HOW TO PLAY BRiST

The players are assigned positions as per the compass. In a 4-player game, South, partners North and West partners East. In a 3-player game, there is no Dummy player. After deciding who is sitting in South (they become the scorer), they deal out 1 card to each player. The two highest become partners as do the two lowest.

On the first hand South is the Declarer and will deal with one of the packs which they have shuffled, the other pack is shuffled by his teammate (North, or in a 3-player game by another player) On subsequent rounds the dealer will deal with the already shuffled deck and their partner shuffles the cards from the previous round.

The declarer before dealing should cut the cards in full view of all other players.

The declarer deals 10 cards (one at a time and all face down) to all players starting with the player on dealers left and then continuing clockwise. Players then pick up the dealt cards and sort them in their hand. (Suggest alternate colours and descending ranks eg: Spades, Hearts, Clubs and Diamonds) This will leave a kitty of 12 cards for the declarer to distribute.

The Dealer/Declarers (same person) partner becomes the DUMMY HAND, who then places his hand in order (Spades, Hearts Clubs Diamonds) face up on the table for all players to see. 

As suggested the DUMMY does not play in this round and must not tell their partner what to play. They just play cards from the dummy hand as instructed by the Declarer.

After sorting the cards and observing the cards in the Dummy Hand, the Declarer looks at each card, one at a time from the kitty to choose the best 3 cards for his hand. The Declarer is not able to retrieve previously turned cards and must take the last cards on the pile to make a total of 3 cards from the kitty. After the Declarer has 13 cards the remaining 9 cards are shuffled and are dealt one at a time to the remaining 3 players. All four players should have a hand of 13 cards, and Dummy’s cards are face up on the table.

The declarer looks at both his and the Dummy hand and with the assistance of the ‘Score Card’ now announces the contract for this hand.

If No Trumps is called, the tricks are won by the highest card of the played suit. When a suit is nominated, it automatically becomes ‘trumps’ for that hand and is able to win a trick when a player is unable to follow the suit led. Be aware that as the defenders you do not have to trump a trick when your partner has the winning card, you may play any other suit (this gives you the opportunity to discard any other losing card).

Once the Declarer has nominated the Contract, the player to his left plays any card from their hand (ie leading) they wish, and the games always continues in a clockwise direction. Next, the declarer nominates which card to play from the Dummy hand following that the opponent to the right of the declarer plays a card and finally the declarer plays a card from his hand. If everyone followed suit, the highest card wins the trick. You can win a trick with a trump card, but that can only be played if you have no card of the suit already tabled. If multiple trump cards are played, then the highest ranked card wins. The winner of the previous trick then leads out a card for the next round. If the Declarer won the trick from the dummy hand, then the lead for the next round must come from the dummy, at the declarers choice.

Declarer aims to win as many tricks as possible and plays for bonus points. 

Defenders aim is to also win as many tricks as they can and to win the bonus points by stopping the declarer from making his contract If the Declarer is stopped from making his contract, he will score no points for any tricks taken.

In a 2-hour session 16 boards for a 4 player (beginners) fits neatly and with experience getting to 20 boards.

For a 3-player movement 15 boards for beginners and with experience 21 boards.

The team or player that has scored the most points is declared the winner. 

On the BRiST recording sheet, South (or nominated scorer) writes down the nominated contract and at the end of the round adds the scores starting with the defender on dealers left. In a 4-player game the South/North score will be the same for both players, as with the West/East team. In a 3-player game it will be individual scores as the dummy position is always left empty and scores no points.

After scoring the hand the player to the left on the declarer then becomes the declarer for the next round. This continues in a clockwise direction for the rest of the game.

A Trick has been completed after all four players, in a clockwise rotation, have played a card from their hand that is from the suit that was led. The winner of the trick is the person that played the highest card of the suit that was led or the highest Trump card (players can only play a trump card on a trick when they have no cards of the originally led suit). The winning tricks are raked in and placed in front of one of either declarers or defenders. At the end of the contract, leave all tricks down until both sides have agreed on the tricks taken by both sides. (the total number of tricks will always be 13).

Part Score 

Declarer nominates to play the contract as 1 of any suit or No-Trumps. Committing his team to make a minimum of 7 tricks or more. Provided they win the round they score 1 point for each trick. Defenders score a point for each trick they take and if they can defeat the contract, they then score a bonus 10 points plus a point for each trick taken. 

Game

Is when the declarer nominates a contract to play either 3NT, 4S/H or 5 D/C

3 No-Trumps commits the declarer to taking 9 or more tricks. If made the declarers team score a point for each trick taken plus a 10-point bonus

4 Spades or Hearts (The Major suits) The declarer contracts to take a minimum 10 tricks and scores a point for each trick taken and 10 bonus points.

5 Diamonds or Clubs (the Minor suits) The declarer commits to taking 11 tricks with a point for each trick taken and 10 bonus points.

Small Slam 

Is when the Declarer nominates to play 6NT/6S/6H/6D/6C and to taking 12 or more tricks. A point is scored for each trick taken and 25 points for as a bonus.

Grand Slam 

Is when the declarer contracts to make 7NT,7S,7H,7D,7C and commits to taking 13 tricks and by doing so earns a 50-point bonus plus 13 points for the tricks taken, giving a total of 63 points.

The Defenders Score Points

The defenders score 1 point per trick taken. They can earn bonus points by stopping the Declarer from making their contract.   The score card shows the bonus and how to score each hand. 

Tennis Whist is an introduction to BRiST. It is recommended that before you play BRiST you give Tennis Whist a try.