During a recent AskMeAnything session on Reddit, I was surprised to find out that Bill Gates has never played a round of Mortal Kombat when a user asked about his favourite characters.

I don’t know why I was surprised. It just seemed odd to me that nobody would have challenged Gates in all his time. Perhaps he had challengers, but never found the time (or maybe he just isn’t a fan of arcade fighters!).

Then I thought, what about the idea of challenging more bridge players to TCG matches?

Trading cards and playing cards are connected universes. For both, we contemplate our cards, count our points, and make the next play from our hand. At either discipline, we can agree that winning feels pretty damn good.

I try to make time for both.

Now and then, I revisit platforms like Duelling Nexus to see how I fare. When in a more whimsical mood, I try something like Exploding Kittens.

If you’ve never played games like Necronomicon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Magic: The Gathering, or Pokemon, how about giving it a try.

Here’s why trading-card-game playing can work to better your bridge.

1. Strategy matters

Strategy isn’t just for one single game, but used in almost every area of our daily lives. It means that the strategies learned in chess or Reversi would certainly matter applied to bridge.

When switching your games around, it’s like looking into a portal of new experiences. Bridge might not be played with cards like The Time Wizard in attack position, but keep in mind what you’ve learned while doing it.

TCGs can help players from bridge to solve new problems, and keep these skills for life.

2. New tricks

When faced with an interesting hand at bridge or Yu-Gi-Oh!, players use almost the same techniques to figure out where it goes. Bridge counts high-card-points, but the TCG often relies on attack and defence points (and the attributes of each, individual card).

The TCG runs close enough to bridge games for new tricks learned in either to count at both.

Players of both disciplines might have a strategic advantage above players who have never tried.

3. Competitive edge

People who are drawn to contract bridge love it for its competitive spirit. It’s part of what makes the world of trading card games go ’round, too. The aspect of challenging other players is what makes players feel alive!

Challenges make up many TCG canon back-stories. It’s exciting to see rivals play, to add stakes to the game, and to battle it out with cards.

Bridge players who choose to embrace the occasional TCG match have a whole new list of card players to challenge. Some might even cross-over to a bridge match for a whole different kind of challenge.

Have you played any trading-card-games and found them to change how you perform at the bridge tables? Name your favourites!