[Lesh18]

Hi all!

In which countries is Bridge most popular? Why is it so? I've heard that Bridge is quite popular in Poland and on BBO there are many Italians and Turkish people too.
Are there any historic reasons for this?

If you know a website which discusses bridge popularity around the world (or at least Europe) that would be highly appreciated.

Thanks

[32519]

China

[helene_t]

Bridge is extremely popular in the Netherlands. I think the popularity of "Klaverjassen", a simpler but somewhat similar game, is part of the reason. It creates a stepping stone for learning bridge. Another factor is that the Netherlands has an "association culture" which is good for duplicate bridge.

Bridge is also very popular in Iceland.

[Fluffy]

We often say that bridge is more popular in northrend countries because they cannot play soccer while its very cold, not sure if this is a very important factor actually.

[helene_t]

If that theory holds we can blame the demise of bridge on global warming.

But I don't think many of the upper class couples who take up bridge when they retire do so because it is too cold for playing football. Maybe because it is too cold/wet for playing golf. Here in England, bridge is a game which is played in the lunch rooms of golf clubs when it is raining.

[SteveMoe]

Popularity would mean knowing how many people play bridge in any form. There's little hard data on that.
What we can do is look at the bridge organization membership numbers by country. See http://www.worldbrid...phic-zones.aspx as a source.
Then think in terms of current population. Netherlands and Francs stand out - I understand they have well developed school instruction programs. Sweden's Players/1000 population should be high too.

I seem to recall historical information that suggested 10% of HHs in North America the USA play bridge. There are 114.7 MM HHs in the USA, so we might expect anywhere from 23-36 MM people play the game in the USA. Of these nearly 160000 are members of the ACBL. That's 0.7-1.0% of the playing population. Hmmmmm.......

[MrAce]

Lesh18, on 2013-December-05, 17:36, said:

Hi all!

In which countries is Bridge most popular? Why is it so? I've heard that Bridge is quite popular in Poland and on BBO there are many Italians and Turkish people too.
Are there any historic reasons for this?

If you know a website which discusses bridge popularity around the world (or at least Europe) that would be highly appreciated.

Thanks

It is mostly popular in countries which produces more BBO experts than others. Of course my mainland (Turkey) will win the contest by far

Joke aside, i think the popularity should be calculated via bridge players/ population ratio, rather than the number of players each country have.

[mr1303]

130 players in Mongolia. Looks like I'll have my work cut out when I move there....

[hrothgar]

mr1303, on 2013-December-08, 02:36, said:

130 players in Mongolia. Looks like I'll have my work cut out when I move there....

Looking at your profile, I expect that it will be significantly easier to find a place to play bridge than go surfing...

[Fluffy]

SteveMoe, on 2013-December-07, 00:01, said:

Popularity would mean knowing how many people play bridge in any form. There's little hard data on that.
What we can do is look at the bridge organization membership numbers by country. See http://www.worldbrid...phic-zones.aspx as a source.
Then think in terms of current population. Netherlands and Francs stand out - I understand they have well developed school instruction programs. Sweden's Players/1000 population should be high too.

I seem to recall historical information that suggested 10$ of HHs in North America the USA play bridge. There are 114.7 MM HHs in the USA, so we might expect anywhere from 23-36 MM people play the game in the USA. Of these nearly 160000 are members of the ACBL. That's 0.7-1.0% of the playing population. Hmmmmm.......

I find amazing that Botswana has more members than any south american country, Argentina having less than 500 is amazing.

[Free]

In the Flemish part of Belgium we have 5400 members from 6.4 million people, not extremely popular but not unpopular either. I don't have exact numbers from the French part of our country, but I have the impression bridge is a little bit more popular over there. But compared to the Netherlands we're nowhere...

[SteveMoe]

Fluffy, on 2013-December-08, 07:47, said:

I find amazing that Botswana has more members than any south american country, Argentina having less than 500 is amazing.

Perhaps we can't overlook the capacity/ability of the home organizations to recruit and retain members.....

[diana_eva]

Or to make them pay their fees. Pretty sure the stats are significantly off, depending on what membership fees are for each country, or on how much players desire to record their masterpoints. Although for competitional purposes those players who belong to a NBO and pay their membership are more relevant than casual bridge players.

[GreenMan]

Fluffy, on 2013-December-08, 07:47, said:

I find amazing that Botswana has more members than any south american country, Argentina having less than 500 is amazing.

Perhaps former British colony vs. former Spanish colony is a factor?

EDIT: It appears it is. From Phillip Alder's NYT column in 2008:

Quote

We have all heard about missionaries spreading religion to the far reaches of the globe. But now we have a different kind of missionary. In May, John Pain, the manager of the English Bridge Union’s education department, traveled to Botswana, in south central Africa, to coach teachers and tournament directors so they could spread the message of bridge.

Pain was building on a solid foundation. Bridge has enjoyed popularity in Botswana for nearly 30 years. It was introduced to high school students by expatriate British teachers. Now the Botswana Bridge Federation has more than 800 members, out of a population of nearly two million. There are also several hundred children playing, more than in any other African nation. Botswana will even send three teams, open, under-28 and under-21, to Beijing in October to the first World Mind Sports Games.

[32519]

Botswana have at least one group of eight fairly decent players. I have seen this same group on a number of occasions in tournaments where there is prize money at stake in tournaments in and near Johannesburg, South Africa. One pair came in third the last time I saw them.

[paua]

GreenMan, on 2013-December-09, 10:57, said:

Perhaps former British colony vs. former Spanish colony is a factor?

EDIT: It appears it is. From Phillip Alder's NYT column in 2008:

They also play netball and cricket and lawn bowls, which you won't see much of in South America.

[paua]

It's also interesting how Russia has few great bridge players but of course loads of chess players, whereas Italy has few chess grandmasters over the years. Just a choice of direction by the available talent ?

[Zelandakh]

Chess is a game where you have to reach a very advanced level early to have a chance*. The former Soviet Union had a system in place where they picked the most likely children out of schools and gave them special training. If they showed talent then they were developed into GMs, if not then they went back to school. I am not sure if the current Russia still uses such tactics but there is a tradition of chess there now that will take some time to go away. I am not sure why Italy first came to prominence in bridge circles but clearly after so much success from the Blue Team there is something of a tradition there too. You are possibly correct that if Italy did suddenly produce a world chess champion it might have a negative impact on their bridge team down the line. That is much less so for countries like America and Russia - they have a large enough player pool to absorb such "defections".

*: the most notable exception to this was Victor Korchnoi who was a very late bloomer in chess terms. This probably explains his unusual, and sometimes unfathomable, style of play.

[jallerton]

Free, on 2013-December-08, 12:29, said:

In the Flemish part of Belgium we have 5400 members from 6.4 million people, not extremely popular but not unpopular either. I don't have exact numbers from the French part of our country, but I have the impression bridge is a little bit more popular over there. But compared to the Netherlands we're nowhere...

Doesn't Belgium have some kind of national bridge association*, or is everything divided by language? Is the bilingual Brussel/Bruxelles included in your statistics?


* According to the European Bridge League website, the "Belgian Bridge Federation" has 7,561 members.

[PeterAlan]

Regarding Botswana, I've noticed that the Gaborone Ladies Bridge Club participates in a lot of UK-run simultaneous pairs events.