TMP96: Serious Players
I play bridge. I’ve been playing bridge since I was a kid. When we first started playing bridge, we were maybe 8 or 9, we didn’t know how to bid, so we looked at each other’s cards. THEN we bid. We gained considerable sophistication over the years.
If there’s a more serious game on earth than bridge, I don’t know what it would be. Playing bridge requires a keen memory, mental arithmetic and a really aggressive attitude towards winning. When I used to play bridge a lot, it didn’t feel like a game. It was very intense and there was a good deal of fighting between partners. It may be the only game where you don’t fight with your opponents, but with your partner. Your game depends on you and your partner working together seamlessly — which doesn’t always happen.
These days, I play bridge with the computer. There are some very good bridge games online, but they cost money. Quite a lot of money. Considerably more than I pay to keep my blog alive. I can’t afford it so I play with the free version they have on the AARP site. It’s a terrible version of the game. The robot plays the same way all the time and never surprises you. It’s very poorly designed — in so many ways.
The program can’t bid or play and what it does consider playing is incredibly stupid and ridiculously easy to beat. Unless you are a bridge player, you’d have no interest in my explanation of all the things it does wrong, so I won’t bore you.
The great part about playing with the computer? It can’t yell at you when you forget what suit is trump or when you mindlessly trump your partner’s ace. In reality, he or she would leap over the table and probably throttle you. At least I don’t have to worry about an enraged partner attacking me at a tournament.
One needs to be grateful for small favors, doesn’t one because in a lot of ways, life kind of sucks these days. Not that I want to complain. Well, I do want to complain, but I don’t see much point in it.
Thus I understand people who are serious about games. I understand people who are serious about sports too, especially when if you can get your arm good enough, it can be worth millions of dollars — but hey, we all know it’s not about the money, right?
Share this:
Categories: Anecdote, Drawings, games, Relationships, Sports
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
Bridge doesn’t appeal to me, as I like to relax when playing a game. I play puzzles and jigsaws on line…
LikeLike
I do that too, but I really loved playing bridge and I miss it. Garry is a non-card player. How he got through Marine basic training without learning how to play poker, I’ll never know but he literally doesn’t know a heart from a spade. I’m sure he could learn it, but other than Trivial Pursuits, at which is a champion — and the best partner I’ve ever had — games don’t interest him. Yet he’s a sports fanatic — and they ARE games. I guess it’s a matter of which games.
I found a better version of bridge last night that is (so far) free. It’s not like playing with people, but it’s a whole lot better than the AARP version.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Enjoy your bridge, Marilyn…
LikeLike
PS: my parents almost divorced over bridge!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Bridge is that kind of game. Bridge players in full tilt can foam at the mouth and murder is not out of the question. We are always warned that playing with your marital partner isn’t the best idea. You want to leave bridge behind when you go home. It’s safer.
LikeLike
I often prefer solo or computer games to unpredictable and possibly cranky people. Dealing with someone’s bad move over a lost game is no fun!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I also play a lot of variations on solitaire and as many word games except Wordle which I don’t like much. I’d wish there was a REAL Scrabble game online but there isn’t. So I settle for what I can find. I don’t like war games at all. Just the noise makes me crazy.
LikeLike