About our Pizza Parties
Young bridge players enjoy challenging competition and good food at the monthly Silicon Valley Youth (SiVY) Bridge party.
Aspiring bridge players ages 10-25 are welcome – as long as they know just a little bit about bridge and want to learn more.
Upon arrival the kids play casually and enjoy snacks. After pizza is served many players enter a mini-tournament while others keep playing for fun. Brand new players are taught the basics of the game, learning as they play.
The pairs in the mini-tournament practice skills in bidding as well as play. Prizes are awarded to the winners.
Volunteers are available to help the kids who play for fun.
Near the end of each party, dessert is served, while tournament winners are announced and prizes are awarded
The SiVY monthly events are held to provide kids from our after school classes a chance to meet aspiring players from other schools and organizations. They are also a great way for kids who have learned from adult family to play bridge with other young people.
March 5, 2017
Forty-eight youth bridge players participated in our March pizza party.
Players played casual bridge and noshed on pizza, chips and fruit before the official tournament play. Twenty three players (6 tables including one dad filling in) competed in the more experienced tournament and another twelve players (3 tables) participated in the less experienced tournament. The remaining players continued to learn and have casual play.
Four 3rd to 6th grade youth played a new game called Handz. Invented by the Richard Bellerose of the Center for Bridge Education in San Francisco, Handz introduces the mechanics and strategies of contract bridge without intimidating. The kids learned to suit and sort; evaluate whether their hands were average, or above or below; name 8-card fits as trump or decide to play no trump; keep simplified scores, and play as partners. 
They played 5 hands and generally remained engaged and had fun, although they were tired by the end of the day.
The four youth playing Handz were SiVY first-timer Diego, younger brother to SiVY regular Dominic; Matthew, Boy Scouts friend of SiVY regular Gregory; An, younger sister of regulars Quan and Tiep; and Denali.
At the conclusion of play, while everyone enjoyed cake while Debbie Rosenberg read the names of the tournament winners who chose prizes and posed for photographs.
Several of the most experienced and serious players stayed to review hand records with expert player and mentor Li-Chung Chen, who had kibitzed for the whole tournament. Tiep Nguyen, a less experienced, yet still serious, player went straight for a hand record and asked questions of mentors. A few others weren't ready to go home, and played more hands at a table with Will Watson, while their supportive parents waited for them.
The bridge games at our parties are American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) sanctioned awarding masterpoints (MP) to high scorers. ACBL membership is not required for our games but is strongly suggested. You can join online or at the Bridge Center on the night of an event. Adult membership is $29 for the first year and junior membership only $5 per year. Both include a monthly magazine (print for Adults, online access for Juniors) and registration of masterpoints (start earning towards becoming a Life Master!).