AUCTION BRIDGE

Otago Witness, Issue 4048, 13 October 1931, Page 67

AUCTION BRIDGE

POPULARITY OF GAME THE “ OLD MAST ER ’ INTERVIEWED. AUCKLAND, October 5. “No one invented bridge. Like Topsy ' It just growedsaid Mr R. F. Foster, the world famous authority on bridge and other card games, who arrived bv the Niagara. Mr Foster is booked through to Australia, but he intends to return to New Zealand later in the year. Often termed “ the old master of auction bridge,” Mr Foster started his career as an architect and civil engineer, but later devoted all his attention to cards, chiefly bridge, and he has written more than 60 books on the subject. “ If we examine the matter carefully we shall probably find (hat the popular game of the day mirrors in a certain way the conditions of society, the ideas of business methods, and the state of public morals,” said Mr Foster, when asked if he could explain why bridge is as popular to-day as ever it was. “In the day when pojter was the popular game every man was for himself, and partnership games were in the background. Later, when the importance of co-operation was beginning to be realised, there came, first euchre and then whist, to be followed by bridge; then we got the era of trusts when large businesses no longer thought it necessary to conceal their methods and opened up their books to other competitors and said, ‘ Let us combine, and if we are stronger than the other fellow let us get all there is in it.’ That is precisely the game of auction bridge, as it is played to-day. It calls into action the same faculties that make for success in life—judgment of values, judgment of the strength or weakness of competitors, and judgment of what to risk and when to be cautious.”

Another reason why bridge was so popular, said Mr Foster, was that every hand was a puzzle that presented some problem, and no hands were alike. Asked if it was likely that any improvements could be brought into the game, he said he did not think it could be improved. Speaking of contract bridge, Mr Foster said the great objection to it was its complicated system of scoring. A more simplified system of scoring had been devised and he hoped to demonstrate it in Australia and New Zealand. Anyone who learns to play contract will never play auction.” he said.