It’s just a card game to some, but to aficionados bridge is a game of skill, strategy and competition.

Just ask any of the 160-plus members of the Sedona-Oak Creek Duplicate Bridge Club. Most of the members play six times a week at the Sedona Elks Lodge. Thursday is for beginners. The group started around 1971 and is still going strong.

On July 16, nearly 60 people sat around tables of four, taking the position of north, south, east or west, the names given to positions.

North and south are partners and east and west are partners. It was a quiet game as players arranged the cards in their hand, bid and played the cards for points.

“We play for national points because almost all of us belong to the American Contract Bridge League,” said Joy MacIlraith, who, along with her husband Don, are the longest standing members of the club. They joined in 1982.

“The game helps us keep our minds active. It’s great for the memory, and it’s very social,” MacIlraith said.

The Sedona group plays duplicate bridge, which means the same bridge hand is duplicated at each of the other tables to allow fair comparison of playing skill. The scoring is the difference, longtime club member Pete Stedman said.

“We play with a full deck — both ways,” he said.

The history of bridge goes back to the 18th-century English game of whist, a trick-taking card game. A trick is the four cards played in one round.

Eventually, bridge reached the United States and became popular in the 1930s. Its popularity continues, Linda Besnette said just before beginning the game.

“Our game here is competitive but friendly. It’s a happy group,” Besnette said. She also plays bridge online.

Don MacIlraith said the Sedona group is just a tiny part of the bridge movement around the world. The MacIlraiths teach bridge on cruise ships occasionally.

“Millions of people play bridge. They recently had a tournament in Las Vegas with several thousand people playing,” Don MacIlraith said.

Besnette started playing bridge in college in the 1960s, and she likes the competitive nature and strategy offered by the game.

“You never ever learn it all. There’s always something new — a new challenge. It’s a lot of fun,” Besnette said. “It’s up and down too. You feel so good when you play something well, and that lasts you until the next game when you feel like an idiot, but you keep coming back.”

Last fall, the officers of the club saw their numbers had dwindled. So they decided to offer lessons. Nearly 100 people showed up, and about 60 completed the classes. A new series is being planned for the fall for people who want to learn the game, Besnette said. Marsha Helton is the club’s board president and teaches the lessons.

One of the new members who learned last fall, Barbara Ballard, said Helton’s lessons were very helpful, and she feels confident to join in the game.

“I like the challenge and these guys have been very helpful. They’ve gone out of their way to guide me along. The first time Don [MacIlraith] asked me to play with him, I felt like the captain of the football team asked me to the prom,” Ballard said, adding she considers MacIlraith an expert.

Joy MacIlraith said she would be lost without bridge. It is a large part of her life.

“Many of us have become close friends — and we have wonderful potlucks,” MacIlraith said. “We even have at least one case of a club romance, and they got married recently.”

Besnette said there has been some concern in the bridge community about the aging population of players.

“Bill Gates has been working with others to promote teaching bridge in schools. We’d love to go to our schools and teach the kids,” Besnette said.

Besnette said visitors to Sedona can come and join the game.

For more information about the Sedona-Oak Creek Duplicate Bridge Club, call 282-5092.