Bridge is often associated with an older generation of players. In recent decades, there has been a gradual decline in the popularity of bridge so we need to consider how we might attract new players including younger ones. To begin that process, research by Bridge: A MindSport for All (BAMSA) has been exploring the different motivations for why people play bridge.
We have identified four types of bridge players: the self-improver, competitor, socialiser and mind-gamer. Which type of player are you and do you move between the types depending on where or who you are playing with?
As players we may move from one type to another over time, such as from competitor to socialiser, or from socialiser to self-improver. The way we refer to bridge as a game or as a sport might differ according to the type of player we are trying to engage. For example, mind-game might be more conducive to the socialiser and mind-gamer types, whereas mindsport might be more conducive to the competitor and self-improver types.
I have also asked top players what motivates them to play. To some extent, their drive differs depending on whether bridge is their hobby (amateurs) or their job (professionals). Certainly for professionals, there can be a blurred line between leisure and work which can impact their motivation.
Top players discussed a variety of both personal and social rewards. Personal rewards include the thrill gained from the challenge and ever-evolving nature of each bridge hand. As the late Susanna Gross said, bridge offers a specific ‘thrill’ which contrasts to other aspects of life:
It’s so important to me. A life without bridge … if I try and imagine my life without bridge, I feel a sort of vacuum, a dullness. Bridge is a continual challenge. It’s motivating, it gives me adrenaline. And without it I don’t know what I’d do to fill that void. It’s not that I don’t love other aspects of my life, I love my children, I love my husband, I love my friends, I’ve got a very interesting job. But bridge gives me a very particular thrill.
Susannah Gross, England
Many players enjoy the problem-solving aspect of the game, including how each hand presents a new problem. The pleasure found in competition is mostly, but not exclusively, linked to the possibility of winning. Players also like the feeling of playing well and the multi-faceted aspects of the game.
I just love it. It’s just so much fun. It has so many different facets and it’s not just one way of thinking, it’s putting things together. To me it’s a little bit like detective work. There are some clues out there, you don’t know what they are and where they are, so you have to go and find them. Once you have found them you have to put them together like a puzzle and then draw the right conclusions so it’s really multi-faceted. To me that’s fascinating.
Bridge has taken me around the world and still takes me around the world. It opens doors for me that I otherwise would never have gone through and I’m meeting people that I otherwise would never have met. In Denmark sometimes, I play bridge with the husband of the queen… In China I’ve played with some of the top politicians, I think that’s exciting. You feel like you have friends all over the world and wherever you go you know somebody.
Sabine Auken, Germany
Social rewards come from the social connections and interpersonal dynamics of playing as part of a partnership and team. The highs and lows of bridge are experienced in partnership. We learn to win and lose together as a pair and as a team.
As a regular tournament player, I can relate to striving for the rewards of winning, competition, thrill and ‘flow’. Flow is when you lose all sense of time at a bridge event, as you are so immersed in the hands, concentrating on the pips and the bids. So I love to play bridge as an escape from work, as you really cannot think about other concerns when you’re at the bridge table.
What each of us aims to get from participating in bridge is likely to differ according to the type of player we are. Knowing what might matter to different types of players, could be used to develop different ways to engage new younger players who fit the different types. My next blog will consider how we might market bridge in diverse ways, targeting those varied motivations of potential new players.
Samantha Punch is Professor of Sociology at the University of Stirling in Scotland. She leads the Bridge: A MindSport for All (BAMSA) research project (bridgemindsport.org), which explores the social, non-technical, and cultural aspects of bridge, including wellbeing, partnerships, and player development.
# A New Economic and Competitive Model for the Future of Bridge
## How to Attract Young Players, Discover Talent, Reward Skill, and Build a Sustainable Future for Bridge
Bridge does not have only a marketing problem. It has a **structural problem**.
The traditional model was created for a different era. In the past, people had fewer entertainment options, no Internet, no social media, no online gaming, and considerably less competition for their free time.
Today, the situation is completely different.
Young people have very limited free time and enormous competition for their attention. If bridge requires substantial amounts of time and money but offers little realistic financial reward to the vast majority of serious players, it becomes increasingly difficult to convince young people to invest years of their lives in the game.
The solution should not simply be to advertise bridge more aggressively.
**The competitive and economic structure of bridge itself needs to evolve.**
---
# 1. Measure Real Bridge Skill
Masterpoints are useful for recognizing participation and tournament achievements, but they should not be treated as a precise measurement of a player's actual playing strength.
A player who participates much more frequently can accumulate many more Masterpoints than a stronger player who plays less often.
Therefore, bridge needs additional, objective skill measurements.
A modern system could include three complementary indicators:
### TRUE-BRIDGE SKILL (TBS)
Measures the player's underlying playing strength and decision quality.
### BOARD-QUALITY INDEX (BQI)
Measures the quality of the player's decisions on individual boards.
### COMPOSITE BRIDGE INDEX (CBI)
Combines multiple dimensions of performance into a comprehensive measure of actual playing ability.
The objective should be simple:
> **Measure how well a player actually plays, not simply how often the player participates.**
---
# 2. Create Skill-Based Divisions
Players should have meaningful competitions against opponents of comparable ability.
For example:
### Development
Beginners and developing players.
### Advanced
Strong amateur and advanced players.
### Elite
The strongest competitive players.
This would give players realistic goals.
A young player should not have to believe:
> "I have no chance because I am competing against the world's best players."
Instead, the player should be able to think:
> "I can become one of the best players in my division."
The divisions should be determined primarily by objective performance measurements such as TBS, BQI and CBI rather than accumulated Masterpoints alone.
---
# 3. Create Much Larger Prize Pools
Bridge tournaments should return a substantially larger portion of their revenue to the players through prize pools.
The objective is not simply to make the first three places richer.
The objective is to create **real financial opportunities for a much larger percentage of participants.**
A tournament with hundreds or thousands of participants should have a correspondingly substantial prize pool.
---
# 4. Reward at Least the Top 15%
A fundamental principle should be:
> **At least 15% of participants should receive a meaningful reward.**
For example:
* 100 participants → at least 15 rewarded;
* 1,000 participants → at least 150 rewarded;
* 10,000 participants → at least 1,500 rewarded.
The exact percentages could increase as tournament participation grows.
The larger the tournament, the larger the percentage of participants who should receive rewards.
For example:
| Participants | Minimum rewarded |
| -----------: | ---------------: |
| Up to 50 | 15% |
| 51–200 | 18% |
| 201–500 | 20% |
| 501–1,000 | 25% |
| 1,001–5,000 | 30% |
| 5,000+ | 35% or more |
The top players should still receive substantially larger prizes, preserving the incentive to compete for first place.
But finishing in the top 10%, 15%, 20%, or another meaningful percentile should also have tangible value.
---
# 5. Reward More Than Tournament Winners
A modern bridge economy should recognize different kinds of achievement.
Possible awards could include:
* Tournament Winner
* Top 5%
* Top 10%
* Top 15%
* Best Young Player
* Best Developing Player
* Best Advanced Player
* Best Elite Player
* Highest TBS
* Highest BQI
* Highest CBI
* Most Improved Player
* Best Performance of the Day
* Best Performance of the Week
* Best Performance of the Month
* Player of the Year
* Rising Star Award
This would create many different paths to recognition.
A player does not have to become world champion to have something meaningful to achieve.
---
# 6. Create Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Annual Competitions
Bridge should offer continuous opportunities for achievement.
### Daily
Small cash prizes, credits, bonuses or other rewards.
### Weekly
Larger prizes and divisional competitions.
### Monthly
Major rankings and substantial prize pools.
### Annual
Player of the Year, Rising Star, Most Improved Player and major championship awards.
There could also be:
* city rankings;
* regional rankings;
* national rankings;
* international rankings;
* multi-year achievement awards.
A player could aspire to become:
> **The best bridge player in Chicago.**
before ever aspiring to become:
> **The best bridge player in the world.**
This creates achievable intermediate goals.
---
# 7. Attract Corporate Sponsors and Advertisers
Prize money should not depend entirely on entry fees.
Bridge should actively build a sponsorship ecosystem.
Potential sponsors could include:
* technology companies;
* AI companies;
* financial institutions;
* universities;
* educational companies;
* computer manufacturers;
* telecommunications companies;
* automotive companies;
* major consumer brands.
Sponsors could fund:
* tournaments;
* youth competitions;
* scholarships;
* Rising Star programs;
* national and international championships;
* special awards;
* innovation competitions.
The model becomes:
**Players + organizers + sponsors + advertisers → larger prize pools and more opportunities.**
---
# 8. Discover Young Talent
One of the most important functions of a modern bridge platform should be **talent discovery**.
AI-assisted analysis could identify young players who demonstrate:
* exceptional decision quality;
* unusually rapid improvement;
* high TBS;
* high BQI;
* high CBI;
* consistency under pressure;
* exceptional analytical ability.
A talented 18- or 20-year-old should not remain anonymous simply because he or she has not yet accumulated thousands of Masterpoints.
The system should be able to say:
> **"This player is demonstrating exceptional potential."**
That player could then receive:
* financial support;
* coaching;
* scholarships;
* invitations to elite competitions;
* sponsorship opportunities;
* media exposure.
---
# 9. Create Bridge Stars
Bridge needs recognizable personalities.
Chess has famous players.
Poker has famous players.
Esports has famous players.
Bridge should also be capable of producing players whom people outside the traditional bridge community recognize.
A young player should be able to become:
> **a bridge star.**
That requires:
* significant prize money;
* rankings;
* media coverage;
* YouTube content;
* streaming;
* short-form video;
* interviews;
* player profiles;
* AI analysis of spectacular boards.
Talent needs visibility.
---
# 10. Make Bridge Attractive to Sponsors
Sponsors do not simply buy advertising space.
They buy **attention, audiences, stories and personalities.**
A modern bridge platform could offer sponsors:
* branded tournaments;
* sponsored divisions;
* Rising Star programs;
* Player of the Month awards;
* youth championships;
* AI-powered "Board of the Day";
* live broadcasts;
* player interviews;
* sponsored rankings.
The more interesting the players and competitions become, the more valuable the audience becomes.
That creates a positive economic cycle.
---
# 11. Build a Positive Feedback Loop
The entire system could work as follows:
**More attractive prizes**
↓
**More young players**
↓
**More competition**
↓
**More talented players discovered**
↓
**More bridge stars**
↓
**More viewers and media attention**
↓
**More sponsors and advertisers**
↓
**Larger prize pools**
↓
**Even more players**
This is the economic engine that modern bridge needs.
---
# 12. Bridge Should Compete for Time
The central issue is not simply the cost of playing bridge.
The real competition is:
> **TIME.**
A young person today can spend those hours on:
* video games;
* esports;
* poker;
* chess;
* social media;
* education;
* additional work;
* online business;
* countless other activities.
Bridge therefore has to answer a very simple question:
> **Why should a young person invest thousands of hours becoming good at bridge?**
The answer cannot be only:
> "You will earn Masterpoints."
It should be:
> **"You can develop exceptional skills, compete against players of your level, see your real progress, become recognized for your talent, win meaningful rewards, and potentially build a career around the game."**
---
# 13. The New Philosophy
The goal should not be to eliminate Masterpoints.
Masterpoints can continue to serve as a historical and participation-based achievement system.
But they should be complemented by objective skill measurements and a modern reward system.
The philosophy should change from:
> **Play more → accumulate points → obtain titles.**
to:
> **Play well → demonstrate skill → improve → compete at the appropriate level → gain recognition → earn rewards.**
---
# 14. The Ultimate Objective
The objective is not to turn bridge into gambling.
It is to make bridge a **modern competitive intellectual sport** in which talent has measurable value.
A player should be able to progress through a visible pathway:
**Beginner**
↓
**Developing Player**
↓
**Advanced Player**
↓
**Elite Player**
↓
**Professional / International Level**
And at every stage there should be:
**measurement + competition + recognition + opportunity.**
---
# Final Principle
The future of bridge should not depend on asking young people to spend more money and more time for fewer and fewer tangible rewards.
Instead:
> **The more people participate, the more opportunities there should be for players to be rewarded.**
> **The better a player actually performs, the more accurately the system should recognize that ability.**
> **The more talented a young player is, the easier it should be for the system to discover that talent.**
> **And the best players should have the opportunity to become both financially successful and publicly recognized.**
Bridge already has the most important ingredient:
**an exceptionally deep and intellectually demanding game.**
What it needs is a modern economic, competitive and promotional system capable of turning that intellectual value into **opportunity, recognition and sustainable rewards.**
# Bridge should not simply survive.
## It should become a modern global competitive sport for the next generation.
I love all these ideas.There needs to be a variety of awards to a variety of players to keep people coming back to the game. Personally, I'd like to know where I rank as a 97 year old woman still playing winning bridge.
Interesting ideas. Where and how do you think the bridge world might start this process of change?
Je me reconnais particulièrement dans l'auto-améliorateur.
Je crains la compétition parce que j'ai du mal à accepter de perdre, que ce soit ma faute ou de celle de mon partenaire.
Ce jeu passionnant mériterait d'être inscrit aux Olympiades.
I love bridge, and I fit into all four categories. Some involve the competition,as i've strived to be a live master, and I have become a bronze life master this year. Also, I definitely fit into the category of min games,socializationand
self improvement.
I wanted to become a life master to present myself to the high schools as a competent bridge instructor. However,there has been so many barriers to getting into the school that I haven't been able to accomplish this. I hope to start this year. With a letter to either the math department or the principal to try to achieve this goal. If you can help or have any suggestions, I would appreciate it.
BAMSA is currently preparing a Guidance Pack on how to access schools. If you email us at bamsa@stir.ac.uk we can send you this information before we finalise it for our website.
I play bridge because I need it. I learned the game from my mom when I was about 9. She was a lifemaster. I just wanted to go to games and tournaments to her because I got to stay up late. 🙂
But then came...how much I loved it. I didn't play for ACBL points until I was in college. Before that--and for the next 50 years--bridge was my 'stress relief' from life's hardships.
It was also my joy of a partnership, where the partner could be any age, any color, any type of life--but if we could click together with the cards/understand each other...cripes, that was almost better than a marriage.:)
Beyond that, there was just the game. It's always challenging, always different, never exactly the same. You have to think (which is fun); you get to find what you're good at (and what you're not), to make the most of a hand no matter what the contract is.
There's just no other game like this. !!
Great article
I play bridge to give my mind a workout. It’s extremely important to challenge your mind daily, and playing bridge is a perfect outlet. Too many people take their mind for granted, but as you age to keep those brain cells active….play bridge.
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I play to keep my mind active. Years ago, like 1984 it came out in the Corpus Christi Caller Times. If You played bridge or did crossword puzzle you have a 90% chance of, not get Alzheimer's. I have played more ever since. Now I have started playing and arrow game on my phone which has really helped me concentrate and focused on remember what cards out are in the suite. My game has really improved more over the past 8 years.