Sunday March 26 Social Game at Portland Bridge Club – 9 tables!
The Portland Bridge Club has a philosophy not often found in the ACBL: just get folks to play and good things will happen! The idea has been put into practice with a weekly Social Bridge game, held every Sunday at the club. Dave Brower, co-owner of the club, sat down with the D20 Declarer recently to give us the Do’s and Don’ts of creating a successful social club, based on their experience.
Don’t:
- Charge for it. The money you make isn’t worth it. After all, the goal is “just get them playing”.
- Make it too formal. As people arrive, place them at tables. Start / end times are loose. Scoring is however you want it. Can shuffle / deal or use boards from club games earlier in the week. Anything goes.
Do:
- Use free advertising. They used word of mouth and a flyer in the club window.
- Expect people to evolve to duplicate, but don’t push it. They have had 4 people migrate to regular duplicate so far.
- Offer a teaching table. That way players can bring bridge-curious friends to let them get a flavor for the game.
- Use volunteers. Since there’s no money changing hands, the club owners and directors need support from the unit board and other volunteer groups.
By now you might be wondering about the benefit of the social club. According to Dave, classes at PBC in the past (pre-Covid) had been often around 20 students, 3 of whom become regular players and 17 “disappear”. The assumption is that the other 17 simply were not ready for regular duplicate, no matter how friendly. They needed another way to play, hence social bridge.
Want to know more? Contact Dave Brower – Dave@portlandbridgeclub.com.
