About Bridge at Sea
Bridge at Sea was born from a frustration familiar to every serious bridge player. During an Atlantic crossing, a defender produced a brilliant piece of card reading to defeat what looked like an unbeatable slam – and received absolutely no recognition for it under traditional scoring. Only the declarer’s side scores. Only the lucky hand wins.
That didn’t seem right.
Bridge at Sea is the home of Bonus Bridge – a revolutionary scoring system developed by Mike Smith, a bridge player with over 40 years experience who learned the game at the Javea School of Bridge in Spain. Bonus Bridge analyses each hand – the high card points, the distribution, the expected outcome – and rewards genuinely skilful play on both sides of the table. Good defence is finally recognised. Lucky hands are put in their proper context.
About the App
The Bridge at Sea app – Bridge Modes Calculator – is a free Progressive Web App (PWA) that runs on any phone, tablet or computer without needing to be downloaded from an app store. Just visit the website, add it to your home screen, and it works completely offline – perfect for cruise ships, garden parties, or anywhere without reliable internet.
The app supports five complete bridge formats:
Kitchen Bridge – Traditional casual scoring with game bonuses. Perfect for a relaxed evening game where you want proper scores without complicated rules.
Chicago Bridge – Four deal cycles with automatic vulnerability rotation. The most popular format for social bridge, now fully automated.
Bonus Bridge – Our unique innovation. Skill-based scoring that rewards both declarers and defenders based on the hand they were dealt and how well they played it. Every player at the table has something to play for on every hand.
Rubber Bridge – The classic game-to-rubber format that serious bridge players grew up with. Full rubber scoring, honours, and all the traditional elements.
Duplicate Bridge – Full tournament scoring with matchpoints, supporting 43 different movements for 2 to 20 tables. Print movement sheets, travellers, and table cards directly from the app.
About Mike Smith
Mike Smith has been playing bridge for over 40 years, first learning at the Javea School of Bridge on the Costa Blanca. Now retired and living in Spain, he plays regularly at the Valleys Bridge Club in Orba and frequently on cruise ships. The frustrations and joys of cruise ship bridge directly inspired the development of Bridge at Sea and the Bonus Bridge scoring system.