Bridge
Contract bridge, played at a table or online, several sessions a week
Four players, two partnerships, a bidding phase and then thirteen tricks. No two hands repeat, so a session is a run of fresh problems in memory, probability and reading a partner. Clubs, kitchen tables and sites such as Bridge Base Online all work, and plenty of players are still at the table in their nineties. Club fees and online subscriptions are small.
People on record
Sorted by strength of stance
Does it: documented as part of their own routine. Recommends: explicitly advises other people to do it. Discusses: covered it substantively without clear personal adoption; this can include criticism or disagreement.
- Bill GatesDoes it
Microsoft co-founder · Gates Notes reading lists
Warren Buffett got him hooked, he told Reddit in 2023, and while the two play less than they used to, he still plays with some of Buffett's friends, tournaments included.
Source: Gates Notes: Climate change, AI, and more from my latest AMA - Warren BuffettDoes it
Investor · Berkshire Hathaway chairman
At least four sessions a week of about two hours each, he told the Washington Post. He likes that no two hands are ever the same and calls it the best exercise there is for the brain, a game that still offers a new problem every seven minutes when you are in your nineties.
Source: CNBC Make It: Billionaire Warren Buffett spends 8 hours a week playing bridge“I play a lot ... at least four sessions a week, about two hours a session … You can play a hand every six or seven minutes every day for the rest of your life, and you will never see the same hand … a game you can enjoy when you are in your 90s, and you are seeing a different intellectual challenge every seven minutes.”
CNBC Make It: Billionaire Warren Buffett spends 8 hours a week playing bridge (opens in a new tab) · 24 Oct 2017
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