Snoopy

Charles M. Schulz, the creator of Peanuts, was an enthusiastic bridge player. It was not a coincidence that one of his iconic characters, Snoopy, also took up bridge in several cartoons.

Snoopy - and his partner Woodstock - were named Honorary Life Masters by the American Contract Bridge League in 1997.

All cartoons © United Feature Syndicate.

Charlie Brown is the butt of one cartoon strip circa 1952:

Under the persona of the World War I flying ace, Snoopy played the following hand with Woodstock. The cartoon was first published in 1997.

Snoopy is declaring 3NT and it can be inferred that West has led a low spade. Declarer is confronted with a basic timing problem. Does he have time to establish clubs to make his contract?

According to Alan Truscott, the deal was copied from Ely Culbertson's "Gold Book" (1936).¹

Woodstock 83 Q54 West KJ2 East JT542 QJT98 Q976 K83 JT96 T6 Snoopy 843 A74 AK K6 A72 AQ975 532

In another cartoon strip Snoopy is also seen playing with Linus, although the details of the hand are not provided.

Woodstock and his fellow bird mechanics also played several hands together. Once again, the context is primarily Snoopy's World War I fantasy.

The first diagram appears to be an endplay, with spades as trumps. South has a loser in each minor suit, but can exit a club to put West on lead. West must then lead away from the diamond king or concede and ruff and sluff.

The second deal might be a throw-in play at no-trumps. Despite holding losers in every suit, South can lead a spade from hand. East must win and return a heart into dummy's tenace.

These last few hands may not be as nuanced, but are still entertaining for their technical accuracy.

¹ Truscott, A. (2000, July 10). Snoopy's Finest Card Game. New York Times.