Bridge builds the brain, and it’s one of the top reasons why the game is continuously recommended for people with an active mindset. Puzzles are like a combination of weight-training and cardio for the mind: it’s a good excuse to keep a Sudoku book in the toilet, or to glue crossword puzzles to your bedroom door.

I don’t just enjoy bridge because it’s a lot of fun. I enjoy bridge for its list of mental benefits, too.

It’s like saying that I enjoy coffee for both the associated taste and the appropriate buzz.

Do you need a list of reasons why someone should play bridge?

Here’s a look at x skills you’ll improve thanks to playing bridge.

1. Memory

Bridge improves your memory, although does it in such ways that you’ll barely notice it happening. You keep playing bridge, and one day realize that you’ve gone shopping without the need for an itemized shopping list (or know exactly where you’ve put your keys for a change).

Bridge teaches you to keep unseen and already-played cards in your mind’s eye.

By some extension, it’s the exact same mental skill that helps you remember other useful things that you might need to.

2. Patience

Patience is a skill that everyone needs, but almost nobody can say they possess enough of. I can admit that I’m not the most patient person in the world, but I can also thank video games for increasing the natural threshold of how long I can wait for things to load.

Sometimes, bridge means waiting.

Idle time should never be boredom, but instead seen as opportunity. While you’re waiting on something to happen, do Sudoku, make some coffee, recite a damn poem.

It’s all better than the feeling of impatience when there’s really no need to rush.

3. Grouping (by sight)

Distributions are an excellent thing for any player to learn. That’s because it increases your natural aptitude for grouping things together from a look. Instead of having to think about it, you can spot the approximate strength of your hand from a glance.

It saves time, it’s easier, and it’s a skill that becomes useful everywhere else.

Grouping by sight is something that takes a bit of practice.

It’s an odd skill, and so most people don’t spend much time looking at things and counting them up (unless, maybe, they’re in a profession where it’s important). How often do you say, “I’m in the mood to count my potatoes all the way up to 13 and back?”

Bridge allows the skill to develop.

4. Coordination

It’s not just first-person shooter games that improve your hand-to-eye coordination, but bridge.

The eyes will move around a lot during your average bridge game. It’s almost more than you would expect. From the cards to the bids, and possibly to scan something else going on in the room while the game continues.

If you’re playing online, your hands should be at the ready at either keyboard or mouse.

From the first card, you’re coordinating just as much as within your favourite FPS.

What skills can you say bridge has helped you to improve?