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.
February 18 , 2018
Twenty-six youth bridge players participated in our February pizza party.
After casual play and pizza, 23 youth and 1 adult fill-in played in the tournament. 8 in the Swiss section for the "Seasoned" players and 15 plus the fill-in in the "Tyro" (less experienced) section.
Some of the Seasoned players asked if it could be a knock out to which Frank Smoot responded yes, one team would be eliminated at the end of the game. ;-)
Three other youth played Handz to learn the basics of bridge.
Sisters Melinda and Marisa played together. Melinda is a senior in high school in San Francisco and Marisa a junior at UC Berkeley. They said they learned to play in a San Francisco high school bridge club. They are planning to teach their dad and their aunt to play. They already tried teaching their dad once, but he fell asleep during the lesson! They really liked playing bridge and "getting food, too."
"It was really fun" and "The food was good but the bridge was better" remarked other youth.
Following that everyone enjoyed cookies while Frank read the names of the tournament winners who chose prizes and posed for pictures.
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 $15 per year. Both include a monthly print magazine and registration of masterpoints (start earning towards becoming a Life Master!).