I agree with Roy. Our objective, as I see it, is to preserve the game and try to incentivize and grow the participation of players. It’s not, primarily, to sustain ACBL. ACBL itself needs to provide value added that makes players want to be members. Moreover, as I understand the economics, ACBL gets part of any game fee that the players pay to participate, whether or not the player is an ACBL “member.” For many players, being a “member” means they can compete and get points that can grow over the years and get them personal satisfaction, recognition and bragging rights. For some players, however, they could care less about the status recognition associated with black, red, silver, etc. points. They may simply enjoy playing bridge, the camaraderie, intellectual challenge, and competition – without the bragging rights. We should do all we can to spread the popularity of bridge. Don Donald K. Garner Cell: (310) 367-3092 Email:dgarnersemail@gmail.com From: Roy Wilson &lt;unit559webmaster(a)gmail.com&gt; Sent: Monday, July 15, 2024 8:53 PM To: Unit 559 board discussion list &lt;unit559board(a)bridgemojo.com&gt; Subject: [Unit559board] Re: Fwd: John Waken sectional tournament I feel very strongly about this…. If we charge the same entry fee for a non-member as we do for a member, there is no additional cost to us and we do not have an additional burden. We simply have one more player. For what reason would we "punish" someone who is not a member? Besides, we are not aware of the reasons a person might let his membership lapse. Over the years I can only recall three players who continued to play after giving up membership. One of them told me that he had lost his retirement income when the very small company he worked for went bankrupt, but he still enjoyed the game but didn’t want to pay for membership in the ACBL. Can anyone give me a good reason to charge more for a non-member than for a regular member? We certainly don’t have any additional cost. Roy I’ve played bridge more than half my life. The lesser half I wasted. On Jul 15, 2024, at 7:51 PM, Morris Jones &lt;mojo(a)pasadenabridgeclub.com <mailto:mojo@pasadenabridgeclub.com> > wrote:  Roy, if someone had never been a member and didn't have a player number, I can get them one for free. I have free guest memberships good for four months. The people who come to tournaments are not "never members," they're lapsed members who decided it's not worth staying a member. Mojo On 7/15/24 10:36 PM, Roy Wilson wrote: My opinion is not worth anything…. Nope. Nothing. But I still have one. Should we charge extra for a non-ACBLmember? No! As a matter of fact I would suggest that we charge LESS and hand the person an application for membership and ask them to please fill it out. Tell them they are welcome to play, but that a membership has a lot of benefits. More than 40 years ago when I was president of the board we used to have a wonderful spread of food… heck, we served full meals! One of the board members was incensed that a non-paying kibitzer had a plateful of food and suggested that we charge non-players. Friends, I was very pleased when the other board members were unanimous in saying NO. PLEASE don’t charge non-members more to play in our sectional. Roy Wilson I’ve played bridge more than half my life. The lesser half I wasted. On Jul 15, 2024, at 2:54 PM, Morris Jones <mailto:mojo@pasadenabridgeclub.com> &lt;mojo(a)pasadenabridgeclub.com&gt; wrote:  Alas I'm unprepared to answer this question! We should either require ACBL membership, or charge $18 or so for non-ACBL members. Mojo -------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: John Waken sectional tournament Date: Mon, 15 Jul 2024 18:46:09 +0000 From: Kim Gundlach <mailto:kimgundlach@msn.com> &lt;kimgundlach(a)msn.com&gt; To: staff(a)pasadenabridgeclub.com <mailto:staff@pasadenabridgeclub.com> <mailto:staff@pasadenabridgeclub.com> &lt;staff(a)pasadenabridgeclub.com&gt; Hi, The flyer didn't mention whether or not someone who isn't an ACBL member can participate in the tournament or not. Please let me know as it might determine my partner for one of the days. Kim _______________________________________________ Unit559board mailing list -- unit559board(a)bridgemojo.com <mailto:unit559board@bridgemojo.com> To unsubscribe send an email to unit559board-leave(a)bridgemojo.com <mailto:unit559board-leave@bridgemojo.com> _______________________________________________ Unit559board mailing list -- unit559board(a)bridgemojo.com <mailto:unit559board@bridgemojo.com> To unsubscribe send an email to unit559board-leave(a)bridgemojo.com <mailto:unit559board-leave@bridgemojo.com> -- Morris "Mojo" Jones mojo(a)PasadenaBridgeClub.com <mailto:mojo@PasadenaBridgeClub.com> https://PasadenaBridgeClub.com <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com> <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com> <pbc-logo-white-300.png> _______________________________________________ Unit559board mailing list -- unit559board(a)bridgemojo.com <mailto:unit559board@bridgemojo.com> To unsubscribe send an email to unit559board-leave(a)bridgemojo.com <mailto:unit559board-leave@bridgemojo.com>