Seeking a bridge to some new players

Small tables are lined up, each with a deck of cards, a scoring pad

and eager players. Among them is 57-year-old Kenneth Kriege, who

spends his Tuesday mornings playing contract bridge in the computer

room at the Costa Mesa Senior Center.

Contract bridge is a card game consisting of four players in

two-person teams, aiming to attain the most “tricks” for their side,

while also strategically “bidding.” In the past, the complicated game

attracted enough players at the center to fill 14 to 15 tables, but

over the years it has been reduced to six or seven tables.

“[The number of players is] going down. So one of the things we

were interested in doing is getting people to come and play bridge,”

said Kriege, who has played since he was a teenager.

Kriege, who has been a volunteer coordinator and host for the

contract bridge group at the Senior Center for the past 10 years, sat

down with the Daily Pilot’s Linda Dam to describe his enthusiasm for

new players to join his Tuesday bridge group.

Why do you think the number of players is going down?

Well that’s interesting, yeah. I think that we are sort of the

bridge generation. We learned how to play bridge from our parents but

the generation after us, they just didn’t seem to be as interested in

it. Well, of course, they had a lot of new things come in. I would

say when we first started here, the average age was in the 70s. We

have had a lot of people who have died and what we have left are

[players] well into the 80s now. So we are getting older. We’ve got a

lot of 90-year olds that play still and they love to play.

So as a coordinator, what do you do?

I set up the tables, get everybody started and then I play as

well.

When did the bridge group start?

Right away. As soon as this place opened. This has been open now

for at least 10 years. Well, actually we played bridge before that

but we just carried on here. It makes a nice place. The Senior Center

is a nice place for people to come and they don’t have to have

partners. They just come and play.

How long does bridge take to play?

Well, our groups play in the morning for a couple of hours. Then

we break for lunch. We bring a sack lunch, eat lunch and then play an

hour or so after lunch.

Do you win often?

Well, I win and I lose. Bridge is not like poker. Bridge is a

game; you have to get good cards to get a good score.

So you want more people to be involved?

We would like to have the group build up because we are falling

down. We used to have twice the tables we have now.

What other games do bridge players like, besides bridge?

A lot of them play pinochle. I don’t know whether most bridge

players are just sort of hooked on bridge, as far as the game.

Is it kind of like being hooked on chess, a really strategic game?

Exactly. Chess is a very difficult game. Bridge and chess I would

say are on the same level of difficulty. You have to do it a lot in

order to get good at it. Same thing with bridge.

So if you haven’t started to learn, is it kind of difficult to get

into bridge?

Yes, I would say it’s best if you can start as a teenage like I

did. But no, we have a few that have come and have learned and

started with the beginning group on Monday that really haven’t played

much and they picked it up pretty fast. So it can be done.

Anything you would like to add about bridge?

What we would like to get are people who are just retiring and

they are looking for a place to come and have fun. Come to the

computer center and play bridge. We give Stater Brothers gift

certificates to the winners.