Tracking ACBL reopenings updated weekly
and is from raw data provided courtesy of BridgeFinesse,
TheCommonGame.com, the ACBL, and Live4Clubs*
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Tracking ACBL reopenings updated weekly |
Information on this page refers to ACBL/VACB club table counts;
if you are looking for ACBL/VACB tournament table data information, please click here.
Click on any chart to enlarge it and open it in a new window.
ACBL club online play continues to fall, with both the number of VACB games (936) and total tables (10,570) hitting fresh lows. GNT Finals across the country helped propel team games to a nice 1.15% of all VACB tables for the week (that's highest since February 20).
Overall, total ACBL tables (both F2F and online) fell around 11% from last year at this time. That number will improve a bit when the late F2F tables for the week get reported down the road, however heading into the warmer weather we're likely to see a continued drop in participation going forward - for now.
 
 
 
 
 
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PLEASE NOTE:
1) VACB tables listed above are ACBL online club games only and do not include daily ACBL or hourly Speedball tournaments, etc.
2) ACBL F2F data displayed here is best available; *some ACBL clubs (set to "private") do not allow their games + table counts to be
included in the raw data and therefore are not included here. In addition, weekly updates include all table data available, including
when clubs submit table counts that are from many many weeks ago (and that does occasionally happen).
3) The ACBL data week runs from each Monday to the following Sunday.
It's probably no surprise that Florida (with six clubs) and Arizona (with five clubs) are the leaders in F2F tables in play during the last month. April's "top 20" clubs around the US did come with a couple of surprises, with Omaha NE showing up at #20, but Indianapolis IN at #5 and St. Louis MO at #8 pretty impressive. A few in SoCal and a couple in NY round out the top 20 this month. |
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Depending on the 30-day period you're looking at, with some 30-day periods having more Monday and Wednesday games than others, the 30-day F2F table counts at any given club can vary widely. But just looking at the 30 days in April, to the right are the monthly table counts at the top 20 F2F clubs in the US. 690 tables were recorded at The Villages FL, with just a few tables each week separating clubs #8 to #20. The Naples Bridge Center FL also doing a brisk business with 585 tables in April. |
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April has ushered in some stellar numbers for F2F bridge play, as the omicron variant has finally been overcome. Not that COVID isn't still making the rounds, it is (five ACBL directors at Reno's NABC ended up catching it, along with roughly two dozen players). . .but attendance at local clubs has rebounded now so that it's the highest since clubs reopened back in January of 2021. There's little doubt that there will be another COVID variant down the road - maybe more than one - but at least it's great to see that bridge players are resilient. Given time, they do return to the table. |
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The third week of February saw the largest table counts for F2F games since the holidays (and omicron variant) hammered local clubs. Even with the highest table counts in 14 weeks, they're still quite a ways off from the post-COVID high table marks held in early November. Keep in mind that some local F2F clubs have still not yet re-opened following the latest COVID variant and its transmissability. . .but weekdays are now at 80% to 87% of the max table counts. Weekends are not faring quite so well, at 68% for Saturday and 61% for Sunday. |
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Ahh, wintertime. Combined F2F and VACB tables topped 30,000 for the week ending 2/13/22 for the first time in a non-online bonus MP event since March 2021. Remember that back in March 2021, over 90% of overall tables were online. Even with some clubs slow to open from the omicron variant of COVID-19, that number is now closer to 55%. Apparently a lot less tennis and golf going on in February, but that's good news for table counts (and bridge in general). |
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Over the past nine months, lots of VACB games stopped operating due to everyone getting back to F2F and smaller tables per game making it more difficult to keep them going. The phase-out (and ultimate elimination) of the VACB masterpoint multiplier also may have had something to do with the lowering turnout through the end of 2021. But the combination of clubs closing due to the omicron variant, no real increase in available VACB games, and this week's 2x silver point games online has led to an online tables per game metric not seen since before F2F clubs reopened twelve months ago. It's not likely to stay at these stratospheric levels, but right now online play is benefitting from the latest COVID mess. |
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As many ACBL clubs have shuttered (albeit temporarily) during this omicron business, the gains online for virtual clubs are skyrocketing. Both VACB games and tables are now approaching levels that have not been seen since May 2021. The ACBL is taking advantage of this by it's 2X Silver Linings week this week (1/18). . .and it's a real jump-start to the online bridge business that had pretty much collapsed once clubs had reopened for in-person play. |
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Following the overtaking of F2F tables in November, and then an all-around lull during the holidays, online ACBL action has really perked up since the latest COVID variant is making a mess of in-person bridge. What was a clear downward trend for months has really reversed itself during the month of January, as more players are staying out of the club (for now) and playing online. Games, tables, even tables per game online are all up big this month, and the ACBL has added more online tournament events (including another online regional in March). |
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It took eight or nine months from reopening and was complicated by the Delta variant, but as of November 14th it is official. More F2F tables were in play the week ending November 14th than were in play at virtual clubs. The unadjusted numbers (which don't include late F2F table reporting and will only drive the F2F number higher) show a race tighter than any political result on election night - with F2F tables edging out VACB tables for the week by 2 out of almost 29,000. |
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Looking at the past ten weeks, overall ACBL tables in play have been on the increase; if you discard the Silver Linings week double-point bump in the VACB tables, you'll see that the increase in F2F tables has been enough to more than overcome the decline in VACB tables play Clubs continue to open and weekly games continue to be added, and post-COVID record F2F table counts are still rising (now well past the point of the Delta variant business). Note that these table counts do not include any F2F tournaments, which have also opened up over the past ten weeks, but who's counting? (Ok, someone is, and that count is 4,566.) |
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F2F table counts that were on the rise this year hit the skids in late July as the Delta variant messed things up for bridge. Six weeks later, the bottom was hit, and between masking protocols and the realization that there's always going to be a variant around, players finally started coming back to the bridge table. Most days for the week ending 10/24 table counts across the country have returned to that level of the week ending 7/18 - here's each day of this past week compared to the pre-Delta peak week of 7/18. 99% for the week as a whole! | 
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If you've ever run a bridge club, and were wondering if you should have a game on Labor Day, you've no doubt gotten many responses from players that "every day is a holiday for me!" and of course you should have a game. Despite that, not everyone does hold a game on holiday Mondays, and the four depressed days (for turnout) that are pretty obvious on Mondays just happen to be the four Monday holidays this year (Memorial Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, and as it happens this year the 4th of July). With Mondays being the most-attended day of the week, the entire holiday week each time tends to be dragged down as well. Thanksgiving isn't on a Monday this year, is it? |
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Looking at the first eight months of post-COVID F2F play, it's probably no surprise that Monday is the most popular day of the week to be attending an in-person bridge game (at almost 24% of all F2F tables during the week). Wednesday is next; Sundays are least likely to be sanctioned or attended. This mirrors the pre-COVID experience although weekends had been slightly better represented before the big shutdown. |
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