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History of the Laws of Contract Bridge

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Scoring of tricks in no trump contracts

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In the 1932 Laws of Contract Bridge, no trump tricks bid and made, and undoubled no trump tricks made but not bid, score 30, 40, 30, 40, 30, 40, 30.[1]: law 30 

In 1935 this became 40, 30, 30, 30, 30, 30, 30.[2]: law 39 

Scoring of undertricks

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before 1935[1]: law 32  1935-1987[2]: law 39 [3]: law 81  after 1987[4]: law 77 
not vulnerable, not doubled 50 each 50 each 50 each
not vulnerable, doubled 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 350 etc. 100, 200, 200, 200, 200, 200 etc. 100, 200, 200, 300, 300, 300 etc.
vulnerable, not doubled 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 350 etc. 100 each 100 each
vulnerable, doubled 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700 etc. 200, 300, 300, 300, 300, 300 etc. 200, 300, 300, 300, 300, 300 etc.

Redoubled undertricks have always scored twice as much as the same doubled undertricks.

The 1987 change, to the scoring of the fourth and subsequent non-vulnerable undertricks, was made after a hand in the finals of the 1981 Bermuda Bowl. Munir and Fazli, playing for Pakistan, bid skilfully to reach a vulnerable 7 hearts, which would have scored them 2310. But their non-vulnerable Meckstroth then sacrificed in 7 spades on a weak hand with fives spades to the jack. This went nine off doubled for a score of -1700, a profitable sacrifice. The change of scoring increased the penalty from -1700 to -2300.[5]

Also, the "insult bonus" for making a redoubled contract used to be only 50. This was changed to 100, so that playing 5 of a minor, redoubled, making an overtrick, is always worth more than an undoubled small slam.

8-Level bids

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It has always been the intention of every official set of Laws of Contract Bridge to forbid contracts for more than seven tricks. Some versions have stated this more clearly than others, but this intention of the Laws has never changed.

International Match Points

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When International Match Points were first introduced in Europe, they were as in this table.[6]

IMP table, 1949
Point difference IMPs Point difference IMPs
from to from to
0 10 0 1000 1240 8
20 40 1 1250 1490 9
70 130 2 1500 1990 10
140 210 3 2000 2490 11
220 340 4 2500 2990 12
350 490 5 3000 3490 13
500 740 6 3500 3990 14
750 990 7 4000 or more 15

On September 1st 1962 they were changed to the table below.[7]: law 87 

IMP table, 1962
Point difference IMPs Point difference IMPs Point difference IMPs
from to from to from to
0 10 0 370 420 9 1750 1990 18
20 40 1 430 490 10 2000 2240 19
50 80 2 500 590 11 2250 2490 20
90 120 3 600 740 12 2500 2990 21
130 160 4 750 890 13 3000 3490 22
170 210 5 900 1090 14 3500 3990 23
220 260 6 1100 1290 15 4000 or more 24
270 310 7 1300 1490 16
320 360 8 1500 1740 17

(after 1972, before 2002) they were changed again (FBDis, p. 22, p. 74)

  1. ^ a b The Laws of Contract Bridge. de la Rue. 1932.
  2. ^ a b The International Laws of Contract Bridge. de la Rue. 1935.
  3. ^ The International Laws of Duplicate Contract Bridge. Bibliagora. 1981.
  4. ^ The Laws of Duplicate Contract Bridge. The English Bridge Union Ltd. 1987.
  5. ^ Jacobs, Bill (April 2010). "(untitled section)" (PDF). Victorian Bridge Association Bulletin: 6.
  6. ^ (untitled leaflet). European Bridge League.
  7. ^ Laws of Duplcate Contract Bridge. de la Rue. 1963.