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Who Remembers the Game of Autobridge?

If there are any players out there who have memories of their bridge game being stored in a box amongst the Monopoly, Clue and Scrabble sets, it’s likely that you’re thinking about Autobridge – and it’s something that a lot of people might still have a copy of in their attic somewhere.

Autobridge was the game of bridge condensed into a kit, together with sheets, and you would be guided through the game by the advice of experts. I imagine that there are many people out there today who remember using Autobridge to pick up the game in the first place – and if you are, leave a comment!

I’ve never seen an Autobridge set anywhere: Without a doubt, I’d buy it right there. (The moment I do find one, expect an unboxing video or blog post to follow shortly thereafter…) But the concept inspired me to dig a little further – and here’s what I found.

What Was It?

According the resources out there, BoardGameGeek (citing Encarta) says that the game has been around since at least 1938.

If you browse through any online auction or classifieds website, you’re bound to find used copies of Autobridge in every variety for sale. Some of them are seriously vintage and date back to the 30s or 40s, while others are more recent 60s models and up.

Condition varies, but you can pick up an Autobridge set – one that’s still in-tact – for less than you think, plus shipping.

The game seems to be the answer to the question, “How do you teach someone bridge without the need for a living and breathing bridge teacher to do it?”

Together with the Autobridge set, you’d also get the official rules for the game. Thanks to the wonder of the digital world, you can find a set of the rules available on BoardGameGeek if you have a set that’s missing the crucial element of the manual.

Rules

Also with Autobridge, the accompanying book was The ABCs of Contract Bridge: A Complete Simplified Course – a classic bridge book by Charles Goren. It’s a book that can still teach a lot of people the basics of the game today – and continues to.

As a last note on the game itself, it appears to have been made by – at  least at some point – General Electric. (I find this as a slightly obscure reference to which very few things seem to reference back, and I’d love to hear back from any readers with more information on things the company might have made at the same time.) Some Autobridge versions were later attributed to, it appears, Parker Brothers.

Finding the Patent

Finding a few references to the game of Autobridge wasn’t quite enough, and I figured that it might be a great idea to dig further than this. If it exists as a consumer product, you’re likely to find a patent for it – and a few searches led straight to it.

The patent number for what’s effectively just called a bridge playing apparatus is US20339938A.

It was registered by Norman R. Sterne, in the name of AUTOBRIDGE INC, and the official filing date for the patent is 04/21/1938, while the publication date is in 03/12/1940.

I hope that this is as interesting to readers as it was to me when I found it. Patents are always a look into the workings of something cool without the need to open it up.

If you want to browse the full patent for yourself, you can find the appropriate link to access it here or you can find the US Patents Office record book for 1940 listed on Google Books.

As a closing paragraph (and in case you don’t mouse over to click the above Patent link), here’s the first paragraph from the registered patent describing the whole point of Autobridge in the registrar’s own words.

“This invention is directed to a game apparatus particularly designed for the playing of bridge  whist wherein a player has the option of selecting a particular card from his own hand and a particular card from the exposed dummy hand for proposed play in a particular round or trick and then determine, by instrumentalities forming part of the game, whether the card he has selected is the proper card for play in the particular instance and is the same card that would be  played by one expertly proficient in the game.”


Comments

One response to “Who Remembers the Game of Autobridge?”

  1. rrlass

    I still have one from the late 1940s. They’re very cool. I have about 60 hands to go with it.