Board (bridge)
The design permits the entire deal of four hands to be passed, carried or stacked securely with the cards hidden from view in four pockets.
Each board is usually marked with the following information: board number – (from '1' to as high as '36') identifies the deal and helps to order the play of multiple deals; compass directions – used to match the four hands to the four players at a table; dealer – designates which player is the "dealer"; this designates the player who is to make the first call of the auction; vulnerability – often represented by color code: a "vulnerable" partnership is usually shown in red and a "not vulnerable" partnership in green, white or no color.
Most designs include a slot or pocket to hold a paper travelling score sheet.
Originally, trays were sold in sets of 8, 12, 16 and 20; after the concept of vulnerability was introduced to contract bridge in 1926 and the adoption of boards for duplicate bridge, a set consists of 16 (or 32) boards, owing to the 16 possible deal combinations arising from the four states of vulnerability[8] for each of the four dealer positions.
[12] The dealer and vulnerability markings for each board number are standardized in the laws of the game, utilizing all the possible permutations.
In many clubs and almost all higher level tournaments, the travelling sheets have been superseded by small electronic data entry devices stationed at each table.
