Sometimes, the finesses work and every debatable decision you make turns out to be the right one. When it does, you might end up with really good game! And sometimes you are sizzling hot and end up with a really great game!. This was the case for Dan Knier and Wendy Hennes Tuesday morning when they finished with a sizzling 75.4% game. Congratulations Wendy and Dan on a fantastic game! 75% is indeed rarified air. Who cares about the cover of the Rolling Stone; I want to see them on the cover of the Bridge Bulletin!
 
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| New Silver Life Master |
On Friday, January 2nd, we had a special celebration for a special lady! We had cake to celebrate Jane Curtis and the Silver Life Master status she recently obtained. Be sure to congratulate her when you see her on her hard earned points!
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| 2025 - Record breaking year in attendance! |
We finished our last game of the year today and what a wonderful year it was. Attendance was up, up, up! The ACBL provides table counts for all the clubs in North America. In 2025, we were number 150 (preliminary figures) in North America in face-to-face tables (not including online games that many clubs have). This is up from 213 in 2024. While many clubs have been losing membership and decreasing tables, we have been able to grow our membership and number of tables. Nationally, the number of tables has been decreasing so we are bucking the trend.
Our attendance for the year was 1591 tables, up 29% over last year which was up 10% from 2023! We show up! The 29% growth was far above any other club in the state and indeed better than most in the nation! In the state of Minnesota, the St Cloud Club has passed up Rochester and is now the number 3 club in the state behind the Bridge Club of St Paul and the Plymouth Club. What accounts for this increase?
There are three factors that drove this increase.
1. The lessons Scott initiated in the fall of 2023 and 2024 brought a surge of new players into the club . We hope the attendees of this falls lessons will continue to fuel the growth. We regularly have 4-6 tables in the 299er game on Monday night, almost all who have taken lessons in the last 2 years. If we look at the first six months of 2025 versus the first six months of 2024, attendance is up 23%. Most of this is because of the new players brought in by the lessons.
2. The move to the new home in July has accelerated the growth even more! From July 21 when we moved through the end of the year, attendance was up 34% over the same period in 2024. Clearly, we like our new home!
3. Thursday night attendance went from 101 tables in 2024 to 249 in 2025! That an increase of almost 150%!!! While moving out of the Labor Home to our new home may have been a factor, I believe the bigger factor was the tireless calling Nancy Balfanz made to get enough people playing so that we could have a game every week. We need you, Nancy! Hope you can come back soon.
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| Schedule of Games |
We offer five regularly scheduled, ACBL-sanctioned, face-to-face events each week:
- Open Monday Afternoons, 12:30 p.m.,Midtown Square Office Bldg 203A
- TwoNinetyNiners Game Monday Evenings 6:00, Midtown Square 203A
- Open Tuesday Mornings, 9:15 a.m., Midtown Square Office Bldg 203A (Note change of time)
- Open Thursday Evening, 6:00 p.m. Midtown Square Office Bldg 203A (Team Game on Third Thursday of Month)
- Open Friday Afternoons, 12:30 p.m., Midtown Square Office Bldg 203A
- Team Game First Friday Morning 8:30 Midtown Square Office Bldg 203A
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