Honeymoon Bridge: A Beginner's Guide To Playing

how to play honeymoon bridge card game

Honeymoon Bridge is a two-player card game that is a variation of Contract Bridge. The game consists of three phases: picking, bidding, and playing. The deck is shuffled and cut, and then players take turns picking cards, choosing to keep or discard them. Each player ends up with 13 cards. The players then bid, with doubles and redoubles allowed, until one player passes. The final contract is played, with the opponent of the bidder leading the first trick. The game is scored as in Rubber Bridge.

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Dealing and shuffling

Honeymoon Bridge is a two-player adaptation of Contract Bridge. There are several versions of the game, but they all use a 52-card deck, with suits and cards in each suit ranking as in Bridge. The game consists of three phases: picking, bidding, and playing.

The dealer shuffles the deck, and their opponent cuts it. The dealer then deals 13 cards to each player, one at a time. The remaining 26 cards are placed face down to form a pile from which cards are drawn during play—this is known as the stock.

In some versions of the game, the top card of the stock is turned face up, while in others, the 52 cards are stacked face down. In the latter version, players take turns to draw cards, looking at the top card of the stock without showing it to their opponent. They may either take this card and add it to their hand or discard it to a face-down discard pile. If they reject the first stock card, they must take the next card. If they accept the first card, they must discard the next card without looking at it. Players take alternate turns until the stock is exhausted, at which point each player has a hand of 13 cards.

In another version of the game, four 13-card hands are dealt—a hand for each player and two dummy hands. Each player can then bid on the exposed hand, and the winner of the bid can choose the exposed hand as their dummy or take the unexposed hand. In this version, each player can look at their own dummy hand but cannot reveal it to the other player until after the bidding.

In yet another version, one hand is dealt with five face-up cards. Both players bid for that hand, and each bid turns up another card. In this version, the defender handles both their hand and the dummy hand.

In all versions of the game, the dealer's opponent leads to the first trick.

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Bidding

Honeymoon Bridge is a two-player adaptation of Contract Bridge. It is believed to have originated as a way to test the strength of newlywed relationships. The game consists of three phases: picking, bidding, and playing.

Once each player has 13 cards in their hand, the bidding phase begins. Each player starts by bidding either pass or a contract. A contract describes the trump and the number of tricks to be won. For example, a contract of 1-clubs means the player must make 7 tricks with clubs as the trump. The opponent can then bid a higher contract, pass, or double. Doubles and redoubles are only allowed after a contract is bid and only affect that contract. The bidding continues until a player passes. The player who bid the last contract becomes the declarer, and the other player becomes the opponent.

The dummy, the declarer's partner, places their hand face-up on the table after bidding is complete. The player to the left of the declarer leads with a card, and the declarer must play a card of the same suit if they have one.

In Contract Bridge, bidding is used to determine the trump suit and the minimum number of tricks to be won. The dealer makes the first call and is known as the "opener". The auction proceeds in a clockwise format, and there may be several rounds of bidding.

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Playing

Honeymoon Bridge is a two-player card game that is an adaptation of Contract Bridge. It uses a 52-card deck, with suits and cards in each suit ranking as in Bridge. The game consists of three phases: picking, bidding, and playing.

Picking Phase

The dealer shuffles the deck and their opponent cuts it. The players then take turns to draw cards. Each player looks at the top card of the stock, without showing it to their opponent, and decides whether to take it or discard it. If the player rejects the first stock card, they must take the next card. If they take the first card, they must discard the next one. This continues until the stock is exhausted, with each player ending up with 13 cards.

Bidding Phase

The players then bid as in Contract Bridge, with doubles and redoubles allowed, until one player passes. The player who bid the last contract becomes the declarer, and the other player leads to the first trick.

The first 13 tricks are played at no trump. The winner of each trick draws the top card from the stock, and the loser takes the next card. Suit must be followed, as in Bridge. In the last 13 tricks, suit must always be followed.

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Scoring

In a trump contract, if a player does not have a card in the suit led, they can play a trump. In that case, they take the trick unless a higher trump card is played by someone else. At the end of the deal, if the declaring pair takes the number of tricks they committed to in the initial contract or more, they score a certain number of points. However, if they fail to make their contract, the other pair scores points.

When either side wins two games, they win the rubber, and a bonus of 700 or 500 points is awarded based on the opponents' game victories. The total trick and honour points for each side are tallied, and the side with the higher total wins the difference from their opponents' score. For settlement purposes or keeping a running score, this difference is usually rounded to the nearest 100, with differences of 50 or more counting as 100, and any smaller portion of 100 being disregarded.

In one version of Honeymoon Bridge, each player takes a turn, two cards at a time, until they go through the whole deck. The scoring is 10 points per trick bid and 1 point for every overtrick. Some people play sandbags, where you get more tricks than you said you would. For example, if you bid 3 but took 5, you get 32 points and 2 sandbags. Every time you get 10 sandbags, you go back 100 points.

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Variations

Honeymoon Bridge is a two-player adaptation of Contract Bridge. It is played with a single deck of 52 cards, with the same suits and card rankings as in Bridge. The game consists of three phases: picking, bidding, and playing.

There are several variations of Honeymoon Bridge. In one version, the players do not reveal the cards they pick from the deck to their opponents; instead, only whether they chose the first or second card is revealed. In another variation, the players turn the top card of the stock face up before the lead to each trick, so they know what card they will pick up if they win the trick. However, some players may prefer to keep the card hidden until the trick is completed.

Some players may also choose to play with the additional rule of having to follow suit in the first 13 tricks. While this is not enforceable when players draw new cards after each trick, it can add an extra challenge to the game. Alternatively, some may decide to play without revealing or discarding the drawn card, keeping it hidden from the opponent.

Another variation of Honeymoon Bridge involves using a special 55-card pack that includes three extra cards known as Colons: the Grand Colon, which matches aces; the Royal Colon, which matches face cards (K, Q, J); and the Little Colon, which matches numeral cards 2-10. A Colon can be discarded on a matching lead, losing the trick but preventing the opponent from leading a card of the same suit in the next trick.

Frequently asked questions

Honeymoon Bridge is a two-player card game that is an adaptation of Contract Bridge. It uses a 52-card deck, with suits and cards in each suit ranking as in Bridge. The game consists of three phases: picking, bidding, and playing.

The first phase is picking, where players take turns drawing cards from the deck, either keeping or discarding them without showing their opponent. The second phase is bidding, where players bid on contracts, which are descriptions of trump and tricks. The third phase is playing, where the opponent of the bidder leads the first trick.

Bidding in Honeymoon Bridge is similar to Contract Bridge, with players bidding on contracts until one player passes. Doubles and redoubles are allowed and affect the stakes of the contract. The player who bid the last contract becomes the declarer, and the other player becomes the opponent.

In the playing phase, the opponent of the bidder leads the first trick. The declarer must play a card in the same suit if they have one. Suit must be followed, and players play cards from their dummy hands. The game continues as in Bridge.

A dummy hand is a set of seven face-up cards, with six of them having a face-down card underneath. During the game, when a face-down card is uncovered, it can be used on subsequent tricks. Dummy hands are played by the player sitting next to them.

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