This being an off-season of the year for outdoor sports (except walking, which is getting to have neither participants nor spectators) it seems best to start with a few remarks on the strenuous occupation of watching a bridge game.  Bridge-watchers are not so numerous as football watchers, for instance, but they are much more in need of coordination and it will be the aim of this article to formulate a standardized set of rules for watching bridge which may be taken as a criterion for the whole country.

NUMBER WHO MAY WATCH

There should not be more than one watcher for each table.  When there are two, or more, confusion is apt to result and no one of the watchers can devote his attention to the game as it should be devoted.  Two watchers are also likely to bump into each other as they make their way around the table looking over the players’ shoulders.  If there are more watchers than there are tables, two can share one table between them, one being dummy while the other watches.  In this event the first one should watch until the hand has been dealt and six tricks taken, being relieved by the second one for the remaining tricks and the marking down of the score.

PRELIMINARIES

In order to avoid any charge of signalling, it will be well for the following conversational formula to be used before the game begins: 

The ring-leader of the game says to the fifth person:  “Won’t you join the game and make a fourth?  I have some work which I really ought to be doing.”

The fifth person replies:  “Oh, no, thank you!  I play a wretched game.  I’d much rather sit here and read, if you don’t mind.”

To which the ring-leader replies:  “Pray do.”

After the first hand has been dealt, the fifth person, whom we shall now call the “watcher,” puts down the book and leans forward in his (or her) chair, craning the neck to see what is in the hand nearest him.  The strain becoming too great, he arises and approaches the table, saying:  “Do you mind if I watch a bit?”

No answer need be given to this, unless someone at the table has nerve enough to tell the truth.

PROCEDURE

The game is now on.  The watcher walks around the table, giving each hand a careful scrutiny, groaning slightly at the sight of a poor one and making noises of joyful anticipation at the good ones.  Stopping behind an especially unpromising array of cards, it is well to say:  “Well, unlucky at cards, lucky in love, you know.”  This gives the partner an opportunity to judge his chances on the bid he is about to make, and is perfectly fair to the other side, too, for they are not left entirely in the dark.  Thus everyone benefits by the remark.

[Illustration:  The watcher walks around the table, giving each hand a careful scrutiny.]