What is Solitaire Bridge?
Solitaire Bridge allows you to play a game without waiting for partners or opponents. There are five solitaire games for you to play on BBO:
Instant Robot Tournament and Weekly Free Tournament
Instant Robot Tournament combines the best of a tournament and a single-player game. You play deals from a past tournament you haven't played before. Your scores are then compared against the scores of players in those tourneys. If you do well, you receive points. Instant Robot Tournaments have a small BB$ entry fee.
Once a week, on Friday morning, a new, free instant robot tournament is available. You can play as many times as you like. The free version does not offer points.
Just Play Bridge
This is an infinite stream of "best hand" bridge deals, scored Total Points style. Best hand means your hand will always contain at least the same high card points (HCP) as the next highest HCP hand. Play as many hands as you like, at your own pace. The highest scorers are listed on a leaderboard which resets daily.
Pick your favorite system - either 2/1 or Acol and start playing!
Bridge 4
Bridge 4 is a mini game consisting of four random "best hand" deals, which means your hand will always contain at least the same high card points (HCP) as the next highest HCP hand. Try to accumulate as many total points as you can in those four deals. The highest scorers are listed on a leaderboard which resets daily.
Just Declare
Just Declare is a simplified version of bridge where you always play the hand, and the contracts are pre-determined. All contracts are makeable. Play for as long as you like, at your own pace. The highest scorers are listed on a leaderboard which resets daily.
Bridge Master
Bridge Master is a challenging game designed to improve your declarer play. You get to choose from a series of instructional deals to play. You are always declarer. The deals are carefully constructed to provoke you to find the best possible play; if you take the correct line of play you will always make your contract. On the other hand, if you make a mistake, the program will always defend perfectly and defeat your contract. A "Show solution" button is available to explain the correct play.
About the robots
The robots used in BBO play relatively simple and natural bidding systems. All games use the 2/1 system (click here for the 2/1 system notes), except for the Just Play Bridge Acol, where the robots play Acol (click here for the Acol system notes).
You can find out the meaning of any bid by clicking on that bid as it appears in the bidding diagram. Furthermore, when it is your turn to bid, moving your mouse over the buttons for the various possible bids will show an explanation of the bid you are considering (as your robot partner will understand it). These explanations can be somewhat cryptic, but reading them carefully before you bid will help you to avoid misunderstandings with your robot partner.