This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.
The first Bermuda Bowl, held at the Castle Harbor Hotel in Hamilton, Bermuda in November 1950, was a modest affair by the standard of the event it would become: three teams, the United States, Great Britain and a combined European side, playing round robin matches against each other over a few days on the island chosen mainly for its convenient midpoint location between the American and European bridge communities the tournament was designed to bring together.
The American team left undefeated, winning both of its matches, a result that set an early pattern of United States' dominance in the event long before the tournament grew into the global, multi zone championship it is today. No permanent federation organized that first event; the World Bridge Federation would not exist for another eight years, meaning the Bermuda Bowl, like several of the competitions in this wave, began as a competition in search of a governing body rather than the other way around.