Trying to keep the game together

This past year it’s been difficult to fill the Card Night table with enough players each week.  Sometimes it’s just because people are out of town or have other commitments.  That’s no big deal.

What is a big deal is that we’ve been losing some of our regulars, the latest being Mike S who told us last night, “Only call me if you’ve got four players or less.”  In other words, he’ll only play if we absolutely need him in order to have enough people.

I was told a while back that one of our regulars dropped out because I take the game too seriously.  I’m sorry if that was the case.  Perhaps I do go a bit overboard with a web page, a blog, and a podcast devoted to our little weekly game.  That’s my way of having fun with it.  But ultimately, it’s more important to me that others are having fun.

Please let me know what I can do to keep the game fun for players.  Let me know what I can do to keep our regulars coming back.

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Here’s a list of Card Night players we’ve had over the years.

Paul	One of our die-hards. Rarely misses a night. And, he’s probably the best poker player at the table.
Mary	Always makes it barring family commitments.
Bill	Travels a lot, but always attends if he’s in town.
Lyndon	Another dependable regular who occasionally has other commitments.
Mike S	Until recently, also a dependable regular. Mike’s been running cold lately.
Mark H	Used to be as regular as clockwork. Mark still holds the record for most consecutive Card Nights attended. Then a few months back, he just stopped coming.
Frank	Was a regular until about five years ago. Frank tries to make an appearance about once a year now.
Warren	Regularly attended for years, but cut back recently to minimize his losses. He attends once every couple months now. For years, Card Night was played at Warren’s house.
Phil	A semi-regular for a while; we rarely see him now.
John	Too busy and lives too far away to be a regular, but shows up when he can.
Jason	A relatively new player who has been attending regularly.
Norb	Mike S’s father-in-law Norb was a great guy who lived in Minnesota, but always came to Card Night when he visited during the winter. Sadly, we lost him to cancer last year.
Stan	One of the core group back in the 90s. Then he got married and moved away. He coined the phrase, “You idiot!”
Mike C	Used to show up every week and taunt Paul and Mike S as he dealt Pai Gow Poker. He disappeared a few years back, apparently for financial reasons. (He still owes $5.00 for the last Football Pool he entered!)
Ike	Used to always play when he was in town, which was about 50% of the time. The other 50% he was visiting relatives. Poor health has kept him away from the game lately. (Ike coined the phrase, “The cheese is in the ointment!”)
Troy and Violet	Very consistent in their attendance for the short time they could. They have since moved.
Ty, Greg, Rand, Matt, Miguel, Glen, Nick Have attended only a few times. Their regular attendance is unlikely, but would be welcomed!