Introduction

Minibridge first appeared in Holland as a method for introducing children to the wonderful world of bridge. All bridge players know that there are two phases to playing a hand – the auction and the play. To introduce everything at once is now seen as being too much and by using Minibridge we can get people playing the cards and learning how to defend without all that complicated bidding getting in the way. The auction phase is reduced to a minimum by using point count to determine who is going to be the declarer and dummy. Declarer then decides the contract after seeing the dummy hand. Minibridge also introduces learners to most of the intricacies of bridge scoring such as part scores and games.

Such is the appeal and versatility of Minibridge that a further slimmed down version has been developed by David Adelman for use in primary schools, middle schools and early years of secondary school where large numbers of children will be learning at the same time in the classroom environment.

Minibridge 4 to 9

Minibridge 4 to 9 is aimed at children in years 4 to 9 (i.e. those aged from 8 to 13 years, and sometimes younger) and is the one we follow for our Minibridge initiative to Primary Schools.

Minibridge 10+

The fuller version of Minibridge – Minibridge 10+ (i.e. for those in at least year 10 – aged 14 years+) introduces all the regular aspects of the full game of bridge and is used for teaching older children and adults.

Both versions teach learners the essentials skills necessary for a good bridge player – in particular judgement and decision making together with the more tangible bridge skills of evaluating a hand, tackling the play as declarer or defender.