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.
