Playing Mind Games

One of the reasons we choose to sell Pelissier card tables is their refreshing approach to design.

There are many pundits who would say that the game of bridge, far from constituting an Olympic sport, is dying on its feet.

It’s a game, they say, favoured by ex-pats and old ladies, both of whom have long been drawing their pensions.

This doesn’t sound like a good market for someone making high-quality card tables.   But the pundits are wrong!

While the stereotype bridge player already has a table that ‘will see them out’, albeit a little worse for wear, there is a new group of players who have different aspirations.

For the more recently retired, the sixty-somethings it’s all about keeping fit – mentally fit. The fear of Alzheimers and early dementia has led to the popularity of Sudoku and cerebral games like Bridge.

Bridge has the advantage over Sudoku; it’s sociable too. In Britain at least, it’s not all about joining a bridge club or enrolling with the local U3A. It’s about playing friendly bridge with three friends or another couple, at home, and accompanied by suitable refreshments. And if you’re entertaining friends in your home you won’t want to make do with grandma’s hand-me-downs. You’ll want a quality piece of furniture that complements your décor – and that’s unlikely to mean dark mahogany and green baize.

When British entrepreneur, Laurie Rogers, bought the famous French card table company, Pelissier , in 2015, he set about revamping the range, improving the quality and adding some colour and style. He also moved the factory to Devon.

“Bridge tables hadn’t changed in appearance for more than a century. The Pelissier models wouldn’t have looked out-of-place in a Suffragettes house. But they could certainly look out-of-place in today’s more minimalist homes.”

Pelissier now offers a choice of wood finishes as well as painted and lacquered finishes matched with baize playing surfaces in reds, blues, oranges and greys as well as the traditional green.

It doesn’t stop with colours. Pelissier models include one whose top revolves with an inlaid chessboard on the reverse. In another model the top lifts up to reveal a storage space for board games. 

For the new bridge player, choosing a Pelissier table is simply a ‘no-brainer’.