About the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL)
About ACBL Districts and Units
About the Canadian Bridge Federation (CBF)
About Our Game
The world’s most challenging mental sport, bridge is a game of skill, communication and infinite possibilities. Millions of people worldwide play at home. Many advance to “duplicate” bridge to enjoy its social and competitive aspects.
Bridge is a partnership game using a standard deck of 52 cards dealt equally among four players. The players bid in a coded language to describe their hands to their partners and then play to make their contract. Generally, one suit is determined as “trump”, leading to the expression, “Play your trump card.”
Duplicate bridge, in which each competitor or team plays identical hands under similar conditions, is a unique form of contract bridge. The goal of duplicate bridge is to do as well or better than other pairs playing the same hands.
The game of Bridge offers opportunities to
- Challenge oneself in a card game where the fundamental rules of contract bidding and play can be learned in a matter of days or weeks.
- Meet and socialize with people where age, social, ethnic, religious, political and economic diversity are irrelevant.
- Develop the mental capacity to improve memory, judgement and decision making skills which will keep your brain active and alert until your last day on earth.
- Balance your life with your personal mix of the social versus competitive aspects of the game of Bridge.
History of Our Game
Bridge traces its origins to the British game of whist, first played in the 16th century. It may be named for the Galata Bridge in Istanbul, which British soldiers crossed during the Crimean War of the 19th century to reach a coffeehouse where they played cards.
Contract bridge as we know it today began in the 1920s when Harold Vanderbilt came up with the early scoring system.
About the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL)
The ACBL is the governing body for organized bridge in North America.
The American Contract Bridge League was founded in 1937. Today it is the largest bridge organization in the world, with nearly 170,000 members living in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
A not-for-profit organization, the ACBL determines internationally recognized rules of bridge, sanctions clubs and tournament games, and encourages participation at all levels of proficiency and experience.
Click on the following link to learn all about the ACBL. https://www.acbl.org/about-acbl/
About ACBL Districts and Units
The ACBL is divided into 25 geographical areas (covering Canada, Mexico and the United States) called Districts. Each District is subdivided into Units with the size of each Unit varying considerably. In some cases a Unit encompasses only part of a big city while in other cases, it covers an entire U.S. state. The ACBL has more than 300 Units.
Districts are geographical administrative areas for the purposes of organizing regional tournaments, ACBL-wide events such as the Grand National Teams (GNT) and North American Pairs (NAP), and for addressing disciplinary matters.
District 18 is the geographical area including Wyoming, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Utah, Montana, Idaho and Northern Manitoba. District 18 Link: https://www.wasumi.org
The Unit supervises ACBL bridge activities and conducts tournaments at the local and sectional levels. The officers and board members of Units elect the District’s representative to the ACBL Board of Directors.
Alberta is comprised of the following Units:
- ACBL Unit 390 – Calgary
- ACBL Unit 248 – Red Deer
- ACBL Unit 391 – Northern Alberta
- ACBL Unit 392 – Lethbridge
- ACBL Unit 393 – Medicine Hat
Click HERE to view a map of District 18.
About the Canadian Bridge Federation (CBF)
The Canadian Bridge Federation (CBF) is the national bridge organization responsible for promoting and protecting the rights and interests of Canadian bridge players both domestically as well as at the international level.
The CBF is recognized by both the ACBL and the World Bridge Federation.
The CBF organizes and runs multi-level Canadian events held annually at the Canadian Bridge Championship.
Some of these events (such as the CNTC and the CWTC) are used to select the teams that will represent Canada in international competitions.
Click on the following link to learn all about the CBF. https://www.cbf.ca/