A Bridge Too Far?
Are you interested in socializing and playing cards with friends? Improving your memory? Learning a new language? Do you like challenging competitions and enjoy solving puzzles?
Maybe it’s time to think about Bridge.
My mom has been playing Bridge for years and has wanted me to learn for a long time. I’ve resisted with excuses. It’s way too complicated. It will take me forever to learn. It’s for older people. I don’t know anyone who plays. How would I find four people?
Fast forward ten years. I just played my first game and guess what? It’s really fun. There’s strategy involved and a secret code language that you use with your partner.
“If I’m playing bridge and a naked woman walks by, I don’t even see her.”
There’s a whole set of terms and words you have to figure out - singleton, doubleton, tricks, finessing, stoppers, honors, majors and minors, jump raise, and jump shifts. What? Are you sure you didn’t mean jump ship?
Until I actually looked into it, I thought playing bridge was reserved for an older crowd - like those in their 80’s and 90’s. And while the game itself is old (it can be traced back to the 16th Century), it’s not just for an older group of people. According to research shown in the Journal of Education and Training Studies, only 4% of the population who play are over 70 years of age. In fact, 30% of Bridge players are 40 years or younger.
Bridge became very popular in the 1930’s, and there were three books about Bridge that were on the NY Times best seller list; Complete Contract Bridge (1933), Contract Bridge Blue Book (1933), and Culbertson’s New Summary of Contract Bridge (1935). A column dedicated to Bridge was made famous by Charles Goren in the Chicago Tribune from 1944 until 1970. Nearly, 44% of American homes played bridge in the 1940’s, according to the Association of American Playing Card Manufacturers. Though I have no proof, I’d venture to say that the percentage has decreased since then.
If there is a decline in Bridge’s popularity, perhaps it has something to do with the advent of television, computer games, and esports. But I believe it could make a comeback since more and more colleges and universities offer a bridge club. According to University Bridge Clubs, there are twenty-three in the United States with Harvard, Yale, MIT, and Stanford among them.
Why You Might Want to Give it a Go
Improve Memory, Stimulate the Immune System, and Sharpen Mental Acuity
It is a game full of strategy, tactics, logic, and reason. According to an article in AARP, Bridge's intricacies make it particularly appealing for those who want to sharpen acuity with mental gymnastics. A study in 2000 at the University of California - Berkeley, found strong evidence that an area in the brain used in playing bridge stimulates the immune system. Researchers suggest that is because players must use memory, visualization, and sequencing.
Socialize Regularly and Find Likeminded Folks Everywhere
Regularly playing Bridge with a group of people brings a beneficial social component. In my mom’s case, she plays bridge with a core group at least once a week. They alternate the house in which they play so that each player becomes the host. Generally, there are eight of them with two card tables of four each. In the course of playing, they are able to chit-chat and share their lives with one another. Bridge is more popular than you think, and there are fun opportunities to meet new people. There are trips dedicated to Bridge, tournaments to participate in, and groups of Bridge players can even found on a cruise!
Here is a great video produced by Bridge Mind Sport with testimonials from folks of varying ages explaining why they love playing bridge.
Bridge Basics Simplified - Very Simplified
Four players are needed for this game and two of them work together as a team, sitting opposite one another. The game is played with one deck of cards, and there is a hierarchy of value in terms of suit and the card number itself.
The value of suits in order from highest to lowest are spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs. The spades and hearts are the majors. The diamonds and clubs are the minors. The Ace is tops, then King, Queen, Jack, and the numbers in descending order.
There are four stages to each hand; deal, auction or bidding, the gameplay itself, and the scoring.
After dealing out 13 cards to each, you have to count the value of the cards to open up the bidding. The ace, king, queen, and jack all have a point value. Bidding is the phase of the game in which the partners are trying to determine how many “tricks” they will be able to win and where they try to communicate with one another in code language about what they have in their hand that will help the partners win as many tricks as they can.
This phase of the game is over when it is determined the number of tricks that the bidding team must take to score points, which is called the contract. After the bidding determines who the declarer is (the one who plays the hand), that person’s partner becomes the dummy.
The game itself starts. It’s time for “trick taking.” A trick is completed when each person throws down one card - so there are four cards on the table. I find it most similar to the game of Hearts or Spades, where you throw down cards to follow a suit with the highest card in the suit taking the four cards, the “trick.” That is, unless you have a trump card.
The idea is to collect as many tricks as you said you would during the bidding phase. Tricks are counted to determine if the declarer’s team made its contract. You then register the score.
How to Learn and Get Involved
I’ve tried to learn online. There are plenty of apps out there, but I found it too confusing. However, your experience may be much different than mine. I was lucky that my mom and her friend were more than happy to have me and my husband join in and learn from them.
If you don’t have a ready-made group of proficient Bridge players from which to learn, fear not. You can find a teacher in your area using this website. Simply use the drop down menus for your country, state, and choose a driving distance after entering your zip code to find teachers willing to help you learn.
Alternatively, the American Bridge Contract League has valuable resources, including a list of upcoming events, a learn to play tutorial, and a list of clubs to join. Other useful websites include A Bridge Doctor, and for those of you who live in Massachusetts, here’s a website listing all of the Massachusetts Bridge Clubs.
Helpful Resources
I found that buying and reading a book was better for me. The ones listed below are helpful in getting a basic understanding of how the game is played.
My mother recommended this one to me, and it’s great. It can be purchased on Amazon with this link.
This is a very comprehensive book and explains Bridge in an easy-to-follow way. It can be purchased on Amazon with this link.
Now this book is definitely for beginners, and what I really like is that the game is taught with a step-by-step guide. It can be purchased on Amazon with this link.
If there is one thing I know from speaking with my mom and her friends, there will always be something to learn. I suppose that is why it’s called “the game for a lifetime.”
If you play Bridge, let us know in the comments what you love so much about playing.