Why I don’t play Bridge
Last night I got lots of abuse for not playing Bridge. Here are my reasons:
- There are too many other good games to be wedded to just one.
- You have to read books to be good at it.
- My short-term memory is poor.
- In my only game, a friend turned to me and correctly told me the last five cards in my hand. There’s a major learning curve.
- I don’t like losing.
Can you persuade me otherwise?
Reason 1 is reason enough. Plus there are many complex games that are more engaging thematically than Bridge.
VALIS
11 Nov 11 at 14:44
Bridge is ok but if you’ve got four players why wouldn’t you play Tichu
Or Tigris and Euphrates
I think most ‘classic’ games require you to devote a lifetime to study so it becomes dependent on whether you like to specialise or generalise. I’ll never be a master Go player as a result
Steerpike
11 Nov 11 at 20:29
@valis: You’re right. There are only two reasons really (1) Lots of other games (2) Can’t be bothered to master it.
@steerpike: I disagree with Tichu, but totally agree about T&E!
Iain
11 Nov 11 at 23:39
I’m perfectly happy if you don’t want to play bridge… as Steerpike points out there are lots of other things you could do.
But I will say this in defense of Bridge. Since I learned to play Bridge (not well) I no longer enjoy other card games like I used to because every time I play a card game I find myself thinking “well, this is WAY less interesting and challenging than Bridge”. If you LIKE that, then you might enjoy Bridge.
Michael Chermside
3 Dec 11 at 23:54
A good point, well made. I wonder how much of this is due to the difficulty of learning? After wrapping your head around the unintuitive rules and the complicated bidding systems – your patience with playing simpler card games is bound to be lower. It’s like trying to play a simple tactical WWII game with an Advanced Squad Leader player. My “why I don’t play ASL” post will be very similar to this one.
Iain
4 Dec 11 at 01:02