Though the game of bridge is popular at the corporate level, it requires promotion at the ground level to pick up
With the 42nd World Bridge Championships underway in Chennai, there is less of excitement. Usually, when a major event is held, others are encouraged to take up the game. However, for the uninitiated, little of bridge can be understood by just watching this complex game, which involves understanding three aspects — bidding, card play and scoring. So, seeing a lot of Indians taking to this game after this World Championship, is an unlikely prospect.
Bridge is celebrated as a cerebral game and many corporate honchos play it. However, what is missed out is that now there are many face-to-face and computer-based serious games which includes management games. These highly cerebral games compete for mind space, especially among younger corporate honchos. Playing one hand of bridge involves solving one problem set and it takes less than 10 minutes, the results of your play can be quickly analysed there and then.
Bridge got a fillip after online bridge began, but the number of those taking to the game has not risen sharply at least in the US, where statistics are available. Statistics suggest that people began playing more bridge, rather than many more people taking to the game.
Warren Buffet plays competitive bridge and also online with Bill Gates and on ok Bridge — raw testimony of the pull of online bridge. On the other hand, newspapers around the world have removed bridge puzzles. In Delhi, till the mid 80s, there used to be more than 15 open competitions in a month, whereas now there is only one weekly competition.
Online bridge has the advantage that you can play it with anyone in a compatible time zone. So, in Bangalore, on a Sunday afternoon, you can play a team in Rotterdam. In face-to-face bridge, when one player drops out of a foursome, the session has to be scrapped. If you play in an online site, you can be assured of a game as these logistical problems have backup.
In many countries, dedicated bridge clubs foster the game, just as standalone chess clubs promote the game in Russia. In India, there are few bridge clubs; it is played in general clubs such as gymkhanas and others. This makes for social stratification which is avoided in the online format where you can concentrate on the game.
Face-to-face bridge has the advantage of the texture of engagement. However, it can always be mixed with online gaming. For excellence in competitive bridge, a large number of hours have to be spent in playing and a mixed approach would enable more game play. This will result in greater participation and competition; India could possibly produce better showings at the Bermuda Bowl, Venice Cup and other competitions.
A splash such as this World Championship may result in a surge of interest. However, what is required is sustained engagement at the entry level which is really in college when students usually have more free time than in school. Also conservative Indians look down at bridge astaash or often gambling; this mindset can partly be overcome when people realise the variety of rules of various games and the metal skills required to play them.
Games such as Poker, Patience, Rummy, Puploo, Canasta, Sweep, 29, Whist, Auction Bridge and so on, all develop card play and different mental aspects so a breezy introduction during school holidays would help in social engagement as well.
In 2005, Messrs Buffet and Gates funded a programme to teach bridge in US schools, but it did not work out; a vanilla approach of teaching school students the game is unlikely to work. Entry level (contract) bridge is difficult not because of the card play but due to the bidding processes which are linked to a complex scoring system.
Introducing the game at the college (adult teen) level is possible, but sustaining interest is harder as students have many options. Online bridge can enable foursomes within cities to make sessions possible and interactions across the globe.
Bridge proponents need to put together calibrated thoughts to promote this game. HCl has done service by sponsoring this World Championship and other bridge events regularly. The company, known for its pugnacious sales approach, will do better to challenge itself by laying out a long-term marketing plan for the promotion of bridge.