How a board is scored
- The deal is simulated
The board is played out many times to establish what it is actually worth — the par contract, the best result available against best defense.
- Your contract is valued
The contract you reached is scored in ordinary bridge terms: 400 for 3NT making non-vulnerable, 620 for 4♠ making vulnerable, and so on.
- The two are compared
The closer your result is to what the deal was worth, the more stars. Which gives you four rough verdicts.
| Stars | What it means |
|---|---|
| The contract was worth about what the deal had to give. This is the auction you were hoping to have. | |
| A little was left on the table — a game at the wrong level, or a partscore that could have been a game. | |
| A fair bit went missing. Enough to cost you a placing, but not a disaster. | |
| Something went properly wrong: a slam missed, a game that was never there, a contract doubled and down several. |
▶Understanding star ratings in Cuebids
Expected value, and why it is not just the score
The number behind the stars is expected value: the average score across all the simulations, not the score of one lucky lie of the cards. If 3NT makes half the time, its expected value is half of 400 less the penalties for the times it fails.
This is why a contract that happened to make can still score two stars. It scores what it was worth, not what it got, which is the only way a bidding trainer can be fair about a board where the cards sat well.
- Contracts are valued in ordinary bridge scoring: 400 for 3NT making non-vulnerable, 620 for 4♠ making vulnerable.
- Your expected value is compared against par's expected value. That comparison, not the raw score, is what the stars are.
The percentage next to the stars
Alongside the stars each board shows a percentage. That one is matchpoints: it compares your result against what every other pair actually did with the same cards, from 0 to 100. 100% means you were alone in finding the best contract; 50% means an average result against the field.
The two disagree more often than you would think, and the disagreement is the interesting part. Three stars with a low percentage means the field found something better than par thought possible. A low star count with a high percentage means everybody else went wrong too.
Rainbow stars
When your expected value is far above what three stars already requires, the three stars turn rainbow. In practice it means the opponents did something wrong and you took it: robots missing their game, or a double that landed.
Session and event totals
A session shows the total and the average stars per board. The average is the number worth watching over time: totals depend on how many boards you bid, averages do not.
The session card rounds that average to the nearest half star, so the scale below is the whole of it — 2.25 through 2.74 all show as two and a half.
In events
Expected value is the tiebreaker when two pairs finish on the same number of stars. The Weekly runs to 24 boards, so its ceiling is 72 stars; a strong score is closer to 69 than to 72.
When you disagree with the stars
Two objections come up often enough to be worth answering directly, and in both cases the honest answer is that the star system is a simplification.
I disagree with this scoring
Stars are not a perfect science. They are a simplification, made to give instant feedback and keep practice engaging, and they combine three things that do not always agree: the par contract from double-dummy analysis, IMP scoring, and matchpoints.
So do not take a single board too seriously. The stars are a prompt to look again at a hand, not a ruling on it.
The robots bid this, so the contract was impossible
Robot bidding does not count in most scenarios. The scoring works from the optimal contract and from random distributions between your opponents, not from what the robots at your table happened to do.
There is one exception, and it is narrower than it sounds: in deal types where the robots are programmed to open or overcall something specific, their opening call is taken into account, but their later bidding is not.
Something looks genuinely wrong
If a board looks scored incorrectly rather than harshly, we would like to see it.
- Write to [email protected] with the session and the board.
- Or raise it on our Discord, where other players will often recognize the situation.
- Or use the contact page in the app.
Common questions
Are stars per bid or per board?
Per board. Zero to three for the board as a whole, based on the contract you reached.
I made my contract. Why only two stars?
Stars score what the contract was worth on average across simulations, not what happened this time. A contract that makes when the cards sit well still scores as the gamble it was.
Why is my percentage high but my stars low?
The percentage compares you with the field; the stars compare you with par. A low star count with a high percentage means the rest of the field missed it too.
What is a rainbow star?
Three stars where your result beat par by a wide margin, usually because the opponents erred and you punished it.
Do robot bids affect the simulation?
Not normally. The exception is deal types where robots are set to open or overcall, and there only their opening call counts — their later bidding still does not.
Why do my rainbow stars not show on this session?
A session needs at least eight boards before a perfect score is drawn as rainbow. Below that it shows as three ordinary stars.
What does the percentage mean?
100% means you were alone in finding the best contract; 50% means an average result compared with the rest of the field.
Where to go next
Next guide
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