The American Checker Federation

Hi everyone, I know I have been away from the game for a while (and my time will be further occupied since I have a kid on the way), but I have kept up with the ACF from a distance during my years-long hiatus. What I have seen is troubling. The organization seems to be stagnating, and membership dec...

Hi all, Just want to let you know, in case you weren't already aware, that we will be hosting an Arkansas State Checkers Tournament again this year after a many-year hiatus. It's on the ACF tourney calendar, but wanted to make a post on here as well to ensure everyone saw it. The details are below: ...

Hi all, I met earlier this week with Quint Hodges, another player who lives near me (I'm now living in Fort Smith, Arkansas). He has started looking into having another Arkansas State Checkers Tournament in Fort Smith sometime early next summer. I'd like to see if there's any interest from those in ...

I will say this: I don't think there should be a drastic increase in prize money (from outside donations, at least) without a coordinated attempt to promote youth playing checkers across the country. Without it, we are really just wasting money on people already committed to the game. (I'm talking a...

I do feel like Eric has some good ideas - I'm not sure if I agree with some of the attitudes towards older players, but I do agree that raising the entry fee is a good idea, although I feel that many people will dislike this idea. The idea of paying more money to play checkers, a game many play in t...

Eric, Not necessarily. For many young people, the competition is there, sure, there's a need for fierce competition. But for many of the older players, the competition is much more light-hearted. By this I mean that sportsmanship comes before competition - as it should. If money were introduced, I t...

In many of my conversations with fellow checker players, the point is often made that the game of checkers - in any competitive, institutionalized way - is dying. There is compelling proof for this: after peaking in 2001, in which there was a Nationals with over 100 competitors, tournament numbers h...

The continuation of this thread is, ultimately, irrelevant, as we have called attention to the fact that tournaments should be run with the utmost dignity and care, and I have no doubt that the tourney overseers will be much more circumspect in coming tournaments. I, for one, never came into contact...

Josh, I think you are looking at the outlook of checkers a little pessimistically. The Internet generation of checker players has revived the game--many have gone to other things, you apparently included now, but they still know the game and I am hopeful that they will some day return to it. I don't...

A lot of people don't have respect for 1/0 games, but regardless, we need to make concessions for younger players if we want to attract them to the game.

Josh brings up a point I'm about to make. This might be a radical idea for older players, but I think we should have a ACF-sanctioned 1/0 online tournament, both 3-move and GAYP. Have a new title for "U.S. 1/0 Online Champ, 3-move" and the same for GAYP, and host two tournaments to decide ...

Yes, many congrats to Trey. Like Joe Schwartz said (and, like I guess we've been saying in this forum), we don't have enough young players attending tournaments anymore. Great to see some showing up and doing well. Keep studying and you'll be a majors champ in no time.

Agreed John. But it's easy to say we need mentors in the game. I'm hesitant to say we set up a mentoring "program," as that seems like it would force friendships a little too much. What we do need, though, is to make sure that we as older players are there as facilitators to the younger pl...

You're basically saying that the payment checker players receive for tournament play is nothing more than a token payment, compared to the NBA, which is people paying for entertainment. I get that. Conceptually though, my point still stands strong. But let me make the point that I should've made in ...

Alright, thanks for the recommendations. If we're wanting to get more youth involved in checkers, raising the prize money for minors isn't the way to do it; that just gives them less incentive to continue to a more competitive division like majors or masters. Furthermore, it's like paying the NBA's ...