BRIDGE PLAYERS' WAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21100, 6 February 1932, Page 3 (Supplement)

BRIDGE PLAYERS' WAR.

AUCTION V. CONTRACT. FERMENT IN BRITAIN. MANY PARTIES SPOILED. The createst social upheaval -within Bemorv has broken out in the hemes and Bnbs of Britain, say? the Sunday Express. Friendships have been broken: families Jare been rent in twain: parties at famous London homes have been broken up: leading hostesses have halved their lists of j guests. And the cause of .aH the ferment i is the controversy o* contract versus | action bridge. j Contract bridge, which swept America, j became popular in Britain. More than j bH the players in that country have I •fatbbomlv -refused to take up the new ; Mraon of the came, and 250,000 of the j country's 1.50C.00G bridge players have j given up the game altogether. The chief, difference between thti two I games is simply this: In auction players { score whatever tricks they happen to j ttak° above their bid. In contract they j (core onir the tricks they bid, irrespective } cf how many extra tricks they make. Converts to contract, which involves j greater risj/s and the possible loss or gam j of far larger sums of money, are so rabid i that they have forgotten auction ever j Basted. When a hostess asks friends to a bridge j party to-day she does not specify which ! Version is to be played, for devotees of ! *»cii version despise the other one, and j to mention ,its name in their home is ; •fccrilece. Thrs it often happens that a j firm-convert is innocently trapped in a ' game involving pounds where he has been j "-customed to the loss or cam of shili- j h West End clubs, during the past few j *fceks. it has been no uncommon sight to j *** decolletee debutantes wrangling al- j "tost hysterically with red-faced dowagers j the respective merits of the two j P®es. In all walks of life the auction { section is steadily standing its i g^ucd. Hundwds of parties have been i moaned s suburban club secre- ! recently. *" They sit down and keep j S®et^ for about three minutes and then j place becomes a bear garden. Finally i play backgammon or bagatelle. " Bui, despite ail the dissensions, bridge | B®ubling still accounts for enormous sums. | £10.000.000 a vear is estimated to j f«*nge hands in London alone. One man I ® tiriu' giving on thp inierpst of hi« in- j Tes! «i £25.000 v, innings.