Help & Support

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Bridge Circle keeps score for bridge nights: four at a table in two sides of two, North and South against East and West, with partners across from each other. It scores Chicago, with a round of four deals, or rubber, and a group can also play a season-long marathon. The app never deals, plays or checks a hand, and doesn’t record the bidding or the cards. Your table plays as it always has, and the scorekeeper says who was declarer, what the contract was and how it went. A group that moves tables says “round”; a group that plays rubber says “rubber”. The answers below use round, with rubber in brackets where it differs. A deal is a deal in both.

Joining a group

How do I join my group?

Tap the invite link your organizer sent you. If the app is already on your phone, open it, tap I have an invite link, and paste the link in.

It says my link is a Bunco Circle invite.

Each Game Night Circle app has its own groups. An invite from another of our apps, such as Bunco Circle or Canasta Circle, opens in that app, and a Bridge Circle invite opens here. Ask your organizer for your bridge group’s link.

How do I start a group of my own?

Open the app and tap Start a group (or, if you’re already in a group, tap your group’s name at the top of the screen, then Start another group). You name it and answer What kind of circle?: A regular bridge night or A season-long marathon. You can’t change this later. For a bridge night you say when you play and how many players (at least 4); for a marathon you say how many partnerships (at least 3). How your group plays is in Organize → Group settings, and its game, scoring and rules are in Organize → Your game and scoring. Then share the invite link from Organize → Roster & invite.

Signing in

How do I sign in?

With your email and password: type them in and tap Sign in. New to Game Night Circle? Tap New here? Make an account. We email you a 6-digit code once, to check the address is yours, and then you make a password.

I forgot my password.

On the sign-in screen, tap Forgot password?. We email you a 6-digit code. Type it in, then make a new password.

Can I sign in with Face ID?

Yes, on your phone. After you sign in with your password, the app asks once: Sign in with Face ID next time? You can turn it on or off any time in Me → Sign-in. It works with Face ID or Touch ID on an iPhone, and with your fingerprint or face unlock on Android. Your phone checks it’s you: your face or fingerprint never leaves the phone. On the web, sign in with your password.

I don’t have a password yet.

Tap Email me a code instead on the sign-in screen, and type in the 6-digit code from the email. To make a password for next time, go to Me → Sign-in.

My sign-in code never came.

Give it a minute, then look in your junk or spam folder. The email is called “Your Game Night Circle sign-in code”. Still nothing? Tap Didn’t get it? Send again. Make sure the email address is spelled right: the code goes only to that address.

I use another Game Night Circle app. Can I use the same email?

Yes. Sign in with the same email address. One email and password work in every Game Night Circle app that has passwords, so a password you made in another one works here too. (Farkle Circle and Pinochle Circle still sign in with an emailed code.) The first time, Bridge Circle asks your name, unless your Game Night Circle account already has one, and your phone number if you’d like to give it. Your bridge groups, scores and subscription are kept separately from your other apps.

Keeping score

Who keeps score?

Each table has a scorekeeper: a player at that table who has the app. Only players who have the app can keep score. The organizer sees who it is on Table setup (Scorekeeper: Margaret · Change) and can tap Change. The organizer and co-organizers can keep score for any table, which is how a table with nobody on the app gets scored. Everyone else just plays: they don’t need the app at all.

How do I score a deal?

When a deal is played, tap Score Deal 3 → on the Scorekeeper. Then:

• tap a name under Who was declarer?;
• under The contract, type the Level (1 to 7), tap the suit (clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades or no trump), and tap Doubled or Redoubled if it was. Nothing lit means not doubled;
• under The result, tap Made it and type the Overtricks (leave it empty for none), or tap Went down and type Down by;
• if your group counts honors, pick Honors: None, 100 · four of the five or 150 · all five, or four aces.

The sheet shows HOW IT ADDS UP as you go, line by line, and THE TOTALS BECOME for each side. Save Deal 3 waits until the declarer, the level, the suit and the result are in. Tap it, and the line under the button says what was saved.

Does the app check my contract?

No. The app never deals, plays or checks a hand, a bid or a claim, and it doesn’t record the bidding. Your table says what the contract was and how it went, and the scorekeeper taps it in. Numbers outside what a contract allows show a short line and wait: Level is 1 to 7., Overtricks are 0 to 3 for a 4 contract. or Down by 1 to 10 for a 4 contract. Scores are points only: no money changes hands in the app.

Who is vulnerable?

You never type it. The app works it out and shows it for each side on the scoring sheet, as Vulnerable or Not vulnerable. In Chicago it follows the deal number and the dealer: deal 1 neither side, deals 2 and 3 the dealer’s side, deal 4 both sides. In a rubber it follows the games won.

Nobody bid.

Tick Passed out and tap Save passed out. A passed-out deal doesn’t count, and the same dealer deals again. It flashes nothing, and the status line says so.

What are the DOWN and SLAM flashes?

When a saved deal went down, DOWN 2 (with the number) flashes for about a second, with the declaring side’s names and its minus, such as Gordon & Alan · −100. When a made slam is saved, SLAM or GRAND SLAM flashes with the side’s names and its score for the deal. Nothing else flashes, and they never play for a fix or an Undo.

Can we just type the points?

Yes. On the scoring sheet, tap Just type the points and type Points for this deal for each side. Bridge points end in 0. A deal typed as points can’t carry a partscore or count toward game, and the declarer is optional. Count it for me goes back to the contract and result. In a rubber, Type the rubber’s score instead does the same for the whole rubber.

Do my points stay with me?

Yes. Your points tonight are the net of your side’s rounds, added up: in each round you played, your side’s points minus the other side’s. A round sat out is zero, so a night’s points add up to zero across the room. If your group moves tables, your own points go with you to each new table and partner. Where partners stay together, partners have the same points.

Your game and scoring

Which games does it score?

Your organizer picks in Organize → Your game and scoring. Nothing picked means Chicago. Chicago is four deals a round, for one table or many. Rubber is played until a side wins two games, and only where partners stay at their table. The app applies the standard scoring tables for both: contract points, overtricks, doubled and redoubled bonuses, slams, penalties, game and partscores, the rubber bonus, and the bonus for an unfinished rubber.

Our group scores differently. Can we change things?

Yes. In Your game and scoring, your organizer can change three rules. Nothing picked means the usual rule.

• Vulnerability on deals 2 and 3: The dealer’s side is vulnerable, or The other side is vulnerable.
• Honors: Count honors, or Don’t count honors.
• Partscores, in Chicago: Carry forward to the next deal, or Count 50 for each partscore, where nothing carries and there is no 100 on the fourth deal.

A House rules note (up to 300 characters) holds anything else, like your conventions. Everyone can read it on Our scoring sheet, and the app never referees it. These can’t be changed during a bridge night. Switching to Rubber asks first, because rubber needs the same partners all night.

Where can players see what things are worth?

Tap Our scoring sheet on the Scorekeeper, or Our scoring sheet → on Home during a bridge night. It lists the points for contracts, overtricks, slams, game and penalties, how a round and a rubber work, vulnerability, and your house rules. It is for reference: your table does its own bidding and play.

Rounds, rubbers and ending the night

When is a round over?

A round is four deals at each table, and the number is fixed. The deal card shows Deal 3 of 4. After the fourth deal, the scorekeeper taps Round over →, which turns gold. The side with the higher total for the round wins it. When you move tables, the table then waits: Waiting for the other tables to finish Round 3. When every table has finished, the app draws again.

When is a rubber over?

When a side wins its second game, Rubber over → appears, and the rubber bonus is added. To stop early, tap End rubber now: the app scores an unfinished rubber for you, 300 for a side with a game and 100 for a side with a partscore. Then the next rubber starts with the same partners.

We want to end a round early.

Tap Round over → before the last deal and the app asks first, such as End Round 3 after 2 of 4 deals? If you end it, the side ahead wins the round, and deals can’t be added afterwards. With no deal saved yet, it asks you to score Deal 1 first.

When does the night end?

If your organizer set Rounds per night (Rubbers per night in a rubber group), the night ends after the last one: each table taps Last round over →, and when every table is done, everyone goes to Tonight’s winners. Otherwise the organizer taps End the night now on the Scorekeeper, then End the night. When you move tables, tonight counts the rounds every table has finished, and the round being played now isn’t counted.

Tables, partners, staying or moving

How are the tables and sides made?

On Table setup, the organizer picks How many tables?, which lists only the counts that work. Every table has exactly four players, so there are no three-handed tables. The app draws the sides and the seats at random, partners across from each other: North and South against East and West. North deals first in every round, and the deal passes clockwise. Tap two names to swap them (to keep a couple together, say), or tap Shuffle to draw again. Then tap Start Round 1 → (Start Rubber 1 → for a rubber) and confirm Start the night?

What if the players don’t come out in fours?

The extras sit out, and a round sat out scores zero. When you move tables, who sits out goes in turn, and nobody sits out twice before everyone has when that can be helped. The organizer isn’t exempt. The sit-out card on Table setup says Everyone sits out in turn. With 11 players at 2 tables, 8 play and 3 sit out each round. You need at least 4 players.

It says A few choices first.

Your group hasn’t picked its night yet. Pick Your bridge night and tap Start the night. It’s saved for your group, and you can change it in Group settings.

What are the three ways to play?

Your organizer chooses in Organize → Group settings, under Your bridge night:

• Same partners all night: partnerships and tables stay. Each table plays its rounds (or rubbers) one after another and never waits for the others.
• New partners each round: when every table has finished, the app draws new partners and new tables for everyone, and everyone’s own points add up. Nobody partners the same person again until everyone has partnered everyone, when that can be helped. It works for one table with five or six players too.
• Winners move up: partnerships stay together. After each round the winning side moves up one table, and the winners at Table 1 stay; the losing side stays, and the losers at Table 1 go to the highest-numbered table. With an odd number of partnerships, one rests each round.

How do I know where to sit?

Where’s my table? on the live scoreboard shows your table, your seat and your partner, with a little map of the tables. When your group moves tables, Round over — where do I go? → appears there after each round, once every table has finished, and shows where you move to. If you sit out, it says SIT OUT and when you’re back in.

Late arrivals and going home

Someone came late.

Before the tables are made, just tick them Here on Bridge night sign-in. Once play has started, the organizer taps + Someone just arrived (on the Scorekeeper or Table setup), and picks their name or taps + Someone new to type it. They play from the next round, when the app draws the tables again with everyone who’s there. If it’s tonight’s last round, they’re marked Here and play next time. Where partners stay, a new table is offered only when four people are waiting.

Someone has to go home.

Tap Someone has gone home (on Table setup, or at the foot of the scoring sheet) and pick who. They keep the points already saved. Their table’s round (or rubber) ends there, at its score, and the next tables are drawn without them. A rubber that ends this way scores the unfinished-rubber bonuses.

Fixing a deal

We typed the wrong number.

Tap Undo. It takes back the last saved deal completely: its points, the declarer, the contract and the result, the game line in a rubber, the partscores it carried or wiped, and the dealer’s turn. Undo works until Round over → (Rubber over →) is tapped. The table’s scorekeeper and the organizer can use it.

The mistake was a few deals back.

Tap that deal in the list under the totals (Tap a deal to fix it.). It opens with that deal’s entries, as Fix Deal 1; change what was wrong and tap Save changes. The totals are worked out again, and so is every later deal in the round, because partscores and vulnerability depend on the order.

We already tapped Round over.

Tap Fix Round 2 (with the round’s number; Fix Rubber 1 for a rubber) on the Scorekeeper, then the deal. The higher total still wins the round; if a fix leaves two sides tied, they share it unless you tap one. Nobody’s seat moves. The organizer can fix any round, and a table’s scorekeeper the last one that closed at their table, until tonight’s winners are saved.

Ties

What if two sides tie for a round?

They share it, and each side gets a round won. If your group settles ties another way, tap Tap the winner instead and tap the side that won. When your group plays Winners move up, a tie asks Who moves up?

Two players tie for a prize.

On Tonight’s winners, the organizer sees It’s a tie — tap the winner, with each player’s numbers to help decide. Partners share a Best round, so it goes to the two of them, shown as Eleanor & Alan. Where partners stay together all night, partners have the same points, so they win a prize together.

A season-long marathon

What is a marathon?

A marathon is a second kind of group, for partnerships that play each other one month at a time, in their homes. When you start the group, pick A season-long marathon. A marathon doesn’t have RSVPs, a headcount or Table setup: its Organize screen has Partnerships, The schedule, Your game and scoring, Prizes, Group settings and Roster & invite.

How do I set one up?

Put your players on the roster, then open Organize → Partnerships. Tap two names that aren’t in a partnership to make one, and tap two names to swap them. A partnership can be any two people, and you need at least 3. Subs are on the roster too (+ Add a sub). Then open Organize → The schedule and tap Draw the schedule.

How does the schedule work?

The app draws a round robin so every partnership meets every other once, with one match a month. Each match has a host partnership and a month to be played in. Hosting is balanced as near as it can: each partnership hosts half its matches, and the extra flips the next season. Either partnership can set the match’s date, and the other sees it at once. The organizer can Skip a month and Swap two matches that haven’t been played, and Draw the schedule again before any match is played.

How is a match scored?

A match is two partnerships at one table, at the host’s home. It is played as rounds of Chicago, and your organizer sets Rounds per match in Group settings. The scores are entered at the table, deal by deal, as at a bridge night. The partnership with the higher net wins the match, and 20 Victory points are split between the two. A tie, or a margin under 100, is 10 each. Tap Match over → when it’s done, then Save the match.

A match was never played, or a partner can’t come.

A match that isn’t played by the end of its month can be made up until the last month. One still unplayed at the end counts as a tie, 10–10, marked “not played”, and the organizer can tap Type a result instead. A sub can stand in for one named partner in one match, and the match still counts for the partnership. The organizer can open a saved match again with Re-open this match until the season ends.

How are the standings worked out?

By Victory points, then net points, then the match between the tied partnerships. Your organizer can pick Net points instead under Standings count in Group settings. The marathon standings are part of the subscription; the schedule, picking a date, a sub, and scoring a match and its result are free.

Take a look first

Can I try the app before my group starts?

Yes. Before you’re in a group, tap Take a look first. You get a sample group of your own with eleven pretend players, a bridge night already played, and a practice night today. Open Bridge night sign-in, tap Here for each player who came, then Make the tables, pick how many tables and Start Round 1. The other players are pretend, so you keep score for every table. Everything is unlocked in the sample, and nothing is sent to anyone.

How do I get rid of the sample?

Tap Delete sample on its banner, or Delete the sample group on Me. The pretend players and their bridge nights go with it. Nothing else changes.

Bigger words

How do I make the words bigger?

Go to Me (or Settings, if you aren’t in a group yet) and choose a Text size: Normal, Large or Extra Large. Large is where the app starts.

Subscriptions

What’s free?

Saying “I’m in”, RSVPs, keeping score, finding your table and partner, tonight’s winners with every side’s scores, and your brag card are always free, for everyone in your group.

What does the subscription cost, and what does it unlock?

The price is $2.99 a month or $24.99 a year in the US, per person: each player who wants it subscribes for themselves. The App Store or Google Play shows the price before you buy, and in Canada it shows your price in Canadian dollars. It is paid through Apple on iPhone, or Google Play on Android. One subscription covers every Bridge Circle group you play in. It unlocks the live scoreboard with the whole room (Everyone tonight), season standings, the winners log and your stats, and a marathon’s standings.

Does my subscription to another Game Night Circle app cover this one?

No. Each app has its own subscription. A subscription to another Game Night Circle app doesn’t unlock Bridge Circle, and a Bridge Circle subscription doesn’t unlock the others.

How do I change or cancel my subscription?

In the app, go to Me and tap the Subscription row. Or on your iPhone, open Settings, tap your name, then Subscriptions. On Android, open the Play Store app, tap your profile picture, then Payments & subscriptions, then Subscriptions.

I subscribed, but things are still locked.

Tap any Subscribe button, then Restore purchases. Make sure you are signed in to the same Bridge Circle account you subscribed with. In a web browser, subscribe in the Bridge Circle app on your phone; it unlocks in the browser too.

Deleting your account

How do I delete my account?

Go to Me (or Settings, if you aren’t in a group yet) and tap Delete my account. The app tells you what goes and what stays before anything is deleted. If you run a group, pass it on first: Organize → Roster & invite, tap … next to a player who has joined and isn’t a sub, and choose Pass the circle to them. Or delete the group in Organize → Group settings → Delete this circle. Deleting your account doesn’t cancel an Apple or Google Play subscription, so cancel that first.

No longer have the app? Sign in at gamenightcircle.com/bridge in any web browser and do the same from Me, or email support@gamenightcircle.com from the address you sign in with and we will delete it for you.

If you also use another Game Night Circle app, that account stays, and so does your sign-in for it. Deleting one of those accounts leaves Bridge Circle alone, too. More in the privacy policy.