There are thousands of board game cafes, card game gatherings and bridge clubs all over the world and the number of bridge players joining them is on the increase.

I’m glad for the fact that the number of active players is going up, but I also realize that this means bridge clubs everywhere attract more people – and human nature means that not everyone out there has the same intentions.

Does your bridge club background check current and new members?

There’s good reason to do it.

Why Check – and What For?

Background checks look for information on a person’s history. It can include past criminal convictions and details like their credit score.

Things like credit score might not matter when you’re sitting opposite someone at a bridge table, and past criminal convictions don’t necessarily say much about a person’s demeanor, personality or future – but there are still things clubs might want to look out for.

Prior fraud convictions might mean that someone is not, for example, as ideal as you thought to be the accountant for the club. Just the same way, someone who happens to appear on the sex offender registry should not – and I repeat, should not – be anywhere near a youth bridge event.

Many clubs out there simply don’t check. Many clubs assume it’s fine.

What if we see this lead to serious offenses? What if it has – and nobody is talking about? The truth is that these clubs will subsequently and probably wish they had looked first.

Background checks aren’t meant as a fire trial or as a way of judgment, but there are certain things which should exempt someone from bridge events: Anything near a sexual offense should, I think, count.

Background Checks: Check Your Local Laws

Check your city, state or country laws: Background checks require written consent in most places – and a simple disclaimer that asks permission that gets signed by new bridge players could be necessary – depending on what you’re checking for.

The majority of countries have national sex offender registries against which names can be run: Again, there might be special laws connected to what you’re allowed to check against (and what permissions you might require from the person in question).

More Reason to Check

More recently than I would like to think, the owners of a board game cafe were implicated in a human trafficking scam: They had, for all practical purposes, been charged and arrested for buying and selling the lives of children to a waiting list of parents who decided to “adopt” from the black market.

Just this illustrates the importance of knowing your club and the people in it.

This is the kind of prior conviction that counts, and that should be an immediate ban from local bridge clubs.

Sex offenders are banned from – for example, working with children and young adults in the context of the school system. Why shouldn’t the same count for bridge?

Simply, it’s safer.