THE IAGLBC INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT
NOVEMBER 9 - 14, 2004
PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA

The following are a few comments noted in the New York Times of February 27, 2004:

RITUALS: No Bridge Mix For This Crowd
By STEPHEN P. WILLIAMS

There was a time when bridge was a cultural phenomenon: interest boomed in the 1930's, books on bridge made the best-seller lists, a hotly contested match was analyzed on the front pages of newspapers. But those days eventually faded as bridge retreated to the dens of genteel suburban America. Now, though, bridge is going through something of a renaissance, with younger players joining the game, and supporters organizing a movement to get bridge recognized as an Olympic sport.

Reversing a decline in numbers that hit bottom in the 1960's, membership in the American Contract Bridge League increased by 2,000 in the last year, to 165,000. Those numbers suggest a significant demographic shift in the bridge-playing public. Five years ago the average age of members was 68, said Linda Granell, the bridge league's marketing director. Now, she said, a quarter of its members are younger than 45, and 62 percent are younger than 54. Many of those new players may have been introduced to the game through the Internet: more than 20,000 people have downloaded the league's free learn-to-play-bridge software since last March, Ms. Granell said.

The game's devotees are a disparate bunch. Last year, 110 people signed up to compete in the annual tournament of the International Association of Gay and Lesbian Bridge Clubs, held in Palm Springs, Calif. There are bridge clubs for nudists (in California, naturally), for Ivy League graduates, for Orthodox Jews, for Macedonian immigrants, for people who want to combine bridge playing with cruises to places like Alaska and the Caribbean, and increasingly for people who need nothing more than a computer screen and high-speed Internet access to indulge their passion.

Bridge has a language all its own. At minimum, it takes four players -- two pairs of partners -- to play. Play begins by dealing out a 52-card deck, 13 cards to each player. The players evaluate their hands, and the auction then begins, with each player making a series of bids, which are estimates of how many four-card tricks their partnership can take. Points are then awarded based on their success or failure. The initiated often portray bridge as a lover that continues to seduce you, even into old age, and is never boring.

One sign of bridge's re-emergence is the World Bridge Federation's push to make it an official sport in the Winter Olympics. While it's doubtful that there will be Olympic-class bridge clubs with retractable roofs to let natural light onto the card tables, the International Olympic Committee has officially recognized the bridge federation, which is the first (of many) steps in the formidable process of making any sport an Olympic event.

IAGLBC attempts to note press reports concerning the Palm Springs tournament. However, we can't monitor all G&L press reports. If any Bridge players note reports in their local press and wish to share them with IAGLBC, we will be happy to recieve them.