'This keeps me alive': Bridge players asked to put down laptops, join in-person games
Online bridge games were a lifesaver at first.
They provided a Plan B when the lockdown ended the card club gatherings that brought friends together three or four times a week to swap stories, nibble on oatmeal cookies and immerse themselves in contract bridge.
The regulars, most in their 70s and 80s, could no longer tell stories face-to-face or go out afterwards for the occasional martini (straight up, olives on the side). But they could still play on their computers.
When restrictions loosened and bridge clubs resumed in-person games a year ago, many players stayed at home and online. Others moved out of the area. At least two have died.
A Ventura club, the largest in the county, maintained much of its membership from before the lockdown. Clubs in Camarillo and Thousand Oaks disbanded with the latter group citing financial reasons. Attendance has faltered for a club in Ojai.
"Online was a blessing during COVID. Now it's a curse," said Richard Fox, waiting for games to begin on Thursday at Temple Beth Torah in Ventura. "We need the personal contact. You don't get that on your computer. You don't get that sitting at home."
Fox, 82, of Ventura, is a retired forensic scientist who investigated crime scenes and once helped write a script based on a Colorado murder investigation for the 1970s television drama, "Quincy, M.E."
The pandemic was difficult. He had to stop the travels that have taken him to 42 countries. He was isolated from his friends. His wife of 62 years, Evelyn Fox, moved into a nursing home after an Alzheimer's diagnosis.
Nothing is more important than his family and the support he receives from his children and grandchildren. Bridge helped too.
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In-person games came back about a year ago. Wearing his ever-present bracelet that says "Grandpa," Fox plays three times a week with the Ventura Unit Bridge Club.
"This keeps me alive," he said. "This is my real contact with people."
'Like going to prom'
The 51-year-old club rents space from the Ventura temple but is unaffiliated with it. The group has fared better than most. On this day, 40 people paid $7 to play more than three hours of cards, down from its heyday in the 1980s and '90s but on par with pre-pandemic levels. The attendance is bolstered by players who once belonged to clubs that no longer meet in Camarillo and Thousand Oaks.
Players sat in quartets at small white tables, partners facing each other and sending clues through bids about the strength of their hands. The trick is figuring out how many tricks a pair of players can use to win each hand.
They played duplicate bridge, meaning decks of cards are rotated throughout the room. All of the people end up playing the same hands and compete against everyone else. In between hands, they chatted about the need for younger players, upcoming tournaments and the sometimes unique dynamics of online bridge.
"I had a guy flirting with me from India," laughed Jody Shapiro, who is 81 and once owned the Adventures for Kids bookstore in Ventura. She missed the face-to-face games and seeing her friends. The news that the club would play again in July 2021, with all participants required to show proof of vaccination, sparked anticipation.
"It was like going to the prom — this excitement of coming back," she said.
Some people stayed away because of fears of getting sick. Others favored the convenience of online games.
"Some people said, 'I don't have to travel. I can play in my pajamas,'" said Chris Gillmon, the 68-year-old church choir director who officiates games in Ventura and Ojai. The club that meets at Temple Beth Torah retained many of its members but participation fell dramatically elsewhere.
"COVID was a smackdown for the bridge world," Gillmon said.
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The youngest player on this day is 61. Teresa Moore is the eldest. The regulars celebrated her 103rd birthday in August with a party in Camarillo where she lives.
Moore learned to play bridge more than 70- years ago after immigrating from Italy because she was a military wife and all the other wives played. She taught her daughter, now her bridge partner, to play at age 10.
Vision problems kept Moore from online cards during the pandemic. She didn't play bridge at all for more than two years before returning with her daughter a few months ago. She frowned when asked what would be lost if the games went away again, answering with her own question.
"What would you do if you didn't have companionship, if you lost touch with people?" she said.
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Trying to protect a lifeline
The room was quiet and serious during hands, players occasionally calling out to an official for a rules interpretation. The smiles, jokes and stories circulated in the breaks.
Steve Gross started playing at a golf course's caddy shack in Illinois when he was 10 and has been bidding ever since. He's 78 and, in the scoring system used to measure achievement, has amassed 31,092 life masterpoints — in the top 50 of the more than 160,000 American Contract Bridge League members.
"I just enjoy playing bridge," the lawyer from Camarillo said. "They tell you it's good for your brain."
The Ventura club has fared well partly because regulars recruit constantly, looking for experienced and beginning players — young, old and in between.
"Are you here to play bridge?" they ask of visitors to the synagogue's fellowship room.
They've placed ads about the need for new members. Richard Fox and his bridge partner JoAnn Bowen distributed flyers at some of the new condominium complexes. Their goal is obvious: Make sure the club, the gatherings and the game survives.
"It's a lifeline," Fox said. "I want to keep it going."
For more information, go to https://vcbridge.org/home or https://my.acbl.org/clubs/directory.
Tom Kisken covers health care and other news for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at tom.kisken@vcstar.com or 805-437-0255.
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This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Ventura bridge club looking for players, personal connections amid COVID-19
