors
| Type of Contract | 1-level | 2-level | 3-level | 4-level | 5-level | 6-level | 7-level |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Doubled (non-vulnerable) | 140 | 180 | 470 | 510 | 550 | 1090 | 1630 |
| Doubled (vulnerable) | 140 | 180 | 670 | 710 | 750 | 1540 | 2330 |
| Redoubled (non-vulnerable) | 230 | 560 | 640 | 720 | 800 | 1380 | 1960 |
| Redoubled (vulnerable) | 230 | 760 | 840 | 920 | 1000 | 1830 | 2660 |
Majors
| Type of Contract | 1-level | 2-level | 3-level | 4-level | 5-level | 6-level | 7-level |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Doubled (non-vulnerable) | 160 | 470 | 530 | 590 | 650 | 1210 | 1770 |
| Doubled (vulnerable) | 160 | 670 | 730 | 790 | 850 | 1660 | 2430 |
| Redoubled (non-vulnerable) | 520 | 640 | 760 | 880 | 1000 | 1620 | 2240 |
| Redoubled (vulnerable) | 720 | 840 | 960 | 1080 | 1200 | 2070 | 2940 |
No-Trumps
| Type of Contract | 1-level | 2-level | 3-level | 4-level | 5-level | 6-level | 7-level |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Doubled (non-vulnerable) | 180 | 490 | 550 | 610 | 670 | 1230 | 1790 |
| Doubled (vulnerable) | 180 | 690 | 750 | 810 | 870 | 1680 | 2490 |
| Redoubled (non-vulnerable) | 560 | 680 | 800 | 920 | 1040 | 1660 | 2280 |
| Redoubled (vulnerable) | 760 | 880 | 1000 | 1120 | 1240 | 2110 | 2980 |
Scores awarded to the defending side for taking down a redoubled contract are simply double that of a doubled contract.
For example: A redoubled vulnerable contract going three down will yield 1600 points (which is 2 x 800).