Washington University Bridge Club has made a name for itself nationally. They’re ranked second in the country, and the team has found success due to a farsighted and distinctly inclusive strategy. In fact, WashU Bridge doesn’t even set out to win tournaments —instead, it takes a unique approach to bridge that emphasizes the game’s cooperative aspects. 

WashU Bridge Club is one of the largest organizations on campus, boasting 300 members who meet twice weekly to play and discuss bridge. Each meeting, no matter how far into the semester, starts with introductions, icebreakers, and pizza. There are no rankings within the team, and less experienced players are given spots in tournaments regardless of the potential effects on the team’s total scores. These inclusive efforts, first-year club president Stephanie Bergman said, make WashU Bridge’s community “the best one of any I’ve seen.”

But how does pizza translate into national success in a mentally challenging game? The key lies in passing the torch to new players. 

According to Bergman, their system creates good players who are even better than those who taught them. “It’s a cycle. You have people who are good, then new people come, and the good people teach the people who are beginners,” she said.

This cycle is intentional. More experienced members hold Zoom sessions that teach core lessons of bridge to new players, and every meeting has a teaching table that introduces a novel tactic each day.  

Practice is key in bridge, and WashU players get plenty through dedicated meetings and rapid-fire games. 

“It’s less about how fast you can think and more about how much you can learn,”  Bergman said.

While it may seem daunting to initially learn the game, Bergman compares it to something simpler: The Lego Movie’s protagonist Emmet Brickowski. She explains that Emmet originally saw bricks as only individual objects meant to be used according to instructions, but by the end, he became more inventive. 

“He started seeing things that he hadn’t seen before. It wasn’t because he suddenly became smarter. It was because of practice and the mindset in practice,” Bergman said.

Lego bricks aside, WashU Bridge Club’s methods have paid off, and their cooperative strategy meshes well with bridge’s distinctly competitive format. In collegiate bridge, each school sends a 20-player team –– in 10 pairs of two –– that earn points for their school through a rotation of several matches. The team’s total score is the combined points of the 10 pairs, meaning that each player’s score is equally weighted, and having depth on your team is vital to success.

No.1 ranked Georgia Tech takes a different approach to training than WashU, holding more frequent and rigorous practices for a select few top players paired with mentorship from world- class bridge players. 

WashU’s team gains experience from older players in a different way: the St. Louis Bridge Center, where local St. Louis residents play with other bridge enthusiasts. “The locals are really welcoming. They love to see young people in Bridge,” Bergman said. 

“They usually crush us. Most of them are life masters,” Bergman said. “We practice a lot but it can’t compare to someone who has spent decades on it.” 

Nonetheless, WashU Bridge Club’s success has shown there is more than one way to succeed in bridge. 

“It’s special. It makes us proud,” Bergman said.