The latest statistical data available to me on bridge playing in the U.S. comes from Larry King’s research for BPT Prize Money Bridge from the year 2000. Here it is:

 BRIDGE EVENTS AND PLAYER PROFILES

• There are an estimated 16 million active bridge players in North America;
• The majority of participants have HH Incomes of $50,000+ per year;
• 97% have college degrees;
• 42% have graduate degrees;
• Participants spend an estimated $4,000/yr + on tournament travel;
• There are 165,000+ registered members in the American Contract Bridge League;
• National Regional Tournament venues exist in over 50 cities;
• National Tournament traffic averages 20-25,000 persons per event (3 per year);
• Regional Tournament traffic averages 4,000-5000 persons per event (9 per year).

Ten years later, not much has changed in the world of bridge. And most important, no business has been able to successfully address some of the most troublesome needs of the 16 million Americans who love to play bridge, as well as the untold millions who might love to learn the game.
   
     While ACBL serves the needs of 165,000 players and BBO helps some of those 165,000 players to play online; and Bridge Baron, one of the leading U.S. bridge software developers, sells about 20,000 copies of his bridge playing programs annually; still, about 16 million potential customers are wondering how they can:

1. Have fun playing competitive bridge without the complexity of modern bridge bidding;
2. Learn at their own speed while playing or experimenting with the game and NOT having any unpleasant discussions with their partners;
3. Play for some meaningful prize money without ANY chance of being accused of cheating;
4. Play a few hands against a computer program or in a tournament where their moves are recorded and they instantly receive their bridge ratings (so that, before they play for prize money, they might play for rating improvements);
5. Play 1 hand (or 100s of hands) of competitive bridge, 24/7, with a computer or a smart phone interface, without the need to have a partner (not even a computer as a partner, which in many cases might be even more annoying than a human);
6. Play bridge with only 2 players (with an optional, easy to implement time control);
7. Learn to play bridge on a level necessary to participate in a club or other local bridge tournaments against an open field without any director calls made with the sole purpose to teach them “proper” bridge behavior;
8. Find a bridge world FREE of any unauthorized information, where the “bridge police” take a back seat and people just play bridge (like it is done in the worlds of chess, poker, and backgammon), where all appeal committees are dismissed, where there is NO governing body looking at their hands (or convention cards) to determine if they have their bids or not, and where all bidding methods are equally “unusual.”

     Some of the top 165,000 players may be thinking, “I have dealt with a lot of nonsense to get where I am right now. So, let the newcomers deal with it too!”  However, the 16 million U.S. players (plus hundreds of millions outside of the U.S.) might also be thinking, “We already have enough of this (nonsense) in real life. We want to play bridge to relax and to be intellectually challenged, not harassed, or we might be better off playing poker.”
     Hold on; now there are SoloBRIDGE™  and the Bridge Instant Rating Calculator (BRIC™), products designed to give the bridge playing public what they have been waiting for.
     YES it is true; however, our biggest challenge is that most of our potential customers have been waiting so long, they just have not believed it could be done.
     Of course, now it has been done; but more marketing efforts are needed to penetrate this market as a result of the prolonged neglect of our customers’ needs.