The example to the right is a traveller for one of the boards at the end of the session. All contract points have been assigned.

9 teams were supposed to play this board. However, this board was played only 8 times.
    • "Sit out" - In this example there is an odd number of teams, so one team will not have an opponent for certain boards. The team will sit at the table without playing that board. This is referred to as a "sit out". Instead of the board being played 9 times, it would be played only 8 times. For scoring purposes, this "sit out" would receive no score in both NS and EW contract score columns.
    • "Pass out" - Even though both teams tried to play the board, all 4 players PASSED and the board was not actually played. However, the board is still considered to have been played. For scoring purposes, this "pass out" would receive a zero in the NS contract score column, and nothing in the EW contract score column.

Figure 1

Mentally convert all EW Contract Scores to negative numbers.

Figure 2

• Select the highest number in both NS and EW contract points columns - 420.
• Count the number of scores in both columns that are smaller than 420 (highlighted in blue).
• Assign 1 match point for each lower score, in this case there are 7. Enter 7 in the NS Match Point column for 420.

With 8 teams playing this board, the maximum number of teams to beat is 7. Consequenty, 7 is the highest score a team can receive.

Figure 3

• Select the next highest number in both NS and EW contract points columns - 140.
• Count the number of scores in both columns that are smaller than 140 (highlighted in blue), and the number of scores that are equal to 140 (highlighted in green).
• Assign 1 match point for each lower score, and 1/2 point for each equal score. In this case there are 5 lower scores and 1 equal score for a total of 5-1/2. Enter 5-1/2 in the NS Match Point column for both 140 scores.

Figure 4

• Select the next highest number in both NS and EW contract points columns - 110.
• Count the number of scores in both columns that are smaller than 110 (highlighted in blue), and the number of scores that are equal to 110 (highlighted in green).
• Assign 1 match point for each lower score, and 1/2 point for each equal score. In this case there are 4 lower scores and 0 equal scores for a total of 4. Enter 4 in the NS Match Point column for the 110 score.

Figure 5

• Select the next highest number in both NS and EW contract points columns - 100.
• Count the number of scores in both columns that are smaller than 100 (highlighted in blue), and the number of scores that are equal to 100 (highlighted in green).
• Assign 1 match point for each lower score, and 1/2 point for each equal score. In this case there are 3 lower scores and 0 equal scores for a total of 3. Enter 3 in the NS Match Point column for the 100 score.

Figure 6

• Select the next highest number in both NS and EW contract points columns - Zero.
• Count the number of scores in both columns that are smaller than zero (highlighted in blue), and the number of scores that are equal to zero (highlighted in green).
• Assign 1 match point for each lower score, and 1/2 point for each equal score. In this case there are 2 lower scores and 0 equal scores for a total of 2. Enter 2 in the NS Match Point column for the zero score.

Figure 7

• Select the next highest number in both NS and EW contract points columns - negative 50 (higher than negative 100).
• Count the number of scores in both columns that are smaller than neagative 50 (highlighted in blue), and the number of scores that are equal to negative 50 (highlighted in green).
• Assign 1 match point for each lower score, and 1/2 point for each equal score. In this case there is only 1 lower score and 0 equal scores for a total of 1. Enter 1 in the NS Match Point column for the negative 50 score.

Figure 8

• The lowest number in both NS and EW contract points columns is negative 110.
• Count the number of scores in both columns that are smaller than negative 110 (highlighted in blue), and the number of scores that are equal to negative 110 (highlighted in green).
• Assign 1 match point for each lower score, and 1/2 point for each equal score. In this case there are no lower scores and no equal scores for a total of zero. Enter zero in the NS Match Point column for the negative 110 score.

Figure 9

• All of the NS Match Point score have been determined.
• Mentally return the EW Contract scores to thier original positive numbers.
• The next step is to detemine the Match Point scores for the EW column.

Figure 10

• The contract scores are no longer needed. The EW Match Point scores will be determined solely by the NS Match Point scores.
• When comparing 8 teams playing the same board, the maximum score any team can achieve is 7. The top score of 7 is used for the "zero sum" procedure.
• Each EW match point score is calculated by subtracting the NS match point score from 7.
• The result is the sum of the NS match point score and the EW match point score is 7. This is a "zero sum" procedure.

Figure 11

• Zero has been assigned to the NS and EW match point columns for the "sit out".
• The match point scoring on this traveler is complete.

Figure 12

• The figure to the right is the top portion of a recap sheet for a duplicate session with 5 tables, 9 teams, 18 boards, and one sit out.

Figure 13

• The figure to the right is the recap sheet from above, but contains only the boards that were played by one team, Team 2.
• The yellow highlights indicate the seat positions and the match point scores for team 2. The NS match points are the sum of the yellow highted scores in the NS column, and the EW match points are the sum of the yellow highted scores in the EW column. The total match points for team 2 is the sum of the sums for columns NS and EW - in this case 27.5 points.

Figure 14