frank0 Posted February 28, 2012 Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 Have you had any experience about your non-bridge friends or family members ask you about this game? What did they ask and what's your answer? About 2 years ago a group of my friends asked me about this game and it took me about an hour to explain how the bidding works, what's declare/dummy/defender and how the trick is taking. After that I started to explain how to calculate the score like 3♠XX+3 and 5NTX-8 white/red, everybody was confused and no one had ever asked me anything about this game anymore :P . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLOGIC Posted February 28, 2012 Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 I think it's impossible Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aberlour10 Posted February 28, 2012 Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 Its simply impossible to explain the complexity of this game if an absolut "non-player" ask for. For most of them is bridge still a game for distinguished and bored ladies. I usually answer so >>>> You get the system description of this simple social play on single beer mat . For the system of the professional top pairs you need XXX pages:).That's all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helene_t Posted February 28, 2012 Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 I try to explain why the game is so fascinating:- You can play against people with very different skill levels because it is still a challenge for the experts to get good score against intermediate players.- You need so many skills: partnership trust, empathy, intuition for probabilities, ability to learn information encoding schemes, memory, visualization, logical reasoning. I try to use terms familiar to the other people as opposed to bridge terminology. For example "raising the stakes" as opposed to "doubling the contract" when talking to gamblers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G_R__E_G Posted February 28, 2012 Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 I always start by asking if they've played euchre. Euchre is very popular in my part of the world and I'd say at least 75% of people are relatively familiar with it. Assuming they say yes I then tell them that it's like euchre on steroids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenberg Posted February 28, 2012 Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 Sort of a combination of Helene's and GREG's approach. Mostly people don't ask, but if they do I check to see if "playing a card", "taking a trick", and "trump" have any meaning for them. Sometimes a person knows how to play 500, where bids are made, and that helps. I think any explanation that goes on for more than a few paragraphs is likely to be be more than they had in mind when they raised the question. But I always feel I can explain to a neighbor what a mathematician does and what a bridge player does. They won't totally get it, but that's ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diana_eva Posted February 28, 2012 Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 I usually start from a known card game, like spades or hearts if I know the people asking are familiar with those. And i skip the bidding completely, just try to get to the trick taking part. So far I only convinced my son, and only bec he was grounded and bored to death - he would have tried anything :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zelandakh Posted February 28, 2012 Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 On a general query as to what bridge is: "It's a card game, like whist but more complicated. Lots of fun when you get into it." If someone wants to learn how to play, first teach them partnership whist if they do not know it already. This gets them used to how trick taking works in a partnership game. Then the bidding. For this I use a short crib sheet that the player can refer to quickly until they get used to things. At this stage I only refer to aiming for games and slams and the general strength requirements for this. The hardest part of teaching the bidding is very often the Milton Work count - those that hate numbers sometimes get turned off at this point. The final thing is the actual scoring itself which basically fills in the gaps without adding very much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S2000magic Posted February 28, 2012 Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 I describe the game backwards, and leave out a lot of details. One of the players will lead a card, players have to follow suit in order around the table, the highest card of the suit led wins, and that player leads the next card. That's a simple idea to grasp. Then I'll mention that there could be a trump suit, and that one of the players' hands will be face-up on the table. After that I'd describe the bidding in general terms (you and partner are trying to decide how many tricks you can win, and what suit should be trumps). I would never try to explain the scoring to a non-bridge-player who asked casually. While it's unquestionably the heart of the game, I think that it adds too much complexity for a beginner. I'll mention the scoring, and that there are opportunities to increase the stakes (those familiar with poker, blackjack, craps, or even backgammon will find that a familiar note), but not explain any of the details. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
y66 Posted February 28, 2012 Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 The one thing my wife knows about bridge is that the goal is to take your tricks. If she wants to know more she can ask questions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ggwhiz Posted February 28, 2012 Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 A simple question gets a simple answer from me. Let them lead the conversation if they want to know more. I tell them some very basic stuff on trick taking and partnership and shift quickly into fun stories from tournaments and the hospitality suites. One I've used is to tell them about a local couple that went to 4-5 tournaments per year and never stayed in a hotel thanks to all the friends they made. When we had our local Regional their house was full of these people and it was a 5 day party. That usually got their attention. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CSGibson Posted February 28, 2012 Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 I describe the bidding by comparing it to the game show "name that tune" (where contestants will "bid" how many notes they will get to name a specific song, until noone wants to bid lower), and to describe the play, I ask what card games they are familiar with, and then use whatever their answer is as a basis for my comparison. I also mention that everyone is 30 years older than me, and I go into a story about meeting Bill Gates & Warren Buffett (the three of us together were worth over 100 billion dollars at the time, dontcha know....) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Posted February 28, 2012 Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 Have you had any experience about your non-bridge friends or family members ask you about this game? What did they ask and what's your answer? I say, "its like quilting, only.....tougher". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barmar Posted February 28, 2012 Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 As others have mentioned, I find out if they know other trick-taking games. If they know spades, that's extremely helpful: they know about trumps, and they're familiar with stating how many tricks you expect to take. I tell them that it's similar, but you get to say "I expect to take N tricks if X is trumps" instead of it always being spades, and much of the complexity of the game comes from this auction. I also tell them about the partnership aspect, which adds a whole other level -- the process of choosing trumps involves coming up with a coding system to share information about your hands, while the opponents are doing the same thing. And when you're defending, you use the cards you play to help partner figure out what you hold, so he can defend better. That's about all I go into about the mechanics of the game. I then tell them about being able to play against players of wide abilities, and not be totally overwhelmed. I contrast it with a game like tennis -- if one of us were to go up against a tennis champion, we probably wouldn't return a single serve. While I wouldn't expect to win a match against the Nickell team, I'd at least expect a few winning boards and to have fun while being beaten. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mycroft Posted February 28, 2012 Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 It's like Schmier, only we use the full deck, and the bidding is a lot more complicated. Oh, and you can only trump if you can't follow suit. What, isn't everybody's family Ukranian? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BunnyGo Posted February 28, 2012 Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 You have friends who don't play bridge? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank0 Posted February 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 You have friends who don't play bridge?Most of them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigel_k Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 I agree with Helene. What makes the game special is the wide variety of different skills you need in order to be successful. No need to get into the mechanics unless they actually want to play the game, and then of course it will take a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgoetze Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 But I always feel I can explain to a neighbor what a mathematician does OK, a topologist is someone who thinks about things such as whether a donut is the same as a football, that's easy enough. But what does an algebraic geometer do? Or a category theorist? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwnn Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 Run away? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zelandakh Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 OK, a topologist is someone who thinks about things such as whether a donut is the same as a football, that's easy enough. But what does an algebraic geometer do? Or a category theorist?A topologist thinks a mug is the same as a doughnut (don't ever ask them to make you a cup of coffee). An algebraic geometer thinks shapes are just a series of letters and numbers (don't let them redecorate your home). A category theorist deals in general abstract nonsense (don't even bother them). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trinidad Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 In my circle of friends there are quite a few people who play cards and many people have a scientific background. That makes it relatively easy to explain what I think bridge is all about. There is one thing that I will not bring up. I won't talk about technique: no conventions, no squeezes, not even a finesse. When people ask me about bridge, I usually tell them about the competitions I play in, how my team is doing, how you need mental toughness, how to be a good partner and things like that. These are things most people recognize from other competitive sports. Only when there is a "bridge" like that I will start talking about tactics. These will include things like "what might your action gain / lose and what are the probabilities that you win or lose?". People tend to recognize that or they may be able to understand. If they are still interested, I might start about how the game is actually played: You play and try to win as many tricks as you can. Before the play, there is bidding that decides who is going to play and what are trumps. Then I explain that there is natural bidding where "clubs" means "clubs" and "spades" means "spades", but that you are allowed to play that "clubs" means "spades" and "spades" means "clubs". I will add to that that your opponents are allowed to know how you are coding things, but that you have to know your own system by heart. I will also explain the relation between efficiency in a bidding system and mathematics. (Many people I know are good at math.) Rik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S2000magic Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 OK, a topologist is someone who thinks about things such as whether a donut is the same as a football, that's easy enough. But what does an algebraic geometer do? Or a category theorist?You missed algebraic topology, which is my favorite branch of mathematics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordontd Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 Have you had any experience about your non-bridge friends or family members ask you about this game? What did they ask and what's your answer?They ask what the fascination is with the game, and I say that it doesn't get boring because it becomes harder the better one gets at it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zelandakh Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 You missed algebraic topology, which is my favorite branch of mathematics.An algebraic topologist is a combination of the topologist and algebraic geometer - don't let them anywhere in your home, ever! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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