CONTRACT BRIDGE

 

                                        

 

 

 

The history of contract bridge, one of the world’s most popular partnership games, can be dated from the early 16th century invention of trick-taking games such as whist.  Bridge left from whist with the creation of Biritch or Russian whist in the 19^th century and developed through the late 19^th and early 20^th century to the present game.

 

The oldest known credentials to the rules of the game dates back to 1886.  Whist showed several significant developments from what the dealer chose the trump suit or requested his partner to do so.  There was a bid of notrump, and the dealer’s partner’s hand became dummy. There were other similarities to bridge, and points were scored above and below the line.

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In 1925, the game that we know today from auction bridge and platform contract bridge was invented by the American Harold Vanderbilt.  Vanderbilt’s bridge incorporated a number of new features, most notably a sophisticated scoring table and various modes of vulnerability.

 

“Contract” was so named because it required a partnership to commit the contract of a certain amount of tricks.  Failure to fulfill a contract resulted in a scoring penalty, a success an award.

 

Contract bridge quickly gained popularity throughout the US, where it experienced its Golden Age in the 1930s and 1940s.  During this time, famous expert matches were conducted, including the 1930 Anglo-American match, and in 1931 and the Culbertson-Lenz match.

 

Duplicate (tournament) bridge also became popular during the middle of the 20^th century.  In duplicate bridge players at a table are dealt hands that are eventually passed on to another table and then another and so on.  Thus, a competing pair plays the same deals that any number of other pairs play, with the differences in results being the basis of each pair’s final score. Duplicate began to rise in the 1930s and continues to be popular worldwide.

 

Bridge world championships, which use a team similarity to duplicate bridge, began in 1950 and saw the USA team dominating until 1957. That same year, Italy began its incredible 10 consecutive victories.

 

Contract bridge is very popular around the world.  It combines the elements of mental boost, luck, and socializing that are hard to find in other card games.  Bridge is one of the few games played today by people of all ages, races, and nationalities.  

(I wish to thank Wikipedia and other search sights for the information for this post.)

 

 

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