A partnership game derived from Whist. The term used to refer to three games; Bridge Whist, Auction Bridge and Contract Bridge. The first recorded mention of a game like Bridge was in a pamphlet published in 1886 about the game Biritch or Russian Whist. There is little evidence to suggest that the game did originate in Russia, although it does bear a close resemblance to Vint, which is a game of Russian origin.
The name Bridge is simply a corruption of ‘Biritch’. Due to the dominance of Contract Bridge, the term is nowadays synonymous with Contract Bridge. There are several variations of Contract Bridge including Rubber Bridge, Chicago Bridge (four- deal bridge) and Duplicate Bridge (Pairs, Teams or Individuals).