Call Bridge is becoming an increasingly popular game and anyone of any age can learn to play. In the UK, Australia and New Zealand players usually use the ACOL system. This ought to be a clever acronym, but Acol is just the name of the road where the system was first devised.
Call Bridge can be played at a variety of levels, depending on your interest. For some people it becomes a serious passion and the challenge is to rise to the top of the game, becoming a call bridge master and taking part in national and international competition. If that is “you”, you will find there is never a dull moment. You will travel, meet people with the same interest and find challenge after challenge.
For other people, Call Bridge is a fun, social activity. Almost every town and village has a call bridge club and new members are usually welcome with open arms. Before you join, make sure you know the standard expected to ensure you join the right club for you.
Learning to play Call Bridge is a fantastic way of meeting people and expanding your social circle. I recall many years ago moving to a flat in the South East of England. After just a few days a neighbor stopped me in the car park to ask if I played Call Bridge. If you are single, widowed or moving to a new area playing Call Bridge is an easy way of meeting new people and making friends.
For many people, call bridge holidays are a highlight of their year. There are a whole range of holidays on offer: weekend breaks; full weeks; classes for beginners; classes for improvers; tournaments; holidays in your own country; holidays abroad. If you are single these holidays offer a fabulous way of seeing new sights and meeting new people – and you will find many of your fellow guests are also travelling alone.
If you are looking for a new interest, nothing can beat learning to play the call bridge card game. It is mentally challenging, every game is different, and it’s sociable, fun and totally absorbing. If you are a beginner or improver find a class near you and start learning.
Rules and Tips
To play Call Bridge you need four people, a table and a standard pack of 52 playing cards (you discard the jokers). The players form partnerships and partners sit opposite each other. Each player is assigned to one of the four points of the compass as they sit around the table. East & West are one partnership and North & South are the other.
At the start of a game, each player is dealt 13 cards. They sort the cards into suits and then value their hand. To value a hand the player counts 4 points for each Ace they hold, 3 for each King, 2 for each Queen and 1 for each Jack.
You hold 1 Ace (worth 4 points), 2 kings (worth a total of 6 points), 2 queens (worth a total of 4 points) and 2 jacks (worth a total of 2 points). So the value of your hand is 16 points.
Call Bridge is a trick taking game and each trick comprises 4 cards – one from each player. At the start of each trick the player who won the previous trick plays a card. The other players must play a card from the same suit, if they hold one. If they don’t they can play another suit. If a “trump” suit is being used, playing a card from the trump suit will win the trick, provided another player doesn’t play a higher trump card.
Whether or not a trump suit is being used is decided before the card play starts, when the players make their “bids”. The aim of Call Bridge is to win at least the number of tricks that your partnership has said it will make if you win the bidding. The main aim of the bidding is to give your partner information about the content of your hand to help you decide how many tricks you think you can win.
In the bidding, players bid in a clockwise direction. A player won’t open the bidding unless they hold at least 12 points in their hand. If all players hold fewer than 12 points then the cards are re dealt, although the final player has the option to open with fewer than 12 points if they feel their hand merits doing so.
Jenga Game
Jenga is a party game for the nimble-fingered and steady-handed. There’s no game board as such. Instead, there is a stack of wooden blocks in neatly-organized layers. Your task is to pull out an individual block – using one hand only! – And place it on top of the tower without letting any of it tumble. It’s quite easy at first, but eventually friction and gravity will beat you.
This Jenga game is filled with suspense. Take turns removing blocks and adding it to the top of your increasingly wobbly tower. Built on the simple premise of stacking blocks, Jenga game engages players of all ages, across all cultures. Jenga’s success rests on its solid play value. Players take turns to remove a block from a tower and balance it on top, creating a taller and increasingly unstable structure as the game progresses.