A bidding box is a device used for bidding in bridge, usually in duplicate bridge competitions. Made in various configurations and sizes, it is typically a plastic, wooden, or cardboard box with two holding slots, each containing a set of bidding cards. One holder contains 35 cards with symbols of bids (5 denominations—clubs (♣), diamonds (♦), hearts (♥), spades (♠), and notrump (NT)—in seven levels of bidding, numbered 1-7). The 35 bid cards are cut with tabs (as in a rolodex) and arranged in a staggered fashion so that any desired bid can be easily removed and placed on the table.
In the other holder are stored a supply of Pass cards (usually 6-10 cards, commonly colored green), a few Double (red, usually marked X) and Redouble (blue, XX) cards, an Alert card (light or dark blue), a Stop card (red), and, optionally, a Tournament Director card (orange). There is one bidding box for each of the four players, usually placed at the corner of the table to the player's right; in duplicate tournaments, boxes remain stationary on the tables.
Usage of bidding boxes has several advantages over oral bidding:
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Famous quotes containing the words bidding and/or box:
“Go; and if that word have not quite killed thee,
Ease me with death by bidding me got too.
Oh, if it have, let my word work on me,
And a just office on a murderer do.
Except it be too late to kill me so,
Being double dead: going, and bidding go.”
—John Donne (15721631)
“To be black and an intellectual in America is to live in a box.... On the box is a label, not of my own choosing.”
—Stephen Carter (b. 1954)