The vertical line separates each sides scores.

The horizontal line separates the contract scores from the bonuses and penalties.

A rubber is the best of three games. That is, the winner is the first pair to score two games, either 2-0 or 2-1.

Each time you bid and play a contract the points scored for each trick "contracted" go below the line and any ovr tricks go above the line i.e if you bid 2 spades and make 9 tricks only 60 ( 2 times 30 per trick) goes below and the additional 30 go above.

So when bidding you only bid as high as you need to reach your target for a game

Thus to score a game in clubs or diamonds you need to win 11 tricks , i.e. 5 @ 20 points each = 100

Similarly in the major suits you need 10 tricks , 10 @ 30 points =120

9 tricks would only score 90 points

At no trumps , however, because the first trick scores 40 points you only need to 9 tricks, Thus 1 @ 40 and 2 @ 30 = 100

There are no part score or game bonuses but a 2-0 rubber gets a 700 point bonus,

a 2-1 rubber gets 500 points and an unfinished 1-0 rubber gets 300 points.

But slams score the same bonuses as duplicate.

For bidding and making a small slam, non-vulnerable + 500 and vulnerable + 750

For bidding and making a grand slam, non-vulnerable + 1000 and vulnerable + 1500

Penalties are also the same as at duplicate and points scored for doubled and redoubled contracts are similar including the 50 for being insulted and overtrick scores. When a side has completed one game they become vulnerable. Just as in duplicate it is possible to double someone into game – 2 spades doubled and made scores 120 below the line and thus a game at one go

When one side completes a game any points scored below the line by the other side, whilst remaining towards the total score, no longer count to towards their next game. The scoring starts again.

In addition a bonus for holding in one hand the 5 honours in the trump suit (Ace King, Queen, Jack , Ten) of 150 points and a 100 points for holding any four of them or 150 for holding all 4 Aces if in no trumps. These are usually claimed at the end of the hand and are awarded irrespective of whether the contract has made or not or even if a defender holds them. This adds to the mathematics of sacrificing as sometimes it can negate all or part of the penalty.

Bidding strategy is completely different to duplicate as many bids that would be forcing are simply raising to the level to score game.

For example the first hand is played and EW bid and make 2 Spades scoring 60 below the line.

On the next hand they only need to score another 40 to complete the game. Thus if East opens one no trump West will leave it in or transfer to a safe 2 level suit contract regardless of how many points they have unless they have slam intentions. But the opposition are aware of this and will rarely make it as easy as that and competitive bidding is an essential part of the defence strategy but judgement plays a large part, as trying to push the opposition too high might result in a penalty greater than the score that would have made by the other side..

Similarly if the score was only 30 below, the auction 1 spade- Pass -3 spades does not invite opener to bid game. It will be a genuine 3 bid but there is no need to go further unless there is a slam on.

When playing the cards the strategy is the similar to Teams, make the contract first and let the overtricks take care of themselves. Indeed overtricks are much less important at Rubber than at teams . Matches can be won and lost on a couple of imps but at Rubber an extra 30 points gains very little.

Playing socially for money the stakes would probably range from a penny a hundred to possibly a £1 a hundred.So in that case 30 points would be worth from 0.33p to 33p Even in very high stake games in the clubs where up to 7pound;10,000 can change hands in an evening 30 points would only be worth about £10
Three hours play would rarely result in a loss of more than 3000 points. This would be a very, very bad session. . so choose your stakes, if any, to suit your pocket

A typical Rubber might go like this.

Deal 1 NS bid 2NT and go one off- Score 50 to EW ( Non vulnerable penalty) above the line.

Deal 2. NS bid and make 3 diamonds exactly. Score 60 below the line.

Deal 3 EW bid and make 4 Spades. Score 120 below the line. Remember the 60 scored by NS on Deal 2 no longer counts towards a game and EW are now vulnerable. A line is drawn under these scores

Deal 4 An aggressive competitive auction leaves NS in 5 spades doubled. They go 3 off and EW get 500 points above the line ( EW could have made 5 hearts and this would have won the rubber and cost NS a further 700 points for a 2-0 rubber)

Deals 5 & 6 NS swiftly bid 3 NT and 4 Hearts and make them both

At this point our score card , if we were NS , would look like this.

a nett gain NS 110 points so NS's sacrifice on deal 4 paid off as the score, had they left EW in 5 hearts, would have been

Net gain to EW 960

So at a £1 a hundred NS won £1.10 instead of losing £9.60

From a duplicate players point of view it can be played as a bit of fun, or as a gambling game for money while at the same time getting some useful teams declarer play practice.