THEY come in their hundreds from all corners of the globe for their annual bout of mental jousting in Bermuda.

This week's Bermuda Regional Bridge Tournament gives a boost to the island's tourism industry at a slack time of year and a whole lot of fun to roughly 250 visitors and 100 locals taking part.

But what is it that keeps these visitors - mostly from colder climes - at the card table in the bridge room at the Fairmont Southampton Princess Hotel when the world outside is bathed in inviting warm sunshine?

Allan Graves, a Canadian professional bridge teacher taking part in the tournament, had a few suggestions on what made bridge so appealing.

"I believe there are four great games - golf and chess, bridge and backgammon," said Mr. Graves. "Chess and golf are games of strategy and analysis, while the other two are basically gambling games.

"Bridge is always interesting, because it has a deep technical level that you never master, and the rules of chance come in.

"You have to learn to co-operate with a partner, a bit like in a three-legged race. The number of situations that can be thrown up by four people and 52 cards are endless. That is the fascination." Mr. Graves, 52, who started playing the game at the age of 12, is making his second visit to the tournament and gave it high praise.

"This is by far the best tournament in the North America area," said Mr. Graves. "This is how tournaments used to be. People are polite and they dress properly and behave properly."

Mr. Graves has taken the game to a hi-tech level - some of his teaching takes place via the Internet.

Bridge tends to have a reputation as a pastime for the elderly, but a look around the participants at this year's tournament would suggest otherwise.

Take the group of 12 middle-aged women who have travelled here from Darien, Connecticut, for example. The group have expended year by year, as they have fallen deeper in love with the island and the tournament.

"It's the most elegant setting for a bridge tournament anywhere," said Jean Thoma, enjoying her fourth visit to the event. "It's such a beautiful island and so close to the US."

Martha Hathaway, in the same group, said: "When we started coming here, there were two of us, then it became six and now it's 12. The tournament is sophisticated. And there's such great camaraderie here."

Karen Barrett added: "It's such an international tournament, where you see many different styles of bridge. The camaraderie is great and we have got to know a lot of Bermudians."

Emphasising the international nature of the tournament is the group of eight Poles who have converged on the island this year, having travelled from different parts of the globe.

Victor Markowicz, from Warsaw, on his third visit here, said: "We all played bridge together in Poland in the '60s. Two of us have come here from Poland, two from Israel, one from Germany and three from the US.

"For us, it more about the socialising than the bridge. In Poland, bridge is like a national tradition. I think it is because Poland, when it was a communist country, was very poor. And bridge is not expensive to play. You don't need tennis courts or a swimming pool, you need only a table."

He said there was still interest in the game among the younger generations.

"I have a 28-year-old daughter and one of my friends has a son of the same age. Both of them have asked to learn how to play bridge recently. It seems to be something that runs in the family. I learned from my mother."