Bridge players are always looking for a new game. Now they can play at Temple Beth Am Monday through Friday afternoon.
“We play duplicate bridge,” says Cessy Rubinson, the Bidding Box club manager. “We have lessons Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. Monday and Thursday mornings is supervised play.”
Supervised play is for people who are unsure of their game and they can ask questions.
“Bridge was the rage through the ’60s,” says game director David Babcock. “In the ’70s, it lost its popularity.”
But now it’s making a comeback.
“Right now, bridge is very hot,” Rubinson says. “Many people who either never played or played in their college days and have been working all these years now want to play.”
They are also looking to entice the younger set to take up the game.
“College students or high school students,” Rubinson says.
The Bidding Box offers several ways for players to either learn or improve their game. They offered lessons last fall for 20 players and plan to offer them again.
“Some are now actually playing bridge here,” she says. “Most have continued on with lessons or in supervised play.
One Wednesday morning a month, they have a mentor game, where one of the better players mentors a new player.
In the afternoons, the experienced players come in for games. Each afternoon there are at least 10-12 games going at once.
“On Mondays, our busiest day, we’ve had 17 games,” she says. The limit is 18.
The reason for the interest in the games is because it’s so challenging.
“It’s a great way to keep the brain active,” she says.
The Bidding Box is affiliated with the American Contract Bridge League. The league awards points to the people who play the game.
“Certain status levels make you eligible to play in regional and national tournaments,” Rubinson says. “It’s all about winning the points.”
Those points are counted up faster now that they have purchased new equipment.
“We have new machine that automatically enters all the scores,” she says. “Now there is a little thing that looks like a calculator. It sits on each table and is connected to each computer. You type in what the result of the hand was, it automatically goes into the computer. You don’t have to wait until the end of the day to see who won.”
They also bought a new dealing machine. She says the dealing machine not only saves time, but it’s a great teaching tool.
“The dealing machine not only puts the cards into the slot, it also prints a hand record,” she says. “Everybody goes home with the hand record.”
At the end of the day, players can go home and see the hands they played that day on the website.
Originally, the Bidding Box was going to rent space from Beth Am, but because of issues with the Village of Pinecrest, the Bidding Box is now sponsored by the temple and is part of their programming.
The Bidding Box is open to the general public. Games begin at 1 p.m. Monday through Thursday and run until 4 p.m. They start on Friday at 12:30 p.m. and run until at 4 p.m.
For more information, call 305-667-6667, ext. 203, or go to www.MiamiBridge.site11.com.
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