Scoring Software
I’ve been the TD of my small Bridge Club for over 10 years. We have been using Bridgwebs for more years than that and it’s a great product and great value for money.
We’ve been using ScoreBridge for all those years and it does the job. The problem with it is the licencing; it is licenced to the individual person, he/she then moves on or dies and we have to pay to licence another person. We are a small (poor) Club, we keep our table money low to retain / attract members. Is there any alternative scoring software that works with Bridgwebs. I believe the EBU has such a product but unfortunately we are not affiliated (again, to keep our prices down). Could we pay to use the EBU scoring software product – how much?
Comments
You can pay for the EBUScore software alone.
I do think it's a shame that your members don't want to pay 42p a game to have the software for the club, as well as getting English Bridge magazine and diary as members, and supporting this forum which is provided by the EBU.
I'm surprised that you think a difference of 50p in your table money would make a difference to retaining or attracting members.
Thanks Gordon . . . . I totally agree with you and but unfortunatly it's not just about 50p it's about survival or going to the wall
If the overriding issue is cost you might wish to consider using BridgeScore which is free of charge. BridgeScore is not as comprehensive as EBUScore or ScoreBridge but maybe sufficient for your needs. It offers scoring for club pairs and teams and electronic scoring using BridgePals - should you wish to use this in future. It is used by quite a few clubs in UK and some world wide.
It seems to me that the underlying issue is not financial as such, but rather a membership or participation issue.
Similar to a lot of clubs, membership is declining and worsened after lockdowns - how one retains and gains new members, or increases the participation of existing members is an ongoing problem.
For example, if you were to double your table numbers overnight, I suspect that the pay-to-play fees would be immaterial? So the question in a longer-term view is: how to attain and retain members. If you find a solution to that question, please share it - it will be of interest to many clubs I am sure.
@Martin said:
That's certainly one of the most important and enduring topics of discussion among the board of the EBU and its various committees.