Electronic sports, or esports, have evolved the concept of ‘sport’, especially around the mental acuity needed to play. Professor Samantha Punch at the University of Stirling, together with Dr David Scott at Abertay University, Scotland, see similarities in the card game bridge. They are helping establish a new academic subdiscipline – the sociology of mindsport. In the process, Punch and Scott have uncovered characteristics of the game bridge, including its intense physicality and team play, that have remained largely unnoticed. Their research also draws attention to bridge’s status as a mindsport that anyone can play.
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