| ♣ ♦ ♥ ♠ | Scoring in Duplicate Bridge |
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Scoring
There are three levels of scoring in duplicate bridge.
First there is the scoring of individual hands pretty much as in rubber bridge.
Then there is the comparative scoring of hands across the various teams who played the same hands.
Finally, you may wish to calculate Master Points in the same fashion used in ACBL (American Contract Bridge League)
sanctioned duplicate games. You can then keep a running tally of each player's
Master Points for the year and award
prizes if you desire.
Scoring for individual hands in duplicate bridge is the same as in rubber bridge with a few exceptions.
The major difference is that each hand is awarded either a game or part score bonus depending on
whether or not a game contract was bid and made. The boards for each hand state which team or teams,
if any, are vulnerable. Points awarded for part scores and game contracts are shown below:
| Not Vulnerable | Vulnerable | |
| Part Score | 50 | 100 |
| Game | 300 | 500 |
No points are awarded for holding honors.
Each board must have a score sheet with it so teams can record their results
after completing that board. These board score sheets
or "travelers", since they travel with the board,
are also used in the comparative scoring phase. Players should also record their scores on
player score sheets.
The director will find these sheets to be quite useful when there is a
question about the scoring noted on a board score sheet.
For instance, the players may have forgotten to note any score at all on the board score sheet.
The director can then ask to the player score sheet to resolve the problem.
Comparative scoring can begin when all teams have completed playing a particular board.
On a hand by hand basis each team's score is compared against that of the other teams for the same hand.
2 points are awarded to a team for scoring better than another team. 1 point is awarded for each team they tie.
A sample board traveler with individual hand and comparative scoring is shown below:
In this particular example teams 1 and 2 scored 170 points (120 for the 4 spades made plus 50 for the part score).
Team 3 scored 420 points (120 plus 300 for the making a game contract). In the comparative Points columns,
team 3 did better than team 1 and 2 and therefore received 4 points. Teams 1 and 3 each tied one other team
and therefore received 1 point each.
Although the individual hand score (Score column) is recorded by the players, the director should check the
score before calculating the comparative score for the Points column. The easiest way to complete the comparative
scoring is to do so from the perspective of the side with the most scores (NS in this example as detailed above).
Now the other side can be completed by noting that the scores will always add up to 4 for a given hand when you
have 3 tables. In general, this total is 2 times (number of tables - 1).
After completing the assignment of comparative scores for each board, the director can now tally the total
comparative points for each team and optionally calculate Master Points. A simple tally sheet is best used
for this step. A "completed"
tally sheet for 3 tables (6 teams) is shown below:
In this example team 1 was the winning NS team and team 6 was the winning EW team.
You can use these scores to maintain a cumulative record of performance or calculate
master points based on these scores.
In this particular example teams 1 and 2 scored 170 points (120 for the 4 spades made plus 50 for the part score).
Team 3 scored 420 points (120 plus 300 for the making a game contract). In the comparative Points columns,
team 3 did better than team 1 and 2 and therefore received 4 points. Teams 1 and 3 each tied one other team
and therefore received 1 point each.
Although the individual hand score (Score column) is recorded by the players, the director should check the
score before calculating the comparative score for the Points column. The easiest way to complete the comparative
scoring is to do so from the perspective of the side with the most scores (NS in this example as detailed above).
Now the other side can be completed by noting that the scores will always add up to 4 for a given hand when you
have 3 tables. In general, this total is 2 times (number of tables - 1).
After completing the assignment of comparative scores for each board, the director can now tally the total
comparative points for each team and optionally calculate Master Points. A simple tally sheet is best used
for this step. A "completed"
tally sheet for 3 tables (6 teams) is shown below:
In this example team 1 was the winning NS team and team 6 was the winning EW team.
You can use these scores to maintain a cumulative record of performance or calculate
master points based on these scores.
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