Dummies Allowed

As if the rationing of canned goods were not enough for one week, U.S. home life was faced with another upheaval: the first changes in the contract bridge rules in eight years.

The amendments* applied to both rubber and duplicate bridge. There were two scoring changes: a 50-point bonus for making any doubled or redoubled contract, whether vulnerable or not; a 50-point bonus for having a part score in an unfinished game of an unfinished rubber. Two rules were changed. Henceforth, when the wrong opponent leads against him, a declarer has a choice of calling or forbidding the lead of any suit he wishes. For a revoke, the penalty is still two tricks, but hereafter there is no additional penalty when the same player revokes a second time in the same suit--and should the revoke cost the nonoffending side more than two tricks, an equitable adjustment must be made so that the revoking side cannot gain by its revoke.

Another change: the word "dummy," long unofficial, is now accepted officialese for the "declarer's partner."

* Dictated by the Whist Club of New York and the American Contract Bridge League.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.