In
contract bridge
Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a trick-taking game, trick-taking card game using a standard 52-card deck. In its basic format, it is played by four players in two Team game, competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each othe ...
the minor
suits are
diamonds () and
clubs
Club may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Club (magazine), ''Club'' (magazine)
* Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character
* Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards
* Club music
* "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea''
Brands a ...
().
They are given that name because contracts made in those suits score less (20 per contracted trick) than contracts made in the
major suits (30 per contracted trick), and they rank lower in bidding. In particular, one can make
game
A game is a structured type of play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or video games) or art ...
with a four-level bid in a major suit, while a five-level bid is required in a minor. Of the two minor suits, diamonds rank higher than clubs.
Suit combinations
Fundamentally, there are three ways to divide four suits into pairs: by ''color'', by ''rank'' and by ''shape'' resulting in six possible suit combinations.
* Color is used to denote the ''red'' suits (hearts and diamonds) and the ''black'' suits (spades and clubs).
* Rank is used to indicate the ''
major
Major most commonly refers to:
* Major (rank), a military rank
* Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits
* People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames
* Major and minor in musi ...
'' (spades and hearts) versus ''minor'' (diamonds and clubs) suits.
* Shape is used to denote the ''pointed'' (diamonds and spades, which visually have a sharp point uppermost) versus ''rounded'' (hearts and clubs) suits. This is used only as a
mnemonic
A mnemonic device ( ), memory trick or memory device is any learning technique that aids information retention or retrieval in the human memory, often by associating the information with something that is easier to remember.
It makes use of e ...
.
See also
*
Standard 52-card deck
The standard 52-card deck of French-suited playing cards is the most common pack of playing cards used today. The main feature of most playing card decks that empower their use in diverse games and other activities is their double-sided design, w ...
*
Major suit
*
Two suiter
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Minor Suit
Contract bridge