BRIDGE. The origin of the game of Bridge is very doubtful. It is sometimes said to have originated in Russia, but there is no satisfactory proof of that statement. It was first known under the title of "Biritch, or Russian Whist," and this probably gave rise to the idea that it was of Russian origin, although, as a matter of fact, the word "Biritch" is not to be found in any Russian dic tionary. Many years ago the Russians played a card game called "Ieralasch," or "Ieralache," which bore a close resemblance to short whist without a trump suit. From this arose the more scientific Russian games of "Siberia" and "Preference," both of which had certain points in common with Bridge.
There is no record of the transformation of any of these Russian games into anything approaching modern bridge. The game was probably of Levantine origin. It was certainly played 5o years ago in Eastern Europe, notably in Constantinople and in Greece, and, if there were any necessity to assign to it a definite national ity, that honour must be awarded to Greece. There has been a good deal of correspondence in the newspapers as to the origin of the name "Bridge," and some very fantastic reasons have been given for it, but the transition from "Biritch" to "Bridge" is such a very natural one that it is surely unnecessary to look any further.
It is an old story how Lord Brougham, who had recently re turned from Cairo, went into the card room of the Portland club one afternoon in the autumn of and sat down to play whist. When it came to his turn to deal he omitted to turn up a trump card, and when his attention was called to it he said, "I am very sorry, but I thought I was playing Bridge." "Bridge," they said, "what is that?" "What a pity you do not know it," he replied, "it is the finest card game ever invented." As soon as the rubber of whist was finished the others asked him to show them this wonderful new game. He did so, and they were so charmed with it that, from that moment onwards, bridge became the standard game at the Portland club, which had always been regarded as the headquarters and the stronghold of whist. From the Portland club the new game soon spread to other clubs, and wherever it was introduced there it stayed and flourished, so that in a very short time it became practically the national card game of Britain. The idea that bridge was unknown in Britain till then is mistaken. It was unknown in London clubland, but it was regularly played, in private circles, many years before.
It has been stated that the game was first introduced into Brit ain in 188o, but there is no evidence of that. The first authentic mention of it is that, in the year 1886, a small pamphlet was pub lished in London, entitled "Biritch, or Russian Whist." It was quite a small affair, giving a very attenuated description of the game, but what there was of it, the method of scoring, and the laws as to declaring, etc., were almost identical with bridge which came into vogue eight years later. There is a copy in the British Museum (Press mark 7913 as 51), and another in the Bodleian, and there are said to be one or two in private hands.
For a considerable time after the introduction of bridge in 1894, it remained almost exclusively a club game. Men played it at London clubs, or in their country houses when they were able to get up a rubber, but it was by no means the popular social game which it has since become. It was not until the beginning of the present century, in 1901 or 19o2, that ladies discovered what a delightful field of amusement and speculation was open to them. When once they realized the fascination of the game they adopted it as their own, and became even more enthusiastic about it than the men. There are many first-class women players. London is full of mixed bridge clubs, and there are many for women only.
Whist and bridge are somewhat on the same lines. Both are partnership games for four players, and the play of the cards is on similar lines, but there are two outstanding points of difference. First, as to the trump suit. At whist this is arbitrarily determined by the last card dealt, which the dealer turns up on the table. At bridge the trump suit is selected by the dealer or his partner, with out consultation, or they can elect to play without a trump (sans about). The other point of difference is that, although there are four players, the dealer's partner is always dummy, and takes no part in the play of that particular hand. Directly the first card is led, dummy's cards are exposed on the table, and the duty of playing the two hands devolves solely on the dealer. The value of both tricks and honours varies with the trump suit. The game consists of 3o points scored by tricks alone. The score has to be kept on paper. For this purpose scoring blocks are provided with two vertical columns divided by a horizontal line. Tricks are scored below the horizontal line and honours above. The score for honours does not count towards winning the game, but as soon as the score of either side amounts to 3o or more, below the line, the game is won. At the end of the rubber the whole score, above and below, is added up, and 10o points are added to the winners of the rubber. A rubber is the best of three games. If the first two are won by the same side the third is not played.
Declarations can be doubled by the adversaries and redoubled by the declarers, but not beyond the point at which each trick is valued at Ioo. Doubling does not affect the score for honours on penalties. Each trick above six ("the book") counts : When spades are trumps, 2 points per trick. When clubs are trumps, 4 points per trick.
When diamonds are trumps, 6 points per trick. When hearts are trumps, 8 points per trick.
Honours consist of ace, king, queen, knave, ten in a suit decla ration, and the four aces when there are no trumps.
If a player and his partner conjointly hold any three suit-hon ours they score twice the value of the trick; if four honours, four times the value; if five honours, five times the value. If a player holds four or five honours in his own hand, he scores eight or ten times the value of the trick, and if when a player holds four his partner holds the fifth they score nine times the trick value above the line. In a no trump game three aces in the joint hands count 3o, four aces count 4o, or four in one hand I oo points.
On the completion of the deal, the dealer must either make a declaration or leave it to his partner. A declaration means that the declarer contracts to win at least the odd trick in a specified suit, or at no trumps. When the declaration is left the partner of the dealer is obliged to declare something—he has no alternative. If he has a bad hand, he will naturally declare spades, as that is the cheapest declaration he can make. If he has a good hand, he will declare no trumps. Whatever he declares the dealer will play the two hands; the partner will put his cards down on the table and become dummy. Whichever side wins the odd trick or more scores the value of it below the line. It is quite possible for the adver saries to win the game on a declaration by the dealer.
The declaration at bridge affords an opportunity for the exercise of certain qualities which were never called into use in the game of whist. The same technical skill is required for the management and play of the cards in both games, but at whist the trump suit is fixed before the start, whereas at bridge the result of the game will frequently depend upon the judicious exercise of the right of choosing the trump suit. The most expensive declaration being no trumps, when the value of each trick is 12 points, or more than a third of the game, the first consideration of the dealer should always be whether his hand is strong enough for this call. The game of bridge owed a great part of its popularity to the no trump declaration. There is nothing quite like it. It was, of course, unknown at whist, which, towards the finish, became almost more of a science than of a speculative game, but here you have a strong element of uncertainty and speculation, which appeals strongly to the mind of the average player, and also it is so much more interesting to play the combined hands at no trumps than in a suit declaration.
The game of bridge had a great success in Britain for rather more than ten years, and then, just as suddenly and completely as it had killed whist, it was itself superseded by its own offspring, auction bridge. (See AUCTION BRIDGE; CONTRACT BRIDGE.) (W. DA. ; X.) See also W. Dalton, Bridge Abridged, or Practical Bridge (19o1) ; J. B. Elwell, Advanced Bridge (1904).