Bidding Box - Procedure

Procedure

At each player's turn to make a call, he selects a card from the bidding box and places it in front of him. To make a bid, the entire remaining stack below and including the desired bid card should be pulled out, e.g. when opening 1♥, the 1♦, and 1♣ cards are taken out at the same time in one bundle, but this bundle of cards is kept together so that the topmost one (the desired bid) covers the others. Pass, Double, and Redouble cards are used one by one as needed. The cards should be placed on the table with the symbols facing away from the bidder, giving the other players a better view of them. (Some designs are symmetrical, with two copies of the bid so that orientation is not an issue, but this gives a more cluttered look.)

Calls by the same player in successive rounds of the auction are placed on the table overlapping one another, so that the previous calls remain visible. For example, if the 1♥ bidder's next call is a bid of 3♥, he will take a packet of 10 cards (1♠ through 3♥) and lay them down partially overlapping the packet of 4 cards of the 1♥ bid. With standard, "right-handed" boxes (see laterality below), the calls are placed left to right on the table as seen by the bidder.

When the auction is over, each player first returns to his bidding box any Pass, Double, and Redouble cards he used. After that, all the bid cards from the table are simply swept up into a single stack and placed into the bidding box at the back; in this way, the box is returned to its original state and is ready for the following deal.

The additional (non-call) cards are used as follows:

• The Alert card signals to the opponents that the partner's call has an artificial meaning (see bridge convention). As soon as a player makes the alertable call, his partner is supposed to pull out the alert card and display it briefly, ensuring that both opponents see it (with screens in use, players also alert their own calls, but only to their screen-mate). Sponsoring organizations regulate which types of calls should be alerted. Where an alert tab is used, it protrudes from a slit in the bidding box and players alert by tapping it.
• Use of the Stop card is optional with most sponsoring organizations, but if players use it, they must do so consistently for all skip (jump) bids. Prior to his own skip bid, a player displays the stop card and makes the bid, and then puts the stop card back into the box after about 10 seconds. The rationale for the procedure is that jump bids, especially preempts, often pose a bidding problem for the opponents, and the left-hand opponent's fast or slow reaction after the bid can reveal information about his hand. In order to prevent such passing of unauthorized information, the skip-bid warning requires the next player to wait for a while with his bid, regardless whether he has a bidding decision problem or not.
• The Tournament Director card is held high in the hand when a player summons the director (referee) after an irregularity happens at the table, so that he can be spotted more easily.

The exact regulations for the use of bidding boxes vary according to the sponsoring authority. In the American Contract Bridge League:

1. Players must choose a call before touching any card in the box. A call is considered made when a bidding card has been taken out of the bidding box with intent.
2. A call may be changed without penalty (under the provisions of other bridge laws) only if a player has inadvertently taken out the wrong bidding card, and the player corrects, or attempts to correct, without pause for thought, and the player's partner has not made a call.
3. The skip-bid warning is given using bidding boxes by displaying the stop card, making a call and then replacing the stop card in the bidding box. The bidder is not obligated to display the card for 10 seconds, but the left-hand opponent is obligated to wait 10 seconds (while giving the appearance of studying his hand) before making a call.