The number 13 is integral to calculating the table odds at a game of bridge.

With every player holding 13 cards in their hand at the start of the game, you’ll always think of the number somehow when calculating the suit distributions (or high-card points) for what’s to come.

To the average bridge player, the number 13 isn’t unlucky or superstitious. The often-feared number just means the game is about to begin, and I think the number cross the minds of bridge players pretty often.

Once the first tricks have been played, the number 12 becomes the one players have to worry about instead!

Here’s more about the number 13.

Fear of it is called triskaidekaphobia.

Phobias are irrational fears, and might require coping techniques or therapy to learn how to deal with. When someone has had a particularly severe experience tied to the number 13, a phobia of it might develop.

Because of the common phobia, 13 is a number avoided in many listings, buildings, and advertisements just because it triggers negative thoughts in too many people who see it.

On the other hand (and if you have ever wondered), hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia describes a fear of long words.

Death is the 13th card in the tarot deck.

One theory about why people believe the number carries back luck is related to its common appearance in the tarot.

Death is the 13th card in the tarot, and it’s a common staple of horror fiction (or tarot readers who are hoping to spook their client).

If you’re into a more detailed explanation, the Death card is more often used to mean new beginnings – and never a physical or actual death.

If your fear of the number stems from the tarot, feel free to relax.

Some believe Judas was the 13th seat at the Last Supper.

Being betrayed by one of your closest friends isn’t what I would call a lucky week.

It’s for the belief that Judas was the 13th seat at the Last Supper that some people see the number as being unlucky in the first place.

Some sources state that this might have contributed to the myth being widely spread, and the number being avoided for it.

Google autocomplete results for “number 13” includes…

• number 13 numerology
• number 13 meaning
• number 13 birthday cake
• number 13 in rugby
• number 13 tattoo

The number 13 seems to be searched a lot. It also comes up in the contexts of astrology and astronomy (with approximately 13 phases of the moon cycle every year), and a whole list of Hollywood movies that includes Thirteen Ghosts.

If you’re thinking of getting a tattoo of the number 13, you’d better know a lot of other people have already thought of one…

There’s a lost Hitchcock film called number 13.

Number 13 was the first time Alfred Hitchcock directed – and it was not in his usual characteristic style yet.

Unfortunately, the footage from Number 13 is considered lost (at least until someone discovers any – and that’s if it’s out there at all). Hitchcock didn’t reveal much about his first project, and he might have been glad nobody got to see it.

Have you seen any of Hitchcock’s other classics?

Now might be a great time.