Bridge Scoring System FAQ

Yes, absolutely. As long as you're a member of a group you can set up games, make bookings and run the games. Pre dealing cards is optional - you can let the players shuffle/deal boards the first time boards are played or you can load up files and pre-deal the boards. You don't need to purchase bridge scoring devices - only one player on each table needs to be logged into the game to record scores.  Use Bridge Among Friends to run competitive bridge games at any level, social bridge games, duplicate bridge, teams events or individual bridge games.

Yes, absolutely.  If you receive an invitation to join another group you can accept it. If you want to set up another group yourself you can do so on Create a New Group under the Our Group menu.

Yes, all guests welcome.

Yes.  For the setup of a game there is an Enter Hands option.  Select Yes if you want to enter hands or No to skip entering hands and proceed directly to the next board.  If you decide to enter hands they will be displayed on the board results otherwise you'll just see the results.  If you choose not to enter hands when playing individual Chicago the program prompts you to enter high card points for each hand as HCP are required for Chicago to calculate the scores.

Yes, for individual games and pairs or duplicate bridge, Bridge Among Friends knows how many players there are and which players are at the sitout table.

For team events, the full team must be booked in.

Yes. There are movements available. The choice is narrowed down depending on type of game - duplicate, individual or teams event and the number of tables you have. There is a great selection of games to choose with various movements including:

Individual Bridge Movements - Rainbow

Duplicate Bridge Movements - Howell, Mitchell, Skip Mitchell, Relay Mitchell, Hesitation Mitchell, Arrow Switched Mitchell, Scrambled Mitchell, Double Weave Mitchell, Twin Mitchell, Square Mitchell, Hybrids

Team Bridge Event Movements - Round Robin, American Whist, Thurner, Stagger, Patton

No but you can have a director and Bridge Among Friends makes it easier for directors. Directors know all the rules, what to do when you get into trouble and they are good at keeping the play at a good pace. They also know all about various movements and they can run the game for you.

Either way, Bridge Among Friends provides instructions for all player movements, that is, which table to go to or stay at and where the boards need to go to as well.  Once you're seated at the next table, you will see who your opponents are and positions for each player.  You will also see where the next set of boards come from. This occurs prior to every round except the first round for duplicate bridge and individual games where you can sit anywhere prior to the start of the game. For team events both pairs in each team sit at the same table then when the game starts, Bridge Among Friends lets each pair know which table to go to for their first and subsequent matches.

No. Predealt cards are not required.  You just need the cards.  Bridge Among Friends knows when the hand is to be played for the first time and indicates when a shuffle/deal is required.  If the hand has already been played, players are instructed just to play the hand.

Yes, it's been specifically designed to work on iphones, ipads, laptops and desktop computers.  Screens have been especially designed for ease of use and to  enter data efficiently.

For example drag/drop to set the correct positions of players at the table, eg, drag player at North to South to swap the player at North to South and the player at South to North. Or drag North to East to rotate everyone clockwise.

When you play the game, touch/tap to select boards and enter scores. 

To enter cards for each hand, touch/tap to select the suit then touch/tap the cards to add them to the current hand.  Drag/drop to move cards from one hand to another when a mistake is made.

Register a new group and invite others to join your group.  If you receive an invitation to join a group you can accept the invitation.  If you are expecting to receive an invitation to join a group and don't receive the email, check your junk folder.

Play bridge on Bridge Among Friends completely FREE. FREE Bridge, FREE social bridge, FREE bridge tournaments, FREE bridge competitions.

The Howell movement, devised by Edwin C. Howell, enables all players to play against all other opponents. One pair remains stationary whilst all other pairs move around, producing one winner. A Three Quarter Howell movement is one where not every team plays against all teams, limited by the number of players and number of boards to be played.

The Mitchell movement, best suited for games with higher number of tables, produces two winners. North/South players remain stationary whilst the East/West players move to the next table and the boards move to the previous table. In it's most simplest form this is played with an odd number of tables. For an even number of tables, Skip Mitchell or Relay Mitchell with relay tables are used so that no team plays the same board more than once. A Hesitation Michell is suitable when you need to squeeze an extra round out of a Mitchell movement.

An Arrow Switched Mitchell or Scrambled Mitchell movement are suitable for games when you want to produce one winner. Played like a normal Mitchell movement North/South and East/West teams are switched, usually on the last one or two rounds. The number of rounds to switch is 1 out of every 8, so we switch on the last round up to 11 tables and the last 2 rounds when more than 11 tables.

A Double Weave Mitchell movement when the number of tables is a multiple of 4, eliminates the need for relay tables. Odd and even East/West pairs move in opposite directions.

A Twin Mitchell movement is useful when you have a long narrow room as an even number of tables are arranged in two rows side by side. Boards are shared between tables opposite each other.

A Square Mitchell movement for 4 tables is where E-W pairs move horizontally, then vertically, then horizontally and boards move diagonally, then horizontally, then diagonallly.

A Hybrid movement contains two complete movements in the one game. We have a hybrid movement for 4 tables playing 7 rounds in which the first 4 rounds are an Arrow Switched Mitchell movement followed by a Howell movement for the last 3 rounds.

The Rainbow movement, devised by Mr. Oswald Jacoby and Mr. Shepard Barclay, enables players to compete individually. North players remain stationary. Boards move to the next lower table. South players move to the next higher table. East players skip one table higher. West players skip one table lower.

An American Whist movement is the perfect movement for teams with an odd number of tables. Like the Mitchell movement, each team plays every other team except that East/West players move down 2 tables and drop the boards off 1 table down. There are variations of American Whist movements for even numbers of tables.

Round Robin movements are perfect for teams with an even number of tables. Boards are shared between each pair of tables playing a match however the same boards may be played by other matches in various rounds.

A Thurner movement may be used for an even number of teams where only 2 tables share boards. The last table shares boards with all the other tables so it should be located in the middle.

A Stagger movement is run in 2 stanzas so that you can take a break between sessions.

A Patton movement, devised by Major C. L. Patton, based on a twin Howell movement in which the same boards are shared and played by both pairs of every team.

Minimums

Individual games - 1 table, 4 players, each player plays against the other 3 players.

Duplicate pairs - 1 table, 2 pairs the simplest of movements...  or 2 tables, 4 pairs with a Howell movement.

Team events - 2 tables, 2 teams of 4 players in each team, 8 players.

Maximums

Individual games - 12 tables, 48 players.

Duplicate pairs - 14 tables, 28 pairs - Twin Mitchell, Skip Mitchell or Relay Mitchell movements.

Team events - 16 tables, 16 teams of 4 players in each team, 64 players - American Whist movement.

Bridge Among Friends works on all smartphone mobile phone devices, ipads, minis, laptops or desktops.  An internet connection is required.

All you need is your mobile phone or ipad or a computer with an internet connection.

And playing cards.

There are a number of movements available for bridge played in teams, individual games and for duplicate pairs as follows:

Bridge movements for individual games

Duplicate pairs bridge movements

Bridge movements for team events

Cross IMP Scoring

First we calculate IMPs score against results from the other tables, then we average them.

Butler Datum Scoring

First we determine the average of the scores then IMP each score against the average score.

Match Points

Comparing scores by other players 2 match points are awarded for a win, 1 match point for equal scores and 0 for a loss. Percentage is based on the maximum number of match points available for each board.

Chicago Russian

Used for individual games, we look up target score based on vulnerability and high card points and calculate IMPs on the difference.

Total Points

Aggregated number of points scored by the hand.

Victory Points

Used for team matches, calculate continuous Victory Points from difference in IMPS between two team scores in a match using algorithm WBF IMPs to continuous VPs, devised by Henry Bethe and Peter Buchen.

Bridge Among Friends knows how many tables and players you have so we narrow the choice for you.  Each movement comes equipped with a diagram showing you the ideal layout and information about it.  Things to consider when selecting the movement are:

• The number of tables, size and shape of the room.
• Players with special needs, ie, preferences to sit or move.
• The total number of boards to be played.
• Number of boards per set depending on number of rounds and whether there is a sitout, eg, play 2 or 3 boards per set when there is a sitout.
• No. of winners for the game, eg, Howell movements produce 1 winner, Michell movements produce 2 winners. Arrow Switched Mitchell movements with 1 out of 8 boards switched, produce 1 winner.