Bridging the gap: How a card game is bringing together players of all ages

Why this card game is so popular Bridge has been growing in popularity, attracting a younger generation to participate in tournaments. Stefanie Davis reports.

Hundreds of bridge players have descended on Kitchener this week for a tournament made up of all experience levels and all ages.

Ted Boyd, an organizer of the regional event, said there are players from across Ontario, Quebec and the United States for the six-day tournament taking place at Bingemans.

Bridge is a game played in partners, with two sets of partners playing against each other. Each pair attempts to score points by bidding or defeating the opposing duo’s bid. At the end of play, the pair with the most points wins.

“There are four levels of the game. They’re all playing duplicate bridge, which is different than kitchen bridge because they’re all playing the same hands,” he explained. “A lot of the luck disappears when you’re playing duplicate bridge.”

There are novice, intermediate, advanced and team games taking place.

No money changes hands in a bridge game. Instead, they play for masterpoints.

“Master points are won at club levels, they’re won at tournament levels and they’re won at national levels,” Boyd said. “The objective for any bridge player is to increase the number of master points they’ve won.”

Despite misconceptions that it’s mostly a game for seniors, a few kids are taking part in the regional tournament.

Casper Gu, a 13-year-old player, said he’s been playing for four years. He drove from Barrie to play in the tournament and is staying in town for three days.

“What I like about bridge is meeting new people, playing the cards, and overall having conversations with the people around me,” Gu said.

“I’ve heard from a lot of people that they don’t have a lot of young people here because of the pandemic and more people playing online and such.”

Gu met William Liu, a 12-year-old, a few months ago. They became fast friends over their love of the game.

Liu, who’s also playing in the tournament, learned the game online.

“The main reason I started is because I like card games a lot. My parents have friends who like bridge, and they thought it would be a good idea to put me into bridge as well,” William said.

“I feel like it’s a really fun and exciting card game to play.”

Tournament players who have a few decades on Gu and Liu said they enjoy seeing the younger generation play.

“I like seeing those two young kids in there. I think it’s good for their brains, and their math will be very good – or at least improved,” player Sonja Miner said with a laugh.

Throughout the pandemic, players were forced to play online instead of in person. Boyd said that creates an easy link to get more young people involved in the game.

“You can play face-to-face, as we’re doing here, but you can also play the game online. Who plays more online? Who has more online games than young people?” he said.

Being involved in the game offers a social atmosphere for the players. They play at their respective bridge clubs throughout the week and some travel to different levels of tournaments all over the world.

Player Margot Stockie said the friends and travel have been highlights throughout a 13 year bridge career.

“I just came back from Fredericton. I’m going to Cleveland in January. I’m going to Barbados in February, Gatlinburg in April and then in between all of those, I’m going to local tournaments, as well as playing at the club,” Stockie said.

“We’ve just developed great friendships with people I normally wouldn’t have met. We get along like family – we fight, we argue, and we have some great times together.”