274 tables at the end of Day Three (Wednesday), 50.3% of the 2019 total.
In 2022, there were 216 tables to this point.
In 2019, there were 545 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 23, 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 23. 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 basketball player who played his entire career with the LA Lakers, the 2008 NBA MVP.
• American retired football quarterback who is the all time leader in passing yards in the Canadian Football League.
• Former spokesperson for Subway restaurants for fifteen years.
• German-English organist/composer, who wrote the music played at coronations as a new British monarch receives the annoiting of holy oils behind screens.
• American actor, singer, dancer, and choreographer who co-directed and starred in some of the best musicals of the 1940s and 50s.
• American comedian and pianist who appeared on PBS singing new lyrics to classic songs as political and social satire.

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. Bridges gives you a grid of islands, circles containing a number. Your objective is connect the islands with bridges so that 1) all bridges are horizontal or vertical only, no diagonal or curved bridges, 2) The numbers in the circles indicate the number of bridges that go to that island, 3) Two islands may be connected with one or two bridges, but no more, 4) Bridges may not cross one another or go over an island, and 5) All of the islands need to be connected together with the network of bridges. Strategy: bigger numbers usually allow you to connect one bridge in each possible direction and later decide which directions have second bridges as well; check how many islands can actually be connected with up-down or left-right lines, often this will give you clues as to where the bridges must be. 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 2sec)
	Medium puzzle (McBruce's time: 1min 10sec)
	Tricky puzzle (McBruce's time: 1min 51sec)

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

(Click here to go back to the questions!)

August 23 birthdays:

• 1912 — Gene Kelly, American actor, singer, dancer, and choreographer who co-directed and starred in some of the best musicals of the 1940s and 50s.
• 1932 — Mark Russell, American comedian and pianist who appeared on PBS singing new lyrics to classic songs as political and social satire.
• 1972 — Anthony Calvillo, American retired football quarterback who is the all time leader in passing yards in the Canadian Football League.
• 1977 — Jared Fogle, former spokesperson for Subway restaurants for fifteen years.
• 1978 — Kobe Bryant, American basketball player who played his entire career with the LA Lakers, the 2008 NBA MVP.
• ...and...
• February 23, 1685 — George Frideric Handel, German-English organist/composer, who wrote the music played at coronations as a new British monarch receives the annoiting of holy oils behind screens.

Strat Limits (by pair average) A: 3000+, B: 750 - 3000, C: 0 - 750.
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: Ann Romeo, Seattle WA; Firooz Nikpour Badr, Corte Madera CA

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

Wednesday-Thursday Mt. Baker 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 1pm, 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 that make the semifinals and play all four sessions, red points for Swiss match awards.  Lower brackets may have part-gold, part-red for overalls, based on masterpoints.
Puget Sound 2022 winners: (13 teams in 2 brackets)
Bracket I: Nicholas Stock; North Vancouver BC; Ray Miller; Seattle WA; Ken Scholes; Bellevue WA; Eric Sieg; Issaquah WA
Bracket II: Thomas Anderson - Jack Qi - Lucy Zhong; North Vancouver BC; Stephen Pickett; Vancouver BC

Thursday Olympics Bracketed Round-Robin Swiss Teams: Team game, 4-6 players on a team, short matches scored in IMPs.

Bracketed, by team average into brackets of usually 7-9 teams.
Masterpoints: Gold points for bracket overalls, red points for match awards.  Lower brackets may have part-gold, part-red for overalls, based on masterpoints.
Puget Sound 2022 winners (8 teams, only one bracket, so stratified):
A: Patti Hartley; Kenmore WA; Paul Schwaighart; Normandy Park WA; Marty McCune - Mary McCune; Seattle WA
B, C: Joel Fuhrman; Kirkland WA; Andrew Mitchell; Oak Harbor WA; Dex Stuberg; Seattle WA; Cliff Marx; Everett WA

Thursday 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 (14½, 15 tables):
A, B: Hugh Hendrickson; Renton WA; James Madison; Cheney WA
C: William Campbell; Mercer Island WA; Ted Bartunek; Kent WA

Thursday 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 (14, 11½ tables):
7, 4: Grant Davis; Bellevue WA; Steven Mark Lewis; Kirkland WA
2: Betsy Bohnert - Dale Strawn; Seattle WA

Afternoon-only Events (1:00pm)

Thursday Afternoon Side Game: Pairs game, part of the Afternoon Side Game Series (3rd of 5).

Strat Limits (by pair average) A: 3000+, B: 750 - 3000, C: 0 - 750.
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 (6 tables):
A: Ron Beall - Jennifer Beall, Bellingham WA
B, C: John Nader - Veronica Deskey, Ferndale WA

Wednesday 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)

Thursday Evening Side Game: Pairs game, part of the Evening 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 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 (4 tables):
A, B: Dong Wei; Newcastle WA; Yong Cao; Redmond WA