Lesson One
What is the game of bridge? How do I get started playing bridge? Can I practice online? These questions and more will be answered through the links listed below. Welcome to the world’s most popular card game!
What is the game of bridge?
Learn the basics with these introductory videos.
VIDEO: A brief animated introduction to the Game of Bridge
VIDEO: Join us for bridge with Shaw Taylor. Want to play bridge for fun? This video is for novices.
VIDEO: Bridge is for Everyone – a new series on YouTube with 56 lessons. Click here to enjoy and be sure to share with your friends and family. Click here for bidding exercises that go along with the videos.
VIDEO: New Tricks Bridge Club: Introduction For Schools – a fantastic little video – if you’re thinking about playing bridge, or teaching bridge in schools – this is a must see!
VIDEO: Fun Video Introduction to Bridge. This insightful talk and introduction to Bridge by twelve-year-old Mumbai resident, Anshul Bhatt, highlights his passion for the game.
VIDEO: Learn to Play Bridge in 10 Steps. The ACBL has put together a great series – perfect for beginner players!
How do I get started playing bridge?
There are many resources and links on this page and it might be confusing. So here is a good place for you to start learning to play bridge.
- Learn to play bridge online – Self-paced course
- Intro to Bridge – join in on the ACBL’s online course today!
- ACBL’s Learn To Play Bridge – Four friends + a standard deck of cards = the best game you’ll ever play. Bridge! the ACBL has a good introductory page with all the basics.
- 60 Second Bridge – Learn to play Bridge with our short and precise interactive Bridge lessons, quizzes, and online play.
- A Teacher First – Learn to play bridge and solve puzzles.
- Lesson One – The Bridge World Magazine
Can I play a quick bridge hand online?
Yes! Here are some great links – you can click in and play one hand or a few – give it a go!
- Just Declare. No bidding. Practice playing the contracts.
- Just Play Bridge. An infinite stream of hands. All day, everyday. Great for practice.
- Bridge Master. Test your play.
I’d prefer to read about the game
So far we’ve given you videos and online play. If you’re a reader, and prefer to learn that way, here are some fantastic links to Learn To Play Bridge documents.
Richard Pavlicek – Bridge is by far the greatest card game of all, and it can provide immense challenge and enjoyment for the rest of your life. This lesson is intended for the complete beginner, one who knows nothing, or almost nothing, about bridge. If that is you, Click Here >
The Bridge World Magazine’s Introduction to Bridge. – This site features great articles by well known bridge writers. Click Here >
Karen Walker’s (Famous) Bridge Library – This excellent list of articles for all levels has been a life’s work for Karen Walker and a must visit for all newcomers. Start with her Introduction to Bridge Click Here >
Platforms and Courses and Classes ... oh my!
Now we share with you a selection of links and invite you to do some exploring. There are many other links on the various pages of this website. So glad you’ve found us! If you have any questions feel free to send us an email.
For Kids – BridgeWhiz, an organization affiliated with the ACBL Educational Foundation, is a FREE, online course designed to teach children in grades 4 through 12 the essentials of a fascinating game whose benefits, intellectual stimulation, and adventure will last a lifetime.
Oasis Bridge Tuition – Learn to Play Bridge in a Live Class or Online – Bridge is played by over 200 million people worldwide. In addition to attending private classes or bridge clubs it is possible to learn bridge online. Oasis Bridge Tuition is a friendly, fun space where you can learn how to play bridge. Find out more here →
BEST E BRIDGE Bidding, online lessons, online hand play. Great place to go to start learning the game. Free account with limited access. Basic account $15 us a month.
A Taste of Bridge Jeff Bayone’s Honors Bridge Club in New York is the largest in North America, perhaps in the world. This book is based on their beginners’ course, a series of six lessons that have started thousands of people on the road to enjoying the world’s most popular card game. In a recent Bridge Magazine, Jeff writes: A Taste of Bridge is only half of the Honors Bridge Cub beginner course. The amazing Israeli online teaching site, bestebridge.com, is the other half. Teacher and student notes, all the example hands your beginners will ever need, are included in the program. If you email Jeff at honorsbridge@gmail.com he’ll send you a complimentary e-book, course materials, and two full-day free access to the Best e-Bridge website.
START WITH MINI-BRIDGE
Minibridge is a simpler version of bridge to quickly get started with the card game itself.
BRIDGE DOCTOR
Play Bridge online against the computer or with interactive Bridge lessons, video tutorials, or play live Bridge games on the Internet. Bridgedoctor now includes MiniBridge, a great way to start learning Bridge basics. BridgeDoctor is a great way of learning how to play Bridge online and it’s available 24/7 for just US$7 per month. Click here for a free 7 day trial. No software to install – from sign-up to playing in just 60 seconds!
VuBridge– free, internet based Autobridge revival! Review and play hands from championships, authors and teachers can prepare hands, create hands, review hands, also has a vugraph “instant search” facility to retrieve, play and review Championship boards
Play & Learn Bridge At Home-While this page from Silicon Valley Youth Bridge does not include a complete list, it does offer options from solitare to large tournaments, free and paid, for beginners up to advanced players.
play bridge at Homo Ludens Online. A place where you can meet your bridge friends from across the globe. Invite them to a party and have fun like it used to be in the good old days. Free. No software to install, just use your browser. Play Chicago variant with Russian scoring.
OK. Got it? Now go and practice!
APP: Tricky Bridge. Tricky Bridge makes it fun (and free!) for absolute beginners to learn bridge: rules, bidding, and strategy. Learn solo, at your own pace through 37 lessons, competitions, and challenges. Tricky Bridge has no pop-up advertisements, so you’ll enjoy uninterrupted learning. You can also play offline.
APP: Kida – Double Dummy app for Kids (and Adults) to learn card play. Level 1 is designed for an absolute beginner. Levels 5 and 6 will be suitable for the intermediate player. There are 52 puzzles in each of the 6 levels. Its a hand holding app – so starts very very slowly – BUT one can start at ANY level.3 puzzles are unlocked in each level, but when each get solved successfully, the next one gets unlocked, and so on. Click here to travel to their website and download.
APP: FunBridge :You can play solitaire bridge against robots on Funbridge. It’s an app or can install on your computer. Hovering over the bids will tell you what they mean.
Find more useful apps and sites by clicking on one of these:
PLAY BRIDGE APPS | PLAY BRIDGE ONLINE SITES | PLAY BRIDGE SOFTWARE
Still more great bridge links
Play & Learn Bridge At Home – Silicon Valley Youth Bridge offers many options, free and paid, for beginners up to advanced players.
New Tricks Bridge Videos offer in-depth tutorials, and the New Tricks Tournament Series, featuring eight of the world’s best bridge players, battling it out for individual glory. This exciting new website and program is providing a new source for online bridge resources for beginners and experienced players – in video format. We’ve interviewed one of the founders Sue Johnson – read article here ->
LEARN BRIDGE IN A DAY – is it possible?
Bridge in A Box™ by Patty Tucker. EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO LEARN THE GAME. Contains playing cards, player workbooks, a table mat, a quick start option and access code for four people to a video tutorial and an app. Learn bridge at your convenience, the way you prefer to learn, and at your own pace in your home. Patty and her project can be found on Kickstarter and she hopes to release the product at the NABC in Atlanta. You can find Patty’s website here
LEARN TO PLAY BRIDGE SOFTWARE (PC ONLY)
The ACBL & ACBL Educational Foundation offer this FREE program was written by one of the top bridge software authors and is brought to you by the American Contract Bridge League, the largest bridge organization in the world. Download the program onto your computer, and take the lessons at your own pace, offline. You don’t need any prior card playing experience to take these lessons. Click Here >
THE CONVENTION CARD
In contract bridge and particularly in duplicate bridge a convention card is a summary of the conventions and treatments that a particular pair is using. There’s lots of information online to help you fill out your bridge convention card. CLICK HERE to find Great Bridge Link’s excellent Convention Card page.
ADVANCED BRIDGE LESSONS
by Richard Pavlicek
For experienced players who want to master the game, this is the place to roam! Fifty advanced lessons and 150 exercises are now freely available for online study and reference. Stop by before your opponents do! rpbridge.net
Interesting Campus Links
No Fear Bridge – The Website for Learners. Learn bridge! No Fear Bridge is the most fun way to learn how to play bridge. The member’s site is packed with online learning activities for bridge beginners, improvers and advancers. Note: There is a fee after the first two weeks.
Learn Bridge Online – an interesting online bridge club for newcomers.
The Fifth Chair Foundation has launched a newly revised website with lots of goodies for learners, teachers and anyone interested in improving their Bridge game! www.fifthchair.org
ACBL – American Contract Bridge League – Learning page – includes links, Find a Teacher and Bridge Hand of the Week. Aimed at the North American learning bridge player. Click here >
ABTA – Helping those who teach bridge to do it better – more effectively – more knowledgeably – more professionally. The Americant Bridge Teachers Association (ABTA) has a website of great interest to bridge teachers, authors and more.
Ethics & Etiquettes from Jeff Tang “If someone had told me all the things I’ve written here when I first started playing bridge, it would have been saved me a lot of trouble.” Click Here ::>
Bridge Today University (BTU) Bridge Lessons Direct by Email, magazines and digest, Learn to play bridge in 9 minutes.Click Here
Last update Jan 2025.