Back alley total after 25 dealsThe same sum for tables that play one one-card deal, not two: 13 deals down and 12 back up.
Back alley total after 26 dealsAll 26 deals added. There is no target score: the game ends after the last 13-card deal and the higher total wins. Totals can go below zero.
Check one deal 1
Any one deal: cards, bid, board and tricks wonA checker for one disputed deal of any size. Type the cards each player held, the team bid or the board number, and the tricks the team won. Six cards, a bid of 3 and four tricks won is 16.
Show all 16 lines (12 more)
Scoring key 12
26 deals, or 25 with a single one-card dealThe full game has two one-card deals in the middle. Some tables play only one and finish in 25: the second sheet drops that line.
Bloopers: the two jokers are the top trumpsBig blooper, little blooper, then ace down to two. Lead the big blooper and everyone must play their highest trump; lead the little one and they must play their lowest.
Board box: 1, 2 double, 3 triple, 4 quadruple
Board: every trick, 10 each, won or lost
Both partners pass: no target, 1 a trickA team that passed twice cannot be set, and each trick it happens to win is worth 1 point. If all four players pass, the cards are thrown in and the next dealer deals the same number again.
House bonuses this sheet does not addSome groups add a Boston (win the first six tricks of a deal of more than six cards for 100, lose 100 if you fail) or a rainbow (a four-card hand with one card of each suit, 40 if it wins a trick). Add those by hand.
Made bid: 5 a trick bid, 1 for each extraPartners' bids are added together and a pass counts as zero. Bid 5 and win 6 for 26.
Missed bid: lose 5 for every trick bidIt costs the same however close the team came. Bid 5 and win 4 for minus 25.
Most a player may bid: one less than the cardsOn a five-card deal no player may bid more than 4. Partners can still reach 5 between their two bids, but only a board pays 10 a trick. On the one-card deals the only calls are pass and board.
No trump leads until trumps are brokenYou may lead a trump only after one has been played to an earlier trick, or if you bid a board of any size. The highest bidder leads first; with several boards, the last board bidder leads.
Second, third and fourth board in one dealThe first board bid of a deal is a plain board. The next, from either team, is a double, then a triple, then a quadruple: 20, 30 and 40 a trick. Only a team's highest board counts, and its Bid box stays empty.
Trumps: the next card after the dealTrumps for the deal are its suit. If it is a joker the deal has no trumps, and whoever holds the other joker swaps it for the next undealt card.
How this list was compiled: Written for this site. Back alley, also called back alley bridge, is a traditional card game with no governing rule book. Checked on 2026-09-18 and again on 2026-09-19 against https://www.pagat.com/auctionwhist/backalley.html (page dated 5 August 2023), the partnership version: four players in fixed partnerships, 54 cards with a big and a little joker called bloopers, 13 cards each down to 1, a second one-card deal and back up to 13 for 26 deals, the 25-deal variant, the turned trump card and the no-trump deal when a joker is turned, one bid each of pass, a number or board, the highest number bid one less than the cards dealt, partners' numbers added with a pass as zero, the redeal when all four pass, 5 points per trick bid and 1 per extra trick, minus 5 per trick bid when short, board at 10 per trick won or lost (50 on a five-card deal), double, triple and quadruple board at 2, 3 and 4 times, only the highest board of a team counting, the lead rules, the blooper rules and the Boston and rainbow variations. Wikipedia has no article on the game (looked for on 2026-09-19), so pagat is the only source. Pagat gives no target score and does not spell out the winner; the sheet marks the higher total as leading. Per-deal ceilings, board values and the cards left out of play are our arithmetic from those rules and are tested. The individual wartime version on the same page (3 points per trick, 14 deals) is not on this sheet. Licence: own work
How it works
This back alley score sheet has a row for each of the 26 deals, from 13 cards each down to 1 and back up to 13. Type the partners' bids added together and the tricks the team won. The sheet scores the deal: 5 a trick bid, 1 for each extra, or minus 5 a trick bid when the team falls short.
Read the full guide
Fill in a deal
Put a team name over each column. Under Bid type the partners' bids added together. A pass counts as zero, and a team that passed twice leaves Bid empty. Under Won type the tricks the team took. Bid 5 and win 6 for 26. Bid 5 and win 4 for minus 25. When both Won boxes are in, the sheet flags a row that does not add up to the cards dealt.
Boards: every trick or nothing
No player may bid more than one less than the cards dealt. The way past that is to call board: the team must win every trick. It pays 10 a trick, so 50 on the five-card deal, and costs 50 when one trick gets away. A second board bid in the same deal is a double board, then a triple, then a quadruple. Type 1, 2, 3 or 4 under Board and leave Bid empty. A quadruple board on a 13-card deal is 520 either way.
Print blank sheet gives all 26 rows, each with its card count, and the board values in the key.
Some tables play a single one-card deal. Pick 25 deals: one 1-card deal in the Sheet list and the second one-card row is gone.
In the same list, Check one deal, with the full rulings takes the cards, bid, board and tricks and shows the score.
Questions and answers
What does a team score if both partners pass?
One point for each trick it wins, so leave Bid empty and type the tricks. The team has no target and cannot be set. If all four players pass, the cards are thrown in and the next dealer deals the same number again. The row is not used up.
What can we bid on the one-card deals?
Only pass or board: the highest number a player may bid is one less than the cards dealt, which is zero. A board on one card is worth 10, a double 20, a triple 30 and a quadruple 40, won or lost on the single trick.
Where does back alley come from?
It is usually traced to the American military, likely in World War II, and the partnership game may date from the 1960s. The two jokers, the big and little blooper, outrank the ace of trumps.