play

The card game auction bridge was developed from straight bridge and was a predecessor to contract bridge. Around the same time five hundred was created by the United States Playing Card Company in 1904.

Terence Reese, a prolific author of bridge books, points out that there are only four ways of taking a trick by force, and two of these are very easy:

Two partnerships of two players each are needed to play bridge. The four players sit around a table with partners opposite one another. The compass directions are often used to refer to the four players, aligned with their seating pattern. Thus, South and North form one partnership and East and West form the other.