Long bridge week-end

Press, 4 June 1988, Page 8

Long bridge week-end

This will be a long, long week-end for bridge players who will compete in a world-record attempt and six other events at the Christchurch Contract Bridge Club congress. They will be joining with 100,000 people in 80 countries, playing in the same hand of bridge simultaneously, in a bid to break a record for mass participation in a single event, set by a San Francisco fun run last year.

Mr John Skipper, an organiser for the Christchurch bridge congress, said the Queen’s Birthday week-end events would wind up on Monday with a dinner and prize-giving.. He said the world record attempt, the premier event, would be held this afternoon. Among those at the congress are four players from Wellington, who are in the New Zealand team. It was hoped the week-

end would attact less-ex-perienced players for the demanding events, Mr Skipper said. The game took a lot of energy and playing for long periods, was most exhausting, he said. Competitions tended to attract younger players, but ages in the congress ranged from 20 to 80. The players from Wellington were all in their 30s.

“People take bridge up as a hobby when they

retire, but they don’t‘progress as far as younger learners,” he said. The game was seen not only as an intellectual challenge but as a social event. “Certainly it is a game you never understand fully,” he said. : • Learning the game was a steep curve at the start, but was easily mastered i| the learner had played cards, he said. .