[Lesh18]

Hi all

Is Bridge addictive?

I started playing in a Bridge club and the players were ok but they looked over-enthusiastic about the game and many of them told me: It's great you joined, you'll love it it's really addictive!

Ok then, I played in the club for a couple of times, and I found it exhausting: we were playing for 3 hours and did about 22 boards per evening. After the session I was completely exhausted, my energy was drained and I felt no fulfilment at all! (Let's face, once I left the club all my bridge skills and abilities were pretty useless in everyday life).

Then I was ok for a couple of days until the next session was about to take place. The only thing I could think about was Bridge and how I'm gonna play in the club. Honestly, it's really adrenaline rushing (especially to play a declarer) especially when you're a novice and want to play as well as possible. I went to bed and I couldn't fall asleep until like 5am - my mind was only thinking about my play at the table next day.

The game is endless, the more you play it the more stupid you feel, the more bidding conventions you learn the more incompetent you feel, as new and new problems arise and you try to learn more and you end up knowing less. There is a video on Youtube on a bridge tournament (with Warren Buffet taking part) and there is a lady, whose daughter says she (the lady) plays 11 hours straight and can't stop! I have played many other board games, like chess, backgammon and it all got boring after a while, but Bridge just seems to keep you hooked up.

Do you have the same experience? Do you find Bridge addictive? How to you manage? Is it a good or a bad thing to be addicted to Bridge?

[diana_eva]

Highly addictive for me So addictive that after a couple of years on BBO all I could think of was how to manage my family, my job and leave space for bridge too. My first ambition was to become a bridge pro - so that I cd make money out of bridge. I realized soon enough that I'm not that good and I started way too late and I don't have enough time to invest in becoming really good so I managed to get a job on BBO. That kinda balances things, altho my family still thinks I spend too much time with bridge and BBO. I think it's bad when it becomes so addictive that it interferes with "normal" life. If you can't handle the addiction I suggest you get your spouse/girlfriend into it too, otherwise it probably won't reflect too well in your personal life.

[inquiry]

Yes

[ggwhiz]

I don't see it as any different from golf, tennis or whatever. In other words YES!

[Antrax]

The community response when I started out was the same. Back then it seemed to me that it was because they only had the one hobby. Talking to the local experts*, who also played Golf and Poker respectively, confirmed this suspicion. IOW, Bridge doesn't seem different from other hobbies requiring some brain effort and discipline.

* not WC players, but frequently win national tournaments. Which is odd because we do have some WC players here and they also participate in the nationals. Go figure.

[Cromlyn]

Yes it is addictive!

But you have a decision to make and that depends what you want out of bridge. Do you want to play ‘at the top’? If so you need a special partner with whom you have lots of agreements and you will probably play teams as well as pairs events - note that teams, duplicate and rubber all have entirely different philosophies. OR do you want to play ‘recreationally”? Then you want to play simply, using the most common system being played wherever you want to play so that you can play comfortably with lots of partners.

Whatever is right for you you should decide how much time you want to spend playing and stick to this (I do not include reading about bridge) and train yourself not to think about the hands you have played in the evening until the next day.

It is only a game, a very special game and a wonderful pastime, but no matter how much you try to improve the results will always be affected by what others do and what hands are dealt to you.

BBO is a wonderful place to play bridge. All levels are catered for and there are even lessons available!

[gwnn]

Yes. Next question please.

[MrAce]

No
I have been playing it for over 32 years now, i haven't seen any addiction of it on my part !

[Zelandakh]

I personally find bridge one of the least addictive games I know and have taken breaks regularly since teaching it to myself as a child. Indeed, I have only played a handfull of times in the last 5 months. If you look at BBO in particular, I would say that almost every other online game out there is more addictive. My guess is that requiring a partner rather than being able to play solo reduces the addiction factor.

[Vampyr]

MrAce, on 2013-December-22, 13:55, said:

No
I have been playing it for over 32 years now, i haven't seen any addiction of it on my part !

Neither have I in a similar length of time.

I think you know you are addicted to something when you don't enjoy it anymore, but still suffer if you don't do it.

But maybe online bridge, which I haven't played for many years and never on BBO, is different to my own experiences. You can play 24/7, you don't need to arrange a partner because you can play with robots... perhaps there can be a compulsion to keep playing, to do better, "I'll stop when I reach x%" or what have you.

This I don't think is peculiar to bridge, but is a common phenomenon in video games.

PS To other posters who have claimed they are "addicted", you need to seek help, unless you are just saying that you enjoy the game and like to play frequently and are trivialising the pathology and tragedy of addiction.

[diana_eva]

Well I don't play live much so my addiction is online bridge - perhaps the experience is different compared to live bridge. Lesh seems to be talking about live bridge. And yes, it's pretty much what Vampyr says, easy to find a game anytime, easy to play for hours like most video games. Still it is the challenge of getting it right on every deal, and every deal is different - that makes bridge addictive IMO, not establishing goals or leveling up. Since I am far away from "mastering" the game, there's much challenge left

[TWO4BRIDGE]

These Bridge Forums are addictive....

[diana_eva]

TWO4BRIDGE, on 2013-December-23, 10:32, said:

These Bridge Forums are addictive....

you should seek help...

[kuhchung]

i hate myself whenever i play this game and yet i come back every time somebody help me

[GreenMan]

It's easy to quit bridge. I've done it half a dozen times.