ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Contract bridge

Contract bridge is a card game that you can play with friends or family. It is played using a special deck of cards and is usually played by four players. The game is called a "bridge" because it brings together two teams in a competition.

Each player is dealt 13 cards and the game begins with a bidding process. During the bidding process, players take turns making offers for how many "tricks" they think they can win. Tricks are a set of cards that are played in a round. The player who makes the highest bid gets to choose the "trump" suit for that hand.

Once the trump suit is established, players take turns leading tricks. The person who plays the highest ranking card in the suit that was led wins the trick. The goal is to win as many tricks as possible.

The game has four rounds and each round is played in a different direction. The first round begins with the dealer and goes clockwise, the second round begins with the player to the dealer's left and goes counterclockwise, and so on.

The game ends when all the rounds have been played and it's time to score. How many tricks each player won is added up, and then the team that had the highest bid tries to reach or exceed that number of tricks. If they are successful, they score points, but if they fail to reach their bid, they lose points.

In summary, contract bridge is a card game where players bid on the number of tricks they can win, play with a trump suit, and try to score points by winning as many tricks as possible.