Exploring the Laws

Chapter VIII

'The Score'

Law 77 'The Score'. the one law that one would expect all bridge players to know. I estimate that in a normal session of average play that 50% of all calls relate to either wrong scores on the traveller or a request for " What's the score for this contract", ranging from 1 to 7NT.

Law 78 is the reference point for the authority to permit all types of scoring methods including any method approved by the Sponsoring Organisation. Whilst most players recognise Matchpoints, IMP's and VP's in their standard usage, there are various hybrids of all three and it is worth knowing before you start what form of scoring is being used. No use playing pairs tactics if Butler scoring is in use and vice versa.

It is the duty of the Sponsoring Organisation to advise and/or publish any special conditions of contest including the determination of winners, breaking of ties and the method of scoring.

My first question to any organisation that employs me is " What is the objective of the tournament, how many winners do you want and if applicable, how many pairs/teams to the final?"

Law 79, 'Tricks Won', in addition to both agreement and disagreement on the number of tricks won, unless otherwise stated, this law is the reference point for correction periods for all laws that allow for a later time for correction or notification.

Law 79A requires that the number of tricks should be agreed on before the hands are returned to the board. Unfortunately, we do not live in a perfect world and most of the disagreement occur after the cards have been gathered up and on their way back to the pockets.

Law 79B looks at when there is a dispute and notes that ideally the Director needs to be called before the round ends to change any incorrect score. After that time, the law uses the words 'No increase in Score need be Granted', this infers that a decrease will apply, whilst any increase will be at the discretion of the Director. There is a very important reason for this condition, without undermining the integrity of the game, players in desperate situations could pressure a less experienced opponent into agreeing that a score was entered incorrectly thus improving the chances of a better result.

Returning for a moment to the heading of Law 79, 'Agreement on tricks won', players should be aware that with the advent of computer scoring, data imput is frequently entered by skilled operators with little or no knowledge of the game. It is therefore imperative that correct agreed scores be entered on the score slips as errors will seldom be picked up.

A bone of contention amongst Directors and Administrators is where the line of responsibility is drawn for the correction of either non-bridge scores or non tallying information. It is my contention that there is no direct requirement in law for the Director to check scores, however a requirement to establish a correct score under Law 81C6 is written, this requires rectification of errors to which he becomes aware of in any manner.

Law 79C allows for the correction of errors in either the computation or tabulation of the agreed upon score whether made by a player or scorer. Such correction time should be specified by the Sponsoring Organisation or is by default, 30 minutes after the official score has been posted.

Law strongly recommends this time period but recognises that because of a special nature that may be applicable, a lesser time may be necessary. To put this law into plain English, if you discover an error in the data entry or if a mistake has been made on the score slip, a correction can be made under normal circumstances after the session or up until a time as advised. In weekly club games this time may even extend for one week!