LogFAQs > #948926055

I'd say to someone who doesn't know bridge but has played trick-taking games, I could cover everything reasonably well in about half an hour with time for clarifying questions and whatnot.

When I read your comment I took it to mean even that would be far beyond worth it to your friends since you used 5 minutes as an example of something acceptable. If you don't actually think 30 minutes of rule learning is too much, then I'm curious just how long you were estimating it would take to learn. An entire day? A weekend?

The bidding system isn't as simple as, say, spades, since you can select the trump suit as well as how many tricks you'll win. The scoring is pretty out there but I don't even consider that something a new player should care about and if playing casually you'd just play by the hand for fun and probably not finish a proper match. Scoring can factor into play later when you really understand the bidding.