So does anyone play bridge?

[OSUFan]

I've never learned how but heard it was similar to Spades with the bidding and all.

[Pokes4Life]

I've tried to play, but I never really got into it. My dad is a big time player. I think I tried learning it too young when I didn't fully understand all the nuances of the game. Bridge is definitely a lot more complex than spades.

[Verb]

I play bridge, and I love the game passionately. I play duplicate bridge several times a month, and rubber bridge as often as I can get three other people together to join me.

It's a game that, rather like chess, requires every bit of your concentration. You have to have a good memory, and you have to be able to think ahead about what your choices will bring about later in the game. It's really two games--bidding and then the play of the hand.

It plays very much like spades, except that only one team can win the contract--in other words, win the bidding and then try to make the number of tricks they bid. The other team is only playing to set the opponents, and they don't get anything for the tricks they make UNLESS they set you.

Another big difference is that the trumps aren't always the same suit, like in Spades. When you bid, you're not just bidding the number of tricks you think you can take, but which suit will be the trump.

It's a great game, and studies have proved that bridge players are far less likely to have Alzheimers and other forms of dementia. It exercises the old noggin! If you get a chance to learn, go for it!

[OSUFan]

Well, I love spades and our family plays card games all the time. I just need to find a group that will teach me how to play. Verb, ever heard of a game called horserace rummy or progressive rummy? That's one of our favorites.

[Verb]

No, but I wish I knew someone to teach me! I love card games. Or really, any games at all.

Hey, if anyone can recommend any really fun board games, speak up. I want to get Hallie some new games for Christmas.

Her current faves are Cranium Pop 5 and Time's Up. And of course, everyone's favorite "Helen Keller always wins" game, Apples to Apples.

[mejake007]

I play bridge, and I love the game passionately. I play duplicate bridge several times a month, and rubber bridge as often as I can get three other people together to join me.

It's a game that, rather like chess, requires every bit of your concentration. You have to have a good memory, and you have to be able to think ahead about what your choices will bring about later in the game. It's really two games--bidding and then the play of the hand.

It plays very much like spades, except that only one team can win the contract--in other words, win the bidding and then try to make the number of tricks they bid. The other team is only playing to set the opponents, and they don't get anything for the tricks they make UNLESS they set you.

Another big difference is that the trumps aren't always the same suit, like in Spades. When you bid, you're not just bidding the number of tricks you think you can take, but which suit will be the trump.

It's a great game, and studies have proved that bridge players are far less likely to have Alzheimers and other forms of dementia. It exercises the old noggin! If you get a chance to learn, go for it!


I think that just reading that post made me smarter.

[Verb]

I think that just reading that post made me smarter.

If your head starts hurting, just go lie down and wait for it to pass, mejake. :D

[mejake007]

If your head starts hurting, just go lie down and wait for it to pass, mejake. :D

haha...you make me dizzy, Verb.

[cactusjack]

No. but I grew up playing 10 point pitch with all the old folks....kinda like bridge, lol.:)

I'm a bad ass pitch player.

[Verb]

C'mon, Jack, get that image thing fixed! We want to see what it is!

[OSUFan]

Verb or anyone else, here are the rules to Horserace or Progressive rummy. Enjoy!

Object of game: To have the lowest amount of points at the end of the game after completing all seven hands.

How many cards?: You need at least two decks with jokers. To figure out how many decks you need, multiply the number of people who are going to play by 17. So if four people are going to play, that means you need at least 68 cards. Thus, you would use two decks for four people. Jokers are wild cards and need to be included in the decks. Two decks minimum.

How to play?: You are trying to get runs (four cards of the same suit) or groups (three cards of any suit). The game progressively gets harder because it takes more cards to get the hands, thus that is why they call it Progressive Rummy.

The progression goes as follows:

2 groups - 9 cards dealt out
1 group 1 run - 9 cards dealt out
2 runs - 9 cards dealt out
3 groups - 9 cards dealt out
2 groups 1 run - 9 cards dealt out
2 runs 1 group - 9 cards dealt out
3 runs (final hand) - 11 cards dealt out with three buys only

Example for four players: Player A shuffles cards and allows player D (the player to his/her right) to cut the deck from the top. Player A deals out nine cards to the four players and flips one over to begin the game. Player B (the player to Player A's left) then either picks up the card and discards a card he/she does not want from his/her hand or draws off the top of the deck and discards a card he/she does not want.

If Player B does not want the card flipped over (discard card), Player's C, D or A can buy the card. To buy a card, you take the card plus one extra card off the deck. The buy would occur and then Player B would take the next card off the deck and discard whatever he/she doesn't want in his/her hand. The person next in order to play gets first preference on a buy. In this instance, Player C gets to buy before Players D or A could. If Players D and A wanted the card but Player C didn't, Player D would get it instead of Player A.

The first six hands you can lay down whenever you get the hand. So if Player B is the first to get two pairs, on his/her turn he/she has to pick up the card in the discard pile or draw a card from the deck and then he/she can lay down his/her three 3s and three Kings. He/she would then discard a card he/she does not want and it goes to Player C's turn. Once other players lay down their hands, players can play cards on each other players' hands. In other words, when Player A lays down his/her three Jacks and two 2's and a joker, Player A can also lay down his/her 3s and Kings on Player C's cards. Strategy comes into play on what you keep and throw away.

The first player that plays all the cards out of his/her hand wins that hand and gets zero points. The player either plays all his/her cards on his hand or other hands or plays all of the cards except the discard card and then discards the last card to win the hand.

The last hand each player has only three buys which equals to the 17 cards, the most a person can have in the last hand. The player has to lay his/her hand down pat with one or no discards. So for the three runs, the player will need at least 12 cards.

Nuiances of the game: Card point totals can be whatever you deem. My family plays it where 2-9 are worth face value, 10-K is 10 points, A is 15 points and jokers are 50 points. We have played where some people say 2-8 are five points, 9-K are 10 points, A are 15 points and jokers are 50 points.

We play with unlimited buys until the last hand while others we have played with limit buys even for the first six hands; i.e., I think we played where you could only have five buys through the first six hands.

If a player cuts the deck correctly (36 cards to the four players) or including the discard (37 cards - 36 to the four player plus the one card that is flipped over), then that person get a minus 50 points.

Some players buy at every chance they get (me) as so to confuse the other players on what I am collecting for my hands. Plus, they do not see my buy card and have no idea if my hand is being built by what I buy or what they see I am picking up from the discard pile. Of course, that means I have far more cards to get rid of before I can go out.

For runs that are layed down, if Player A had a run of King of Diamonds, a joker, Jack of Diamonds and ten of Diamonds, and it was Player C's turn and Player C had the Queen of Diamonds then Player C could move the joker to the Ace of Diamonds position or the nine of Diamonds position when moving the Queen into the run. Of course, Player C has to have laid down his/her cards before he/she can play that Queen on Player A's cards.

In reference to jokers, we have a rule that if one comes up as the discard when a new hand is dealt we move it into the deck and flip over a new discard card. Also, we have a rule that your jokers can't outnumber your other cards to make a hand. In other words, you can't play two jokers and a two to make a group of three two's. But these are rules for interpretation.

Oh, and four card run and three card groups are the minimum you need. You could have six 8's and three Q's when you lay your hand down. We do play that you can't just split a run to make two runs. In other words, if you are trying to get two runs and have all clubs in your hand, you can't lay down 3-6 and 7-10 of clubs for your two runs. It would have to be like 3-6 and 6-9 or 3-6 and 8-J.

Scores are tallied after each hand is played and the player at the end of the seventh hand who has the fewest points wins.

It sounds confusing but once you get into it -- it's a lot of fun playing!