1. Overview of the current Contract (Duplicate) Bridge popularity in USA.
   "Bridge is becoming a game of the past..." From Bridge Pro Tour (BPT) web page. The average age of the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) member is 68 years old! In the last 12 years, it has increased from 62 to 68 years old!
   Are things so bad? Are pre-retirement Americans not interested anymore in challenging intellectual games? Perhaps as a result of Bobby Fisher’s success they are all playing Chess? Possibly the current trend of celebrity poker has caught the eye of the youngsters?
   Maybe the game of Bridge is not challenging enough for a new generation, or it is TOO challenging? I wrote this article for people who still believe that the game of Bridge is the one of the most fascinating Mind Sport Games (MSGs) invented by humans and by far the most social one.
   
   
2. The main problem or the "tip of the iceberg"
   We live in capitalistic society, therefore nobody should be surprised if I say the problem is that Bridge is TOO EXPENSIVE to play... for a skillful player.
   What? I can see reader’s reaction, "this guy is out of his mind!"
   In order to play four hours of chess on Sunday afternoon, a 5 years old kid pays $25 with two-week advance registration (and $50 at the door) and there are about 200-300 kids and adults playing together. If you want to play in 2-3 days event, like Chicago Open Chess Tournament, you need to come up with $250. Usually you are going to lose all entry money, if you do not come up in the top 20% in one of the eligible categories (or strata in bridge terminology).
   In order to play Poker in a satellite event that gives only ONE entry to the finals, participants has to pay $100 entry. If you are in a mood to join the finals directly, you need to come up with $10,000 for entry.
   What do ACBL officials have to say? "To play 4 hours of bridge in Regional tournament one has to pay only $10 and it is $12 for National tournament and $15 for nationally rated events."
   Am I still saying that bridge IS MORE expensive than poker and chess for skillful player? Yes, I am.
   
   
3. The look "under the surface".
   In terms of intellectual challenge, only several games come close to bridge. I already mentioned chess and poker. I want to add backgammon to that group and for future references will call them MSG (Mind Sport Games). Currently, bridge is the ONLY game of its caliber where the skillful player ALWAYS pays to play.
   Do you remember the chess player? Yes, he pays bigger entry, but the first 5 finishers will take home much more in prize money, top 10% will usually, at least, break even and additional 10-15% of players in different categories will get some money back as an encouragement to try harder next time.
   Top 10% of poker players of the main events, as we all can see on TV, can make a comfortable living by just playing a game. Of course, the other 90% of participants of the final are much above the average level. All of them are skillful players; some are pro, and for some of them poker is a hobby, but a profitable one. They are making some money by playing poker in a "local circuits" or Casinos.
   We just mentioned backgammon. The game is couple of thousands years old and for obvious reasons (mostly due to competition from other MSGs), backgammon almost did not make it to the 21st century, as a game where a good player can make money. But it is back "on a map" due to recent invention of the doubling cube and Internet. You can play backgammon competitively over the Internet for FREE, but if you are consistently over 50% in your matches you should play for money. It is as easy to get started as open a checking account!
   Before we go back to bridge again, let us summarize in the diagram what we have seen about other thriving MSGs:

   

   Group #1. Amateur & novice players love the game, but mostly play with friends, rarely in tournaments, pay a little to play. Usual Prize Money Ratio (PMR = 1st prize divided by entry fee) at this level is 1 to 10.
   Group #2. Enthusiasts love the game, play a lot of tournaments, pay the most to play, have a goal to became a good players. PMR is about 10 to 50.
   Group #3. Skillful players play a lot, breaking even, or better, on a money. Usually, PMR at this level is 50 to 100.
   Group #4. EXPERTs make a comfortable living playing the game. PMR at the expert level starts with 100 and goes way up, as at very top, players usually are invited to play for millions of dollars with NO entry fees.
   For MSG to be considered "healthy"-*, all four groups should be present and thriving. They should form a so-called "pyramid" with Group #1 being on a bottom and most numerous. Like a fine ecological system they are inter-dependent.
   [*- Many will be surprised, that author conceder a "healthy" situation when on a very top the politics and intrigues almost dominate the fun, entertainment and even a sport aspects of the game. Let me explain. This is just a manifestation of the normal human behavior. We all remember the 2002 Olympic Games Gold medals contrariety between Canadian and Russian figure skating pairs. If we can see it there, we can expect more of it in a "mind" games, like Chess or Bridge. Especially Bridge, when you take into account the effort of teams formation, judgmental calls on which conventions should be admitted, hesitations issues and etc.
   All I want to say, that when we are drawing a big picture, we should be extremely honest with ourselves and should include all elements (even negative). By doing that, we will be in position to control the negative elements.
   
   Can you see the Bridge problem now?
   

   

   In ACBL version of bridge even the winners will end up losing money!
   As a result of this policy Group #1 has shrunk down and became much smaller than Group#2.
   Group#2 of active tournament players are still relatively big (there are 158,000 ACBL members) and ACBL is actively milking them for entry fees with NO hope for them to became skillful players(Group #3) and at least break even on money. Because in bridge, skillful player DO NOT break even on money, they are paying even more then Group #2. Group #2 is averaging 65+ years old and the ACBL trying to convince them that Bridge is the best prevention of Alzheimer’s!
   Only financially independent bridge player with a lot of "not from bridge" money can became a skillful tournament player. The Experts, Group #4, making a comfortable living, but heavily depend on Group #3. Interesting enough, unlike other games, experts in bridge do not make money at the "game table", but mostly collecting from a "client", a little teaching or writing books. They also feel, that they are in danger, since clients mostly come from the SKILLFUL players, Group#3, and the "well" is drying. But there are not so many "new" experts in US, so we will worry about them later.
   
   
4. How we can we fix a problem?
   We should first of all focus on odd numbers (Oddly enough, one can say).
   So, what is missing for bridge players of Groups #1 and #3 from the "healthy" game diagram?
   Group #1 – Amateur/novices players should have an opportunity:
   • to play game competitively almost free of administrative cost as often as they want,
   • 50-80% of entry fees should go back to 30% of the field as prize money.
   • A lot of individual movement games with use of standard and simple convention cards, like ACBL or BPT Yellow card, with opportunity for player to ask opponents what his partner’s bid means!!
   • Players should not be forced, at any point, to join the ACBL or BTP to play bridge competitively.
   • Novices should learn, as much as possible, the play of cards before the bidding. So, they can understand from vugraph presentation or televised (future) Bridge tournaments why the best players are the best (not because they have a complicated convention cards).
   • Novice should learn how to play competitive, simplified form of duplicate Bridge, with one table of 4 players, using random shuffled deals and compensatory scoring method. That not only that should help some clubs to accommodate small numbers of novice players but it will give players a tool to bring the game back to the "grass roots" and a kitchen table. (Technical aspects of this game set up will be discussed later. One can also download forms to report results on head-to-head team and pair challenge matches from our web site. Forms contain short instructions on how to use them)
   The Group #1 only can grow if it will see success of Group#2 and up… As we discussed above, we have biggest problems with Group #3. Since, it is more manageable group of players (smaller than #1 and #2) we should start right here. Group #3 – SKILLFUL players should have opportunity:
   • to play game competitively, and as often as they what
   • if they are doing better than 50%, they should break even (or better) on entry fees.
   And finally the EXPERTs. They should start making some money just from playing a game by itself. It is healthy for game, healthy for players and everybody who directly or indirectly lives off the game. Yes, the basketball or golf stars can play for free and have luxury life from endorsements only. But guess what? If they will play for free, very soon it will be no endorsements!. Because, the more they make in price money, the bigger are endorsements (and what about Anna Kornikova’s tennis phenomena? …well, we call it an exception, so it just proves the rule) Everything is interconnected.
   Fortunately, BTP/PMB is here. I hope, we are ready for changes and a lot of them.
   I would not focus so much on problems without offering a solution!
   Solution is Prize Money Challenge!