Promoting traditional leisure: barriers and enablers for the mindsport bridge

Abstract

Mindsports are intellectual, competitive games, like the traditional leisure pursuits of chess and the card game bridge. This study examines barriers and enablers for promoting engagement in bridge using a layered framework spanning individual, institutional, and cultural levels. We draw on 30 semi-structured interviews with bridge players, teachers, and National Bridge Organisation staff across the UK, USA, Australia, Denmark, The Netherlands, and Norway. Findings highlight challenges unique to mindsports, including limited public and sport recognition, declining participation among younger players, marginalisation as a cultural artefact, and perceptions of exclusivity. This signals the need to reframe bridge’s habitus – the social and cultural practices, values, and dispositions that shape how players engage with the game. Bridge organisations’ resistance to change and limited organisational capacity, including marketing resources, further constrain adaptation and inclusivity. The interconnection of bridge’s exclusive habitus and institutional inertia hinders opportunities for change. Effective promotion requires interventions that simultaneously address individual motivations, club practices, and broader cultural messaging, including image rebranding. By illustrating tensions arising from bridge’s position between leisure and sport, the paper contributes to the emerging field of Mindsport Studies, offering a multi-dimensional approach that supports sustainable, inclusive engagement across socially and culturally distinctive activities.