How to Play Crazy Bridge

You can play crazy bridge with three or more players. Crazy bridge resembles standard bridge, spades and other card games in which players compete for tricks or groups of cards. The short-term goal is to take the exact amount of tricks that you bid. If you do this successfully you will achieve the long-term goal of having the most points. Read on to learn how to play crazy bridge.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Deal 10 cards to each player. Each hand is different because the dealer gives one less card each hand, starting at 10 and down to one card, and then back up to 10 again.
2. Flip over the top card that remains in the deck. This card indicates what suit is trump.
3. Bid, beginning with the person to the left of the dealer, how many tricks you think you will take. See Tip 1 for scoring guidelines.
4. Tell the dealer what she can bid. The dealer, who bids last, cannot bid to make the number of tricks bid equal the number of cards in each players hand. For example, in the first hand when there are 10 possible tricks, if the other players have bid a total of eight tricks the dealer can bid zero, one, three or more. The dealer, in this case, can bid anything but two. This rule is the reason crazy bridge is sometimes called "Oh Hell."
5. Lead a card, if you are the person to the left of the dealer. Other players must follow suit if they can. If a player has no cards in the suit that was led, she can play any other card. If she chooses to play a trump card, it is considered higher than any card in the led suit.
6. Continue play until all the tricks are taken. The player who took the most recent trick leads a card for the next one.
7. Begin the next hand by having the person who bid first deal. Each hand the deal will shift one player to the left.

Tips & Warnings

• If a player makes their bid exactly, add 10 points to their bid. For example, a player who bids one and takes one trick, gets 11 points. If a player gets fewer tricks than their bid, subtract their bid from their score. A player who bid one but got zero tricks gets a score of negative one. If a player gets excess tricks, add the number of tricks they took to their score. A player who bid one but got two gets two points. Because of the 10-point bonus for making your bid, players can bid zero. Some players bid zero on most or all of their hands.
• If you play with more than five people you may want to play double deck. When playing double deck crazy bridge, first high card wins.

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