396½ tables at the end of Day Four (Thursday), 52.4% of the 2019 total.
In 2022, there were 318 tables to this point.
In 2019, there were 756½ tables to this point.
For full details, check out the Table Counts page!

Bridge clubs and tournaments throughout the ACBL are struggling with returning to live play, so comparing this tournament's attendance to one before the pandemic is not really fair. We'll hope to get a little more than last year, around 60% of the 2019 attendance, making the target number 771½ tables this time — but perhaps we will be pleasantly surprised!

Brain Warmups

What WAS His/Her Name Again?

Below is a short description of six famous people, five of whom were born on August 24, in alphabetical order by (unrevealed) surname. One was NOT born on this day, but rather on the day at the opposite end of the calendar, February 24. The imposter will always be either the first or last born of the six by more of a gap than the two at the other end of the list. Your job is to name the five people and place them in order of their birth years, leaving the imposter out. Answers are below, with the more tricky puzzles from that site that McBruce is addicted to...

• American comedian, actor, producer, screenwriter, whose recent streaming stand-up specials are guaranteed to offend someone ready to be offended.
• British actor whose breakthrough starring role was in Jordan Peele's horror film Get Out.
• Canadian journalist and politician who became the first separatist premier of Quebec.
• American entrepreneur who co-founded the company now known as World Wrestling Entertainment.
• American baseball player and coach who played 2,632 consecutive games for the Baltimore Orioles, breaking the record set by Lou Gehrig by over 500 games.
• American guitarist and composer who wrote for the Smothers Brothers TV show and performed his instrumental hit Classical Gas.

Masterpoints for all players are updated nightly here first, with everyone's current red and gold point total listed alphabetically below the leaders, before a shorter leaderboard is added to this page.

Brain Workout Section!

For those of you who used to like the puzzles I printed in the old bulletins, here is a link to an online version: one of the puzzles that I used to feature in the old paper Bulletins, but it is easy to play on a computer as well. Not so easy on a tablet or phone, since most of the puzzles require right-clicks, not easily done in a tablet or phone environment. Unruly gives you a grid of gray squares which you must color in as black or white (some are given as free hints), while keeping to these rules: 1) No three consecutive cells may be the same color going up-down or left-right (diagonally there may be a run of cells of the same color); 2) Each row and column has the same number of black and white cells; and 3) No two rows and no two columns may have exactly the same sequence of black and white cells. Strategy: Begin by looking for two adjacent cells of the same color and color the cells on either side in the opposite color, to avoid a three-in-a-row. Do the same with white-gray-white, or black-gray-black; the middle cell can be colored in the opposite color to avoid a three-in-a-row. This process will create more opportunities to determine the correct colors of cells, but eventually you will have to consult the other two rules to complete the grid. Click on the puzzle you want to try at the right (or the caption below) to go to the page with all the instructions you'll need. These puzzles come from Simon Tatham's Portable Puzzle Collection (see below) and there are links there to apps for most devices. The types of puzzles in this collection help you to think logically. They begin with simple clues and often develop into more complicated thought trains. Doing puzzles like these strengthens your logical thinking and this helps when you have to work out what bridge actions must be right or wrong based on evidence seen.	Easy puzzle (McBruce's time: 1min 49sec)
	Medium puzzle (McBruce's time: 7min 14sec)
	Tricky puzzle (McBruce's time: 7min 14sec)

Answers to the trivia questions at the top of the page...

(Click here to go back to the questions!)

August 24 birthdays:

• 1922 — René Lévesque, Canadian journalist and politician who became the first separatist premier of Quebec.
• 1938 — Mason Williams, American guitarist and composer who wrote for the Smothers Brothers TV show and performed his instrumental hit Classical Gas.
• 1945 — Vince McMahon, American entrepreneur who co-founded the company now known as World Wrestling Entertainment.
• 1960 — Cal Ripken Jr., American baseball player and coach who played 2,632 consecutive games for the Baltimore Orioles, breaking the record set by Lou Gehrig by over 500 games.
• 1973 — Dave Chappelle, American comedian, actor, producer, screenwriter, whose recent streaming stand-up specials are guaranteed to offend someone ready to be offended.
• ...and...
• February 24, 1989 — Daniel Kaluuya — British actor whose breakthrough starring role was in Jordan Peele's horror film Get Out.

Strat Limits (by pair average) A: 1500+, B: 500 - 1500, C: 0 - 500.
Masterpoints: Mostly red points but gold points for overall winners if they play another session in the Morning Side Game Series, and a chance for gold points for individuals whose two best games in the series are good enough to make the series overalls.
Puget Sound 2022 winners (6 tables):
A, B: Ron Delbecq - Marjorie Sinel, Bellingham WA

Afternoon-Evening Events (1:00pm / 7:00pm)

Friday-Saturday Mt. Adams Knockout Teams: Team game, 4-6 players on a team. Soloway-style knockout: two-session round-robin Swiss Teams for all teams on day one, short matches against every (or almost every) other team in the bracket, scored in IMPs and converted to Victory Points, with the top four teams in each bracket advancing to the semifinals, which begin tomorrow at [ALERT:] 10am, and are 24-board head-to-head matches with all four teams playing two matches for gold point awards for first through fourth place.

Bracketed, by team average into brackets of 9-16 teams.
Masterpoints: Gold points for teams win two full matches, red points for other match awards.  Lower brackets may have part-gold, part-red for overalls, based on masterpoints.
Puget Sound 2022 winners: (one bracket of 13 teams, so handicaps were applied):
Bracket I: Jack Lee, Richmond BC; Baixiang Liu - Amy Gao, New Westminster BC; James Wu, Surrey BC

Friday A/B/C Open Pairs: Two session pairs game, matchpoint scoring.

Strat Limits (by pair average) A: 3000+, B: 1500 - 3000, C: 0 - 1500.
Masterpoints: Gold points for overalls and some section tops, other awards are red points.  Note that you can win points in the first session that are replaced by a higher overall award after the second: you get the greater of your overall award or the sum of the session awards; not both combined.
Puget Sound 2022 winners (19, 19 tables):
A: Stephen Hosch, Olympia WA; Helen Miller, Tumwater WA
B, C: Lucy Zhong - Jack Qi, North Vancouver BC

Friday Gold Rush 0-750 Pairs: Two session pairs game, matchpoint scoring.

Strat Limits (by pair average) 7: 400 - 750, 4: 200 - 400, 2: 0-200.  No individuals over 750 points may play in this event, even if the pair average is below 750.
Masterpoints: Gold points for overalls and some section tops, other awards are red points.  Note that you can win points in the first session that are replaced by a higher overall award after the second: you get the greater of your overall award or the sum of the session awards; not both combined.
Puget Sound 2022 winners (11½, 10 tables):
7, 4: Nancy Hertl, Edmonds WA; Jonathan Weyn, Redmond WA
2: Betsy Bohnert - Dale Strawn, Seattle WA

Afternoon-only Events (1:00pm)

Friday Afternoon Side Game: Pairs game, part of the Afternoon Side Game Series (4th of 5).

Strat Limits (by pair average) A: 1500+, B: 500 - 1500, C: 0 - 500.
Masterpoints: Mostly red points but gold points for overall winners if they play another session in the Afternoon Side Game Series, and a chance for gold points for individuals whose two best games in the series are good enough to make the series overalls.
Puget Sound 2022 winners (7 tables):
A: Tom Carmichael, Marysville WA; Yoko Tilley, Bellevue WA
B: Ron Delbecq - Marjorie Sinel, Bellingham WA
C: Douglas Krauter, Snohmish WA; Stephen Wise, Everett WA

Friday Afternoon 199er Pairs: Pairs game, all players must have fewer than 200 masterpoints.

Strat Limits (by pair average) A: 50-200, B: 20 - 50, C: 0 - 20.
Masterpoints: Red points
Puget Sound 2022 winners (new event):

Evening-only Events (7:00pm)

Friday Evening Mt. Shuksan Board-A-Match Swiss Teams: Team game, 4-6 players on a team, short matches scored Board-A-Match style, where you can win or lose a board by a mere 10 points.

Strat Limits (by team average) A: 3000+, B: 750 - 3000, C: 0 - 750.
Masterpoints: Red points for overalls and match awards.
Puget Sound 2022 winners (9 teams):
A: Russell Wing, Lacey WA; Sandra Robson, New Westminster BC; Robert Getz, Marysville WA; Thomas Land, Vashon WA; tied with B winners John Massman III - Ann Romeo, Seattle WA; Muhunthan Sivapragasam, Redmond WA; Andrea James, Auburn WA
C: Judy Duning - Paul Sekulich - Stephen Brown, Olympia WA; Alice Arnold, Shelton WA

Friday Evening Side Game: Pairs game, part of the Evening Side Game Series (5th of 5).

Strat Limits (by pair average) A: 1500+, B: 500 - 1500, C: 0 - 500.
Masterpoints: Mostly red points but gold points for overall winners if they play another session in the Evening Side Game Series, and a chance for gold points for individuals whose two best games in the series are good enough to make the series overalls.
Puget Sound 2022 winners (scheduled, but didn't get enough entries...)