How to Play

A family of 2-player Contract Bridge adaptations. The most common form, Draw Bridge, deals 13 cards to each player and 26 to a stock; players draw-and-decide until each has 13 cards, then bid and play by full Bridge rules with rubber scoring.

Honeymoon Bridge is the catch-all name for a family of two-player adaptations of Contract Bridge. The form most commonly called 'Honeymoon Bridge' today is Draw / Pick-Up Bridge: 13 cards are dealt to each player and the remaining 26 form a face-down stock. Players alternate drawing the top card of the stock; after looking at it privately the drawer either keeps it (adding to hand, then discarding one other card to a face-down discard) or rejects it (exposing it face-up so the opponent can take or pass on it). Play continues until the stock is exhausted and each player holds exactly 13 cards. Only then does the auction begin, using standard Bridge bidding, followed by standard trick play and Bridge rubber scoring. Two other common forms sit under the same umbrella: Semi-Exposed Dummy Bridge, where all 52 cards are dealt (13 in hand plus a 13-card dummy laid face-up in front of each player) and bidding and play use those hands; and Plain Honeymoon Bridge, where 13 cards are simply dealt to each player and 26 cards are set aside unseen, producing a compressed Bridge hand with no dummy. All forms preserve the bidding ladder (1♣ up to 7NT), the must-follow-suit rule, and the rubber-bridge scoring pad, and all reward the Bridge fundamentals of hand valuation, suit establishment, finessing, and trump management within a 2-player format.

Players

Exactly 2 players, usually partners in daily life (hence the game's name) who want a Bridge fix when a foursome is unavailable. Deal alternates each hand. A rubber typically takes 20 to 45 minutes. No partnership scoring: each player scores solo for or against the declared contract.

Card Deck

• One standard 52-card French-suited pack, jokers removed.
• Suit rank in the auction (low to high): ♣, ♦, ♥, ♠, NT. Card rank within a suit (low to high): 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A.A♠K♠Q♠J♠
• Bridge honour cards are Ace (4 HCP), King (3 HCP), Queen (2 HCP), Jack (1 HCP); used for hand evaluation in the auction.A♠K♠Q♠J♠

Objective

Win the auction with a contract your hand can make, take at least the number of tricks you bid (plus the 6-trick 'book'), and score the most points across a rubber (best of three games, where a game is reached by accumulating 100 contract points below the line). Setting the opponent's contract scores undertrick penalties. The match ends when either side wins the rubber.

Setup and Deal

1. Cut for dealer; the higher card deals. Deal alternates each hand.
2. The dealer shuffles; the opponent cuts the deck.
3. Deal 13 cards face down to each player, one at a time starting with the opponent.
4. Place the remaining 26 cards face down as the stock between the players.
5. Each player picks up and sorts their hand privately (hand-sort by suit and rank).
6. The non-dealer takes the first turn of the drawing phase.

Drawing Phase (Draw Bridge form)

1. Your draw: Turn to you. Flip the top card of the stock face up so both players see it. Decide to take it or reject it.
2. Take it: Add the face-up card to your hand. You must immediately discard exactly one card from your hand face down to a personal discard pile.
3. Reject it: Leave the face-up card on top of the stock. Your opponent now decides whether to take that card or the next one.
4. Opponent's turn: Your opponent performs the same action on the next stock card.
5. Continue alternately until the stock is exhausted. Each player now holds exactly 13 cards.
6. Information control: A major strategic element is whether to take a card you want (revealing interest in its suit or rank) or reject it and hope the next stock card is acceptable.

Bidding

1. After each player has built their 13-card hand (Draw form) or immediately after the deal (Plain and Semi-Exposed Dummy forms), the auction begins.
2. The non-dealer bids first. Each turn, a player may Pass, Bid (a bid must be higher than any previous bid in either level or denomination rank: ♣ < ♦ < ♥ < ♠ < NT), Double the opponent's last bid, or Redouble an opponent's double.
3. The auction ends when three passes in a row follow a bid (or four passes from the very start, in which case the hand is thrown in and re-dealt).
4. The final bid becomes the contract. The player who first named that denomination for their side is the declarer. The declarer must win (contract level + 6) tricks to make the contract.
5. Trump suit: If the contract is 1♣ through 7♠, the named suit is trumps. If it is No-Trumps (NT), there is no trump suit.7♠

Trick Play

1. The non-declarer leads the first trick (this is the opening lead, played before any dummy is exposed in Bridge-family games).
2. In Semi-Exposed Dummy Honeymoon Bridge only, after the opening lead each player lays their 13-card dummy hand face-up on the table; declarer plays from both hand and dummy, opponent plays from both hand and dummy.
3. In Draw / Plain Honeymoon Bridge, both hands remain concealed through all 13 tricks; play proceeds as in standard Whist.
4. Follow suit if you have the led suit. If void of the led suit, you may play any card including trumps.
5. Winning a trick: Highest trump played wins the trick, or highest card of the led suit if no trumps are played.
6. Lead the next trick: Winner of each trick leads the next.
7. All 13 tricks are played to resolve the hand (tricks above or below the contracted number determine over-tricks or under-tricks).

Scoring

• Standard rubber Bridge scoring. Scores are kept on a two-column pad (below the line for contract points, above the line for everything else).
• Contract points (below the line): Minor suits (♣, ♦): 20 points per trick over 6. Major suits (♥, ♠): 30 points per trick over 6. NT: 40 for the first trick over 6, 30 for each subsequent. Doubled: × 2 contract points. Redoubled: × 4 contract points.
• Game and rubber: First side to accumulate 100 or more contract points below the line wins a game; a line is drawn and play continues. Best of three games wins the rubber.
• Rubber bonus: 700 points for winning the rubber in 2 games, 500 for winning it in 3 games.
• Overtricks (above the line): Undoubled: full trick value. Doubled: 100 each (vulnerable 200). Redoubled: 200 each (vulnerable 400).
• Slam bonuses (above the line): Small slam (contract of 6, winning 12 tricks): 500 not vulnerable, 750 vulnerable. Grand slam (contract of 7, winning all 13 tricks): 1000 not vulnerable, 1500 vulnerable.
• Undertricks (penalties, above the line to opponents): Not vulnerable undoubled: 50 per undertrick. Vulnerable undoubled: 100 per undertrick. Doubled and redoubled penalties scale higher per the standard Bridge table.
• Honour bonuses (above the line): 100 for holding 4 of the top 5 trump honours (A, K, Q, J, 10), 150 for all 5. In NT, 150 for all 4 Aces in one hand.A♠K♠Q♠J♠10♠

Winning

The match is won by the first player to win the rubber (best of three games). Add all below-the-line contract points and all above-the-line bonuses and penalties; the higher total wins the rubber and collects the rubber bonus (700 or 500). Some casual groups play a single game instead of a rubber, with the first side to 100 below the line taking the hand.

Common Variations

• Draw / Pick-Up Bridge: the form described above; 13 cards to each hand, 26 in stock, draw-and-decide until stock is empty. Most common modern form.
• Plain Honeymoon Bridge: deal 13 cards to each player, set the other 26 aside unseen. No drawing phase. Bid and play on the 13-card hands alone. Fastest form.
• Semi-Exposed Dummy: deal all 52 cards, 13 to each player's hand and 13 to a dummy in front of each player, face-up after the opening lead. Closest to standard 4-hand Bridge in play feel.
• Exposed Dummy (Schafkopf Bridge): deal all 52 cards, 13 to each player and 13 to a shared dummy visible to both players before bidding. The auction winner plays with hand + dummy.
• 3-Handed Honeymoon: 3 players each get 16 cards, with 4 cards in a kitty. The highest bidder names trumps and picks up the kitty. Opponents play separately against declarer.

Tips and Strategy

• Draw phase: prioritise keeping Aces, Kings, and cards in one or two long suits to give yourself a playable contract. Discard low cards from short suits to create voids for trumping later.
• Read your opponent's pattern: if your opponent has rejected several cards in the same suit, they likely hold a weak or short holding there; plan to lead that suit early to tap their hand.
• Avoid showing interest in your real long suit. Discarding cards from your short suits tells the opponent where your length lies; discard small cards from your intended long suit occasionally to muddy the picture.
• Bidding the Draw form: hand-evaluate using standard high-card points (A=4, K=3, Q=2, J=1) plus length (4-card suit + 1, 5-card suit + 2, 6-card suit + 3, and so on). With 2-player Bridge the 'opening hand' threshold of 13 HCP is roughly the same; with fewer opponents, slightly weaker bids can succeed.
• Trump selection: in Draw Bridge you know roughly which suits your opponent was collecting; prefer your own longest suit and respect suit-quality (AKQxx beats AKxxx + void elsewhere most hands).
• Play defence like a Bridge expert: lead 4th highest of your longest suit against NT and ♠/♥/♦/♣ top-of-sequence against trump contracts; these leads are valid in 2-hand play because the rules of Whist still hold.

Glossary

• Book: the first 6 tricks, needed before any bid counts. A contract of 3♠ means you must win 3 + 6 = 9 tricks.3♠
• Contract: the final bid, specifying trumps (or NT) and the number of tricks over book the declarer must make.
• Declarer: the player who wins the contract (first to name the final denomination).
• Dummy: in Semi-Exposed or Exposed Dummy forms, the 13-card face-up hand that functions like Bridge dummy.
• Stock: the face-down pile of 26 cards (Draw form) that players draw from alternately.
• Rubber: best of three games. First side to win 2 games wins the rubber.
• Vulnerable: a side that has already won one game of the current rubber; penalties and bonuses are higher when vulnerable.
• Overtrick / Undertrick: tricks taken above the contract / below the contract.
• Doubled / Redoubled: a defender's bid of 'Double' multiplies contract points and penalties by 2; the declarer may 'Redouble' to multiply by 4.
• Trump: the named suit in a suit contract; cards of the trump suit beat all non-trump cards.