Bridge was, as far as I can tell, a hugely important social currency for my parents’ generation (they’re both Silents, born in 1933 and 1940, respectively). My parents’ social circles, for most of their adult lives, was largely centered on playing bridge, and most of their long-term friends were people in their bridge groups. They did other things with their friends, too, but bridge was what they did, every other Saturday night (at least from fall until spring), for decades.
When I was a high school senior (around 1982), my dad very much wanted to teach me how to play bridge. His reasoning: “it’s important, because that’s how you’ll meet people and make friends at college.” His advice, of course, was based on his own experience as a college student, in the mid-1950s; I literally knew no one my own age who knew how to play bridge, and my dad was rather disappointed that I wasn’t eager to learn.
Instead, my social currency at college was playing Dungeons & Dragons, and that’s how I met the group of what became my best friends. I also learned how to play cribbage, poker, and sheepshead when I was at college, but never saw anyone playing bridge.
As an adult, I know a few people my age who know bridge, and enjoy playing it; interestingly, they grew up in Ireland, and didn’t move to the U.S. until they were in their late 20s. And, yes, when they do play bridge, they’re nearly always playing with much older people.