The Western Mustangs bridge team is heading to Philadelphia for major competition

A team of students from the Western University Mustangs bridge team recently won a top spot to compete at this year's Collegiate Bridge Bowl competition in Philadelphia this summer.

After coming in fourth place in an online qualifying tournament where they competed against 37 other post-secondary teams from Canada and the U.S. in February, the Mustangs won travel packages to attend the bowl.

Simon Hungate, a Western engineering student and captain of the bridge team, said he and his teammates Garrett Liu, Jeffrey Martinovic, Rachel Penney and Sean McBride were thrilled when they received the unexpected news.

"To have the opportunity to get to go to Philadelphia and play against all the other top collegiate players in North America, we're all really excited," he said. "We're excited to represent Western, and also excited to meet other people our age who are playing the game."

The Mustangs will compete against more than 20 other teams at the end of July for the top prize $10,000.

Bridge is a trick-taking card game played by four players in two partnerships, using a standard deck. They compete to win tricks by bidding and strategically playing cards. Scoring in bridge rewards successful contracts and penalizes failures, with strategy, communication, and memory playing key roles.

Hungate said the game forces him and his peers to think critically.

"I think it's very challenging, it's engaging and it's a puzzle," said Hungate. "That idea that you're always having a problem to solve and you're always having to figure stuff out, and you're doing it with a partner… at the table, to me is extremely appealing."

Hungate said his love for the game came from playing with his late grandfather during summer visits, starting when he was about 12 years old. When he started university, he was eager to form his own team and teach his friends how to play the game.

Before every match, Hungate and his teammates gather weekly for practice sessions and discuss the different playing styles involved in the game.

"It's a lot of fun at the end of the day," he said. "We'll sit and someone will bring baked goods or we'll have a snack, and we'll play and we'll chat."

The Mustangs will compete for scholarship money, with a $10,000 prize for the top team and $3,000 for the first-place pair.

"[Winning] would help us grow the game at Western because that's one of the primary goals," said Hungate. "Obviously, we want to compete and win, but we also want to get other people playing. This is a social game as well as a competitive game."

The 2025 Collegiate Bridge Bowl will take place from July 31 to August 2 in Pennsylvania.