Browsing through archived discussion boards from long-ago discussions about bridge, I’ve noticed that there used to be a ton of myths surrounding bridge – and these would come up mentioned by at least one or two users every single time the topic of the game came up.
Modern discussion boards have far less myth and far more useful discussion about the game, how seasoned players got their spice and how newer players can get introduced (or sometimes reintroduced) to the game.
Here are 5 common bridge myths that have come to mean nothing today in a world where anyone can play bridge just by logging in.
1. Bridge is meant for an older crowd.
Everyone knows that bridge is the choice game for older people, and this seemed to be mentioned in every TV show from Big Mouth through to How I Met Your Mother. Old people play bridge.
Today, the myth holds no weight whatsoever.
The amount of youth bridge players in the game is astonishing (and still on the rise), while most older people I do know who play bridge happen to participate in many other things, including a damn good game of Monopoly, Reversi or Call of Duty.
2. It’s impossible to learn in a day.
Who remembers the series of books that taught you a skill through the period of one day? Guitar-in-a-Day, Carpentry-in-a-Day, The-Art-of-French-Cooking-in-a-Day… The list is almost just as vast as the For Dummies and Complete Idiot’s Guide library.
For a long time, people thought that eight weeks was the shortest time you could condense a decent amount of bridge lessons in.
With the rise of teachers, online bridge platforms, more bridge players and a huge list of teaching videos and free lessons, the game of bridge has become a lot easier to learn – and it doesn’t have to take new players nearly as long as they think.
3. AI can’t be taught games like bridge or GO.
It’s a lot easier to teach an AI how to play a simple, two-player game than it is to teach it how to beat players at a game that has several opposing teams, a lot of face down cards and no real way to tell what players might be thinking next.
For a long time it was a popular myth that you couldn’t reliably teach an AI anything about bridge. GIB was one of the first programmed AI systems to prove this wrong – and it’s been part of Bridge Base Online ever since.
Leaps in how AI understands unseen information has even impacted intelligent systems thinking about other things, including tracking down illicit content on the internet.
4. Bridge is too complicated.
Other than bridge needing an inordinately long time to learn, it’s often repeated that bridge is a game too complicated for most people to grasp – or bother learning.
Nothing could be further from the truth in reality. There are many great resources that condense the basics of bridge into a few pages, a few lessons or even a few minuites – and that’s all you need to know to join a table.
The rest comes with experience, and the often-repeated “easy to learn and hard to master” will apply here.
5. Playing bridge needs a card deck and table.
When I was growing up, every house had a card deck in it somewhere – and almost every visiting family member could teach you a different card game.
This might not be as true today, but the great thing about the game of bridge in modern times is that it no longer matters. If you don’t have a card deck nearby, you can join BBO with a smartphone or computer – and it doesn’t make a difference where you are when you do!