AUCTION BRIDGE, this originated in India. Three mem bers of the Indian civil service, Mr. F. Roe ("John Doe"), Mr. Hudson, and another, all keen bridge players, were staying at a far away hill station, where it was quite impossible to find a fourth. They played "Cut Throat" for a time, but they soon got tired of that, and then they set their wits to work to invent some better three-handed form of bridge. They tried all sorts of variations, without success, until one of them hit on the idea (probably,bor rowed from Vint) of bidding for the declaration, and it caught on at once. On that basis a new game was formulated, and it was, then and there, christened "Auction Bridge." The exact date of its birth is uncertain. The first record which we have of it is a letter from the late Mr. Oswald Crawfurd, which appeared in the Times of Jan. i6, 1903. This letter gave a brief outline of the game, and described it as "the new game of Auction Bridge for three players." Mr. Crawfurd had just returned from India, and had, no doubt, seen the game played in that country.
The next thing that happened was the publication of a short treatise by "John Doe," entitled "Auction Bridge," which was published by the Pioneer Press at Allahabad in i 904. The game was still confined to three players, but it had grown considerably. A further, and much fuller, description of it appeared in the Daily Mail of April 24, 1906, again by Mr. Oswald Crawfurd who seems to have been the real pioneer of the game in Britain, but it was the card-playing members of the Bath club who converted it from a three-handed game into a four-handed one, and who put it on a sound basis. The Bath club was the original home of the game in Britain, and for some considerable time it spread no further. Then, in 1907, the Portland club took it up, and after that its circle widened very rapidly, so much so that in about a year's time ordinary bridge was a thing of the past. Whist still clung on, and still does in some few places, but straight bridge is practically dead.
Auction bridge is played on the same lines as ordinary bridge with one or two important variations. The point where auction bridge diverges most widely from its parent game is in the declara tion, which is no longer confined to the dealer and his partner, but every player in turn has the right of making a declaration, or as it is now termed "a bid," by overcalling any previous bid which has been made. Another notable point of difference is that when the declarer fails to fulfil his contract, his adversaries do not score below the line as at ordinary bridge, but they score a penalty of 5o points, or ioo if doubled, above the line for each under-trick, whatever the call may have been. Under no circumstances can the adversaries of the declarer score anything towards game. Doubling may take place as in straight bridge, but no bid that has been redoubled may again be doubled.
When auction bridge was first introduced the old bridge values were used, but it was soon recognized that the game was spoilt by the overwhelming value of the no trump call. The Americans in troduced a variation by inventing a new suit, "Royal Spades," or "Royals," which gave spades an alternative value of 2 or 9 per trick. This was tried in Britain for a while, but it was so obviously bad that, when the laws were revised in 1914, the lower value of the spade was done away with altogether, leaving it at 9, and the suits were all brought closer together—clubs 6, diamonds 7, hearts 8, spades 9, no trumps io. These are the values at the pres ent time. The great advantage of this scale over the old one is that it is possible to win the game on any call. "Five clubs" will do it as effectively as "three no trumps." "No trumps" is still the most valuable call, but its power is not overwhelming.
The scoring at auction bridge runs much higher than at ordinary bridge, owing principally to the amounts scored above the line for penalties; also the bonus for winning the rubber is increased from i oo to 2 5o points. The average value of a rubber at ordinary bridge is I7o points, at auction bridge it is nearer 400.
The original laws of auction bridge were drawn up by a joint committee of the Portland and Bath clubs in 1909, and were re vised in 1914 by a special committee consisting of members of the Portland, Bath, Turf, St. James's, Baldwin, and White's clubs. These laws governed the game in Britain for ten years, but after a time, and after further experience, a demand arose for fresh revisions, and the Portland club, in 1924, drew up a new code of laws for the use of its own members. The code was accepted and adopted by all the other clubs. In the meantime, the Americans, who had adopted the English laws in toto at first, began to make alterations here and there, until, in 1925, the Whist club of New York, in conjunction with the Whist League of America, drew up an entirely new code of their own.
The principal difference between the two systems is in the bid ding. In Britain, the bidding is governed by value. A bid of two no trumps, counting 20 points, takes precedence of a bid of three clubs, counting only 18, and a bid of four spades, counting 36, is higher than five diamonds counting 35. In America a bid of a greater number of tricks takes precedence of a less number, irre spective of the value. Thus, three clubs is higher than two no trumps, and five diamonds beats four spades. This American system is known as "Majority calling." It is adopted almost uni versally on the Continent, and some British players were so strongly in favour of it that in the summer of 1927 a conference of representatives of all the principal card-playing clubs in Lon don was called together to consider it. Such a wide difference of opinion was expressed, that, in order to ascertain the general feel ing in the country, all British bridge players, both in London and in the provinces, were asked to give the majority calling four months' trial and to report to the conference at the end of that period. The conference met again on Nov. 7, 1927, the clubs rep resented being Almack's, Baldwin, Bath, Carlton, Conservative, Devonshire, National Liberal, Portland, St. James's, St. Stephen's, Turf, and White's. The reports received were fairly evenly divided. In London clubs there was a strong feeling against making any change, but a small balance of country clubs were in favour of majority calling. As there was no strong mandate for any change, the conference decided by 9 votes to 3, voting by clubs, to retain our old system of value calling in the revised laws, but to describe the principles of majority calling in an appendix, so that anyone who liked could use it. The card committee of the Portland club had in the meantime carefully revised the laws, which were sub mitted to the conference, and passed with a few minor alterations, and they became law on March r, 1928.
Apart from questions of law, auction bridge has been considerably influenced by American principles and American conventions. British players, as a rule, like a plain straightforward game, with as few conventions as possible. Americans, on the contrary, love conventions and are constantly inventing new ones, some of which have found their way to England. The most notable one is the "Informatory Double." When a player doubles an adverse bid of one no trump, his partner is bound to take the double out by bid ding "Two" of his best suit, however, weak it may be, giving pref erence to the major suits over the minor ones. In the same way, if a player doubles a suit bid of "One" or "Two," it does not mean that he is strong in that suit, but just the opposite; it means that he is strong in the other three suits, but too weak in the suit de clared to bid no trumps. His partner must make a bid in his own best suit, or bid no trumps if he has the declared suit stopped twice.
This convention met with strong opposition for many years in England, but it gradually crept in, and in 1925 became general.
On the completion of the deal, the dealer has first call. He can either pass or make a bid of some kind. If he elects to pass it is better to say, "No bid" than "Pass," as the latter call is apt to be mistaken for "Hearts." Then each player in turn, commencing with the one on the dealer's left, can either pass or can overcall any previous bid that has been made either by the adversaries or by his own partner. When a bid has been passed by three players it becomes the declaration, and the player who made it, or in the case of the same suit having been bid by both partners, the player who made the first of such bids, plays the combined hands, and is termed "the declarer," his partner becoming "dummy." When the declarer fulfils his contract, he scores, below the line, the value of as many odd tricks as he makes. When he fails to ful fil his contract his adversaries score 5o above the line, or loo if doubled, for every under-trick. Honours are scored above the line by either side which holds them. A game consists of 3o points scored by tricks alone, that is, below the line. When either side has won two games, the total scores are added up, including scores for tricks, honours, and penalties, and the difference between the two scores is the amount won and lost.
The principle of bidding has undergone a considerable change since auction bridge was first introduced. In the early days players followed the lines of ordinary bridge and made their bids on nu merical strength without top honours, but this has been entirely superseded. Players have learnt by experience that it is aces and kings that matter and that win games. An original bid, that is the first bid made on a hand, can always be depended upon to have top honours at the head of it, when it is made by a responsible player. Top honours mean ace, king; or ace, queen, knave ; or king, queen, at least. Subsequent bids after the first original one are made on numerical strength with outside support to back them up, or an original bid of a partner can be supported on numerical strength, but the one outstanding principle of modern declaring is that an original suit bid must have top honours at the head of it. At ordinary bridge the dealer would always call "Hearts" on king, ten, to five or six, with little else in his hand, but no sound auction bridge player would call "one heart" on that hand as an original call. He might call "two hearts" on it on the second round, but that is quite a different thing from calling it originally.
There are two entirely different departments of auction bridge— the declaration and the play of the cards. There is considerable difference of opinion as to the relative value of these two. Some players estimate the value of clever declaring as high as 8o%, others, including Lenz of New York, think that they are nearly, if not quite, equal, and that scientific play of the cards is as important as clever declaring. Both are important, but correct declaring is easier to acquire. It is not given to everybody to have the card sense and to be able to play the cards well, but anyone of ordinary intelligence can be taught to declare correctly. The most valuable declaration which can be made is no trumps, because three by cards will win the game from a love score at no trumps, but it takes four or five by cards to win the game on a suit declara tion, but nevertheless a really strong major suit call, that is spades or hearts, is safer and better than no trumps. Some players are so obsessed with the glamour of the no trump call, that they seem to think it is the only road to success at the bridge table, and they call it on every possible occasion, and sometimes on very inade quate material. This is a great mistake. A genuine no trump hand should be well guarded in at least three suits, and should have a queen over the average--nothing weaker than this is justifiable at the score of love. (See also BRIDGE; CONTRACT BRIDGE.) BIBLIOGRAPHY.-"John Doe," Auction Bridge (1904) ; W. Dalton, Bibliography.-"John Doe," Auction Bridge (1904) ; W. Dalton, Auction Bridge (1908) ; A. E. Manning Foster, Auction Bridge made Clear (1921) ; E. Bergholt, Modern Auction Bridge (1925) ; Milton C. Work, Auction Bridge Complete (1926) ; Florence Irwin, The Com plete Auction Bridge Player (1928). (W. DA.; X.) Auction bridge may be designated as the offspring of bridge, the grandchild of whist and the father of contract. The history of whist, bridge, auction bridge and contract bridge in America— meaning, in this instance, the United States and Canada—is a record of European importations and domestic modifications. "Contract" appears to have been derived directly from France; but the other three, whatever their original place of birth, un doubtedly came to America from England. To-day (1928) auction bridge is the prevailing game, with contract widely played and growing rapidly in popularity; bridge is virtually abandoned, and whist played enthusiastically at the annual sessions of the Amer ican Whist League, but rarely elsewhere.
The Whist Club (New York) promulgated the first American code of auction bridge laws in 1910; these laws were immediately adopted by all American players and since then that club has been recognized as the supreme legislative authority for auction bridge in America. The 1910 code was amended in 1911, and revised and rewritten in 1912. In 1911, the Racquet Club of Philadelphia adopted for its own use the count of 6 points per trick for the club suit, 7 for diamonds, 8 for hearts, 9 for "royal" spades and 1 o for no trump ; the count of 2 being retained for spades used defensively. This was the first change from the old bridge count of 12 for no trump, 8 for hearts, 6 for diamonds, 4 for clubs and 2 for spades. Early in 1912 the Whist Club adopted the Racquet Club count for club play, and in Nov. 1912, embodied that count in its official code.
In 1913 the American code was entirely rewritten. This code eliminated chicane, created new privileges for dummy and re duced the revoke penalty to 1 oo points. In 1915 another new code was issued ; it increased the values of slams and abolished the dual value of spades, thus giving the single value of 9 to the spade suit. More radical than either of these was the substitution of "numerical overcalling" in place of the system under which the values of tricks determined the rank of a bid. Since this revision, a larger number of tricks bid for always overcalls a smaller num ber (e.g., four clubs overcalls three no trumps) ; the declarations assuming rank only when an equal number of tricks is bid for— no trump highest and clubs lowest. This change proved popular.
Further revisions were made in 1917 and 192o, involving no radical changes; but in 1925-26, an exhaustive study was made by The Whist Club in collaboration with Knickerbocker Whist Club (New York) and the American Whist League. This resulted in March, 1926, in the promulgation, by the Whist Club, of the present (1928) American auction bridge code. Three features of this final code are radical departures from all that has gone before : (I) The rank of cards from ace down to deuce is made uniform for all purposes (formerly ace was low in drawing for deal and seats, and low won ; now ace is high and high wins) ; (2) honour values are made multiples of ten instead of being based on trick values ; (3) revoke penalties are payable in tricks, which are utilized and scored exactly as if they had been won in play.
The outstanding differences between the American and English games of auction bridge lie : first, in the laws relating to rank of cards in drawing for deal and choice of seats, rank of bids in over calling, method of counting honours, and the revoke penalty; second, in the greater readiness in America to try and adopt new "conventions"; and third, in the greater popularity in America of duplicate contests, which tend to reduce the element of luck and make skill the important factor. Most of the special and con ventional tactics of bidding and play, prominently the "informa tory double," are of American origin; many of these conventions have been adopted in England.
The popularity of auction bridge in America has grown until it is played by all classes of intelligent people ; the number of its devotees is impossible to estimate ; but the demand for playing cards, score pads, text-books and all kinds of bridge literature proves it to be enormous.
Over 4o years ago the teaching of whist was inaugurated by Miss Kate Wheelock. She was successful but not until auction bridge became a popular fad did the demand for instruction be come wide-spread. Of late, however, bridge players have fur nished conclusive evidence of their desire to learn how to play scientifically; in 1928 there were over one thousand American teachers, many of whom were unable to meet the demands made upon them for lessons.
Bridge by radio was introduced in Nov. 1925 and continued weekly during the winter seasons of 1926-27 and 1927-28 (November to March inclusive). A bridge hand is widely adver tised in advance and the correct bidding and play are described with expert comment from approximately one hundred broad casting stations at a designated hour. It is estimated that ten million players listen in each week, in most cases actually playing the hand in concert with the announcement as it comes to them through the air.
The American Auction Bridge League was formed in 1927 with R. R. Richards of Detroit as its first president. It manages largely attended duplicate contests and awards national champion ships.
The Auction Bridge magazine, a monthly publication, which started its career in 1922 has steadily increased the number of its subscribers ; it has a large and representative editorial board.
(M. C. W.)