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THE OKBRIDGE STORY
OKbridge, Inc. is an online bridge club dedicated to serving the worldwide
community of bridge players by providing superior software and service.
OKbridge began as a by-product of founder Matt Clegg’s courtship of Merja,
now his wife. The couple met in 1989 when Merja, a native of Finland, came to
California to study with a famous geneticist — Matt’s father. After Merja returned
home, Matt took a year off from graduate school to be with her in Finland.
While in Finland, Matt developed an Internet bridge program as a way of playing
bridge with his friends back in the US. OKbridge was first released to the public
in August 1990 and the idea caught on. The players sent Matt a steady stream
of suggestions — many of which were incorporated into the program.
After several years, there were thousands of people from around the world using
the OKbridge software. Due to the increasing demands placed on Matt’s time,
he conducted a survey of users in 1993 to determine if they would be willing
to pay a subscription fee if he continued to upgrade the software and provide
service. The users approved of the idea, and commercial OKbridge was launched
in 1994.
Today, OKbridge has nearly 13,000 members from over 100 countries, making
it the world’s largest member-supported online bridge club.
| OKbridge Milestones |
August
1990 |
Version 1.0 of OKbridge released to the public as freeware. |
July
1992 |
OKbridge becomes the first online service ever to offer duplicate bridge. |
Spring
1994 |
A knockout team tournament was held online involving sixteen teams from
four continents. |
June
1994 |
Commercial OKbridge was launched to 500 enthusiastic users. |
November
1995 |
Introduced Windows version of software. |
August
1997 |
OKbridge becomes first ever online bridge club to be sanctioned by the
American Contract Bridge League for the issuance of masterpoints. |
October
1997 |
First ever online bridge club to offer daily online duplicate tournaments. |
November
1997 |
Founder Matt Clegg named the International Bridge Press Association’s
Personality of the Year for his contributions to the game of bridge. |
March
1999 |
OKbridge inaugurates the first annual Internet World Bridge Championships
co-sponsored by OKbridge, the American Contract Bridge League, Bridge World
Magazine, and the World Bridge Federation. |
July
2000 |
Introduced OKweb, an easy to use Java-based version of the software that
can be played from most web browsers. |
April
2004 |
OKbridge announced a strategic alliance with Prize Money Bridge Tour,
the leading promoter of cash-prize bridge events, to sponsor a series of
nationwide
tournaments. |
June
2004 |
Unveiled OKplus, a web-based version that works with any browser and runs
on any platform while offering improved ease-of-use and advanced functionality.
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All OKbridge members have access to:
- Our online bridge club, where they can play live bridge via
the Internet at any time of day or night
- Our exclusive Members Club website, which contains a variety
of bridge-related content.
- Our daily online tournaments, which simulate the experience
of playing a single-session event at a bridge club or tournament.
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