Editing Contract bridge (section)

==Computers==
{{Main|Computer bridge}}

After many years of little progress, [[computer bridge]] made great progress at the end of the 20th century. In 1996, the [[American Contract Bridge League|ACBL]] initiated the official World Championships Computer Bridge, to be held annually along with a major bridge event. The first Computer Bridge Championship took place in 1997 at the North American Bridge Championships in [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]].

===Stand-alone software===
Strong bridge playing programs such as Jack Bridge (World Champion in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2015)<ref name="champs">{{cite web |title=Bridge-Bot World Championship History |url=https://bridgebotchampionship.com/home/world-computer-bridge-championship/ |website=World Computer-Bridge Championship |date=19 January 2017 |access-date=4 November 2019}}</ref> and Wbridge5 (World Champion in 2005, 2007, 2008, 2016, 2017 and 2018),<ref name="champs" /> probably rank among the top few thousand human pairs worldwide. A series of articles published in 2005 and 2006 in the Dutch bridge magazine [[List of significant bridge books and magazines|IMP]] describes matches between Jack Bridge and seven top Dutch pairs. A total of 196 boards were played. Jack Bridge lost, but by a small margin (359 versus 385 IMPs).

===Online play===
There are several free and subscription-based services available for playing bridge on the internet. For example:

* [[Bridge Base Online]] (BBO) is the most active online bridge club in the world, with more than 100,000 daily connections and 500,000 hands played each day, in part because it is free to play casual games and volunteer-run tournaments (though most tournaments charge an entry fee).<ref name="OEB7" /> The company is part of French-owned e-gaming group [[52 Entertainment]].
* [[Funbridge]] is a mobile and web application where users can play deals against robots. The company was started in France and is now owned by [[GOTO Games]] which is part of 52 Entertainment.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.funbridge.com/|title=Play bridge online for free with Funbridge|website=www.funbridge.com}}</ref>
* OKbridge<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.okbridge.com/|title=Bridge Online Play Bridge Game On Line - OKbridge|work=okbridge.com|access-date=29 March 2016}}</ref> is the oldest extant internet bridge service: it was established as a commercial enterprise in 1994, but the program started to be used interactively in August 1990 by players of all standards.<ref name=OEB7>{{harvnb |Manley |Horton |Greenberg-Yarbro |Rigal |2011|p=597}}</ref> OKbridge is a subscription-based club, with services such as customer support and ethics reviews.
* [[RealBridge]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Real Bridge with Real People |url=https://realbridge.online |website=RealBridge |access-date=27 May 2021}}</ref> was launched in November 2020. Its online platform includes built-in audio and video.<ref>{{cite journal |title=RealBridge Review |journal=English Bridge |date=February 2021 |pages=54–59}}</ref> It is primarily used for organised bridge, ranging from club-level games to national, zonal and world championships.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.usbf.org |website=USBF (United States Bridge Federation) |access-date=27 May 2021 |title=2021 World Championship and USBCs}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eurobridge.org/2021/05/10/qualifier-for-the-2021-world-national-team-championships |website=European Bridge League |title=Qualifier for the 2021 World National Team Championships |access-date=27 May 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Small Federations Online Open Teams {{!}} WBF Championships |url=http://championships.worldbridge.org/2024-small-federations-online-open-teams |access-date=2024-12-16 |language=en-GB}}</ref> It includes teaching functionality,<ref>{{Cite web |title=RealBridge takes online bridge to the next level. |url=https://realbridge.online/for-teachers.html |access-date=2024-12-16 |website=realbridge.online |language=en}}</ref> and provides [[Minibridge|MiniBridge]] as an option.<ref>{{Cite web |title=RealBridge takes online bridge to the next level. |url=https://realbridge.online/for-teachers-mini.html |access-date=2024-12-16 |website=realbridge.online |language=en}}</ref>
* Sharkbridge<ref>{{cite web|title=Home |website=Shark Bridge|url=https://thesharkbridgecompany.com/|access-date=15 November 2021}}</ref> founded in 2020 by Milen Milkovski (Canada), Plamen Panayotov (Canada), John Norris ( Denmark) and Michael Woywode (Germany).
* SWAN Games<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.swangames.com/main/index.html|title=Online Bridge |work=swangames.com|access-date=29 March 2016}}</ref> was founded April 2000. In March 2004, announced a partnership to provide internet services to SBF members and is a competitor in subscription-based online bridge clubs.<ref name=OEB7/>
* BridgeClubLive<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home - BridgeClubLive |url=https://www.bridgeclublive.com/ |access-date=2022-05-27 |website=www.bridgeclublive.com}}</ref> is a subscription based club which was founded in 1994 with the Bridge Player Live Software for Windows.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1996-12-20 |title=Bridge Player LIVE! - /BPLIVE |url=http://bridgeplayer.com/ |access-date=2022-05-27 |website= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19961220194548/http://bridgeplayer.com/ |archive-date=20 December 1996 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[Bridge Champ]] was launched in 2023.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-02-22 |title=Introducing Bridge Champ - The Best Online Bridge Experience |url=https://bridgewinners.com/article/view/introducing-bridge-champ-the-best-online-bridge-experience/ |access-date=2024-12-16 |website=Bridge Winners |language=en}}</ref> It includes both browser-based and mobile apps and supports various tournament types, including bots, individuals, and teams.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Play bridge online |url=https://www.bridgechamp.com/ |website=www.bridgechamp.com}}</ref>

Some national contract bridge organizations now offer online bridge play to their members, including the English Bridge Union, the [[Dutch Bridge Federation]] and the Australian Bridge Federation. MSN and Yahoo! Games have several online rubber bridge rooms. In 2001, the [[World Bridge Federation|WBF]] issued a special edition of the lawbook adapted for internet and other electronic forms of the game.