Orlando North bridge club grows in popularity
Old-fashioned, ethical card game thriving
When Glen Martin retired from his job in banking software roughly three years ago, his wife had a message.
“She said: ‘Glen, you need to get a hobby,’ ” the Longwood resident recalled. “‘Something to do to get out of my way.’ ”
So he started a contract bridge club with some friends. Today, the North Orlando Bridge Center has grown to more than 440 members and holds games five days a week for all ages at the Maitland Civic Center.
In an age of seemingly endless diversions on TV and the internet, the old-fashioned card games have become so popular that the club now has its eye on moving into a larger building south of State Road 434, near Sanlando Road, in Altamonte Springs. The additional space will allow it to offer bridge lessons, besides regular games and tournaments.
“For me, it’s an amazing game,” Martin, 70, said recently as he set aside snacks and prepared tables before another round of games at the Maitland Civic Center. “Bridge
is a very ethical game. It’s a very sophisticated game. It keeps the mind active, because it’s like working a puzzle. It’s also a very social game because you get to meet new people.”
But the game’s not new. Contract bridge has been around for more than 100 years in the U.S., dating back to the early 20th century evolving from an earlier game called whist that was played in Great Britain in the 1800s.
Contract bridge had limited appeal among card players for decades, until the 1950s when Charles Goren wrote books and newspaper columns about contract bridge that drew the attention of regular card players.
Since then the game’s popularity has remained somewhat consistent, according to Dan Storch, director of marketing for the American Contract Bridge League, based in Horn Lake, Miss. His organization represents about 3,000 clubs in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, and has about 168,000 members today, a slight drop from its peak of 200,000 in the early 1990s.
Even tycoons Bill Gates and Warren Buffett became aficionados of contract bridge a few years ago.
Bridge is played with four people forming two partnerships at a table and a standard deck of 52 cards that is dealt equally among the players. The players bid to describe their hands to their partners sitting across from them. Scoring is based on a player’s performance of their hand, thereby reducing the element of chance.
Players keep their points for life, and are documented by the American Contract Bridge League. Some members have accumulated tens of thousands of points. Martin, by the way, has about 700 points.
Most clubs now abide by strict rules: Players cannot be rude, antagonize, criticize, swear, bully or even so much as roll their eyes at another player. Generally, players must avoid any kind of negative move that may demean another player. Otherwise, the offending player could get a warning or even barred from future games.
“It’s a very, very friendly game,” said Daryl Drew, a bridge instructor and board member of the Orlando Metropolitan Bridge Center in Orlando. “And I think bridge is growing again because of the zero-tolerance policy.”
He recalls an incident years ago in which a younger man berated a 90-year-old for the way she played her hand.
“Things like that made a lot of people not want come back,” Drew said.
Still, although bridge may be a “gentleman’s” game, it’s not one that particularly appeals to younger people, longtime players acknowledge.
“Bridge is not an easy game,” said Charlie Showalter, president of the board of directors for The Villages Duplicate Bridge Club. “It’s probably the most difficult card game. And it takes time and effort to learn how to play.”
With nearly 2,000 members, The Villages Duplicate Bridge Club is one of the largest in the country. It holds games at several recreation centers in the large retirement community northwest of Orlando nearly every day. It also offers an education program led by expert players as a way of growing its membership ranks.
The American Contract Bridge League also hosts annual youth and college tournaments annually in an effort to develop interest from the younger generation.
On a recent morning — while most Central Florida residents were scrambling to prepare for Hurricane Irma — bridge players walked into the Maitland Civic Center and took seats at the tables.
“When we play, we’re oblivious to the outside world,” said Faisl Kayali, 70, of Orlando.
Meanwhile, in a nearby room Martin held a class for beginners.
Lee Davies, 82, of Altamonte Springs, credits bridge for turning her life around. After her husband died several years ago, she felt lonely and depressed. So she decided to visit the bridge club to rekindle her interest in the game she played off-and-on years ago.
“It has helped me meet new people,” Davies said.