What do tech mogul Bill Gates, fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi, Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, tennis legend Martina Navratilova, dapper actor Omar Sharif, and investment guru Warren Buffett have in common? They’re all avid bridge players.
What is it about a game that’s been around more than 100 years that still attracts people from genius artists to tech and financial whizzes?
Bridge is a funny game. It takes as little as a couple of days to get started playing, but takes a lifetime to master. Even computer programs specifically designed to play bridge have a hard time competing against human opponents. That’s because, as you might guess from the varied fans of the game, there’s no one way of approaching it. It allows different people with different strengths to excel equally.
- A studious person might want hard-and-fast rules to follow
- A numbers person might rely more on probabilities
- A creative person might use flashes of insights/bigger picture thinking that allow them to simply see the right line of play
What way’s the best? The way that works for you. Master bridge players come from all kinds of backgrounds with all kinds of talents. The thing that makes bridge addictive is that…
- It demands that you tap into your talents and play the game your way
- It challenges your mind like nothing else (studies have shows it combats dementia and uses more brainpower than performing actual brain surgery!)
- You’re never done learning…there’s always another gadget you can add to your tool kit
- You can play at home on a computer or in a large duplicate setting
- You’ll meet people from all over the world…and right next door