Your Bridge Room Checklist

Setting up a bridge room for games at home (or on behalf of your bridge club) seems like a major hassle and a lot of work: But it shouldn’t have to be. Here’s everything you’ll need to set up your basic bridge room and just where to get it.

What You’ll Need

Playing Cards

You can’t play a card game without cards! Start by checking out some of our Great Bridge Links lists of where you can buy your first, second, third or thousandth set of playing cards.

Bridge Table(s)

For when a regular dining room table just isn’t cutting it anymore, invest good money in a proper bridge table. It’s something that’ll likely be passed down through several more generations if you take care of it, so don’t be afraid to spend good money for something decent.

Sites like eBay are great for picking up a used table, or you can head to Kardwell: They offer a couple of options, including foldable, solid wooden top tables. (They’ve also got table covers and “bridge chairs” for order on their website, so check it out.)

Bidding Boxes

Baron Barclay Bridge Supply lays claim to being one of the largest suppliers out there for Bridge equipment, so you can buy much, much more than just bidding boxes from their site. But, for starters, they’ve got Pocket Style Bidding Boxes ($12.95), a set of four Universal Bidding Boxes ($44.95) and a SuperBridgeBox set of four ($39.95).

Electronic Shuffler

This electronic card shuffler takes six decks at a time and works on battery power; it’ll run you $8.50 plus the batteries.

Playing Card Holders

Hands getting tired? This is by no means essential for a card game, but it still might be something you want to add to your bridge room. Available from Amazon, this set of card holders comes with two and will cost you $8.59.

Home Bridge Kits

If you want to set up everything in one go, take a look at The Bridge Shop’s Home Bridge Kits. Their most basic model is called The Starter ($97.80) and comes with a bridge table, two decks of playing cards, four rubber bridge scorers (pencils included) and one bidding pad. They’ve also got The Home Duplicate ($89.52), The Entertainer ($120.37) and The Deluxe ($255.78).

Bridge Score Cards

While you can buy bridge score cards in sets online, you can also download and print these free score cards from Davies-Barnard.co.uk to use in your bridge room.

Buying More Supplies

Need more? Here are some more bridge supply stores to fill up your bridge room with whatever you need!

Bridge Creations

Bridge Creations is a bridge supplier based in Johannesburg, South Africa supplying everything you’ll need for the game and some extras, like pottery and glassware – hey, who said you can’t have something pretty in your bridge space too? They handle international orders and shipping too.

The English Bridge Union (EBU) Shop

The official shop of the EBU has tables, accessories, cards, books and more: you can either place your order online or give them a call with your order. Special discounts are offered to members of EBU, EBUTA or any associated bridge clubs.

Simon Lucas Bridge Supplies

Simon Lucas Bridge Supplies is advertised as a “small, family run British manufacturer and retailer selling the widest range of products for the Bridge market in the UK”. Amongst other things, they offer personalized score cards and is definitely worth a look.

 

by Alex J. Coyne © 2017 Great Bridge Links