Screen (bridge)

A screen is a device used in some tournaments in duplicate bridge that visually separates partners at the table from each other, in order to reduce the exchange of unauthorized information and prevent some forms of cheating.

It is a panel made of plywood, spanned canvas or similar material, which is placed vertically, diagonally across the playing table, with a small door in the center and a slit beneath it.

[2] Also, "After a player makes available to his partner extraneous information that may suggest a call or play, as by means of a remark, a question, a reply to a question, or by unmistakable hesitation, unwonted speed, special emphasis, tone, gesture, movement, mannerism or the like, the partner may not choose from among logical alternative actions one that could demonstrably have been suggested over another by the extraneous information."

In practice, it is not a panacea—for example, after two players produce a long constructive slam-seeking auction with opponents passing throughout, a break in tempo likely indicates partner's problem and not his screenmate's.

However, players are encouraged to vary the tempo in which the tray is passed across [3] (e.g. to withhold it for a while even without reason) in order to reduce the effects of hesitation.

Namely, an illegal, inadmissible or inadvertent (the last subject to Director's appraisal) call may be replaced without penalty as long as the tray wasn't passed to the opposite side.

It is West's responsibility to adjust the screen aperture; it is closed (and remains so during the whole of the auction period) so that the bidding tray can just pass under it.