Flipping for cribbage proves successful strategy

If you copy your own idea for a successful fundraising event, is it really considered “cribbing”? It is for The Table Flippers, a PwYF team who’ve raised nearly $1,300 with their two cribbage tournaments this campaign year – with more to come!

A couple of years ago, team member Petra de Winter suggested her group of seven friends try a cribbage (aka crib) tournament as a fundraiser. That started the ball rolling, with two tournaments last year.

The Table Flippers are now “kicking it up even more,” to use captain Shane Hadland’s words, with plans to run a tournament roughly every three months. Their first tournaments for this campaign were held in June and early October, and the next one is currently being planned for next February, after the end-of-year rush is over.

For these events, The Table Flippers have partnered with Rebellion Brewing, a locally-owned brewery in Regina’s Warehouse District. It’s been a good partnership, providing both prizes (Rebellion donates over $200 in merchandise and gift cards to the winners) and a consistent location so people know where to come for the events. Plus, “people really love El Tropezon’s tacos, and the drinks,” Shane said.

Shane and his team members are always on the hunt for unique cribbage boards, which also feature at their events. At the June tournament, they raffled off a large wooden board shaped like a semi-truck!

Players start the tournament at a table of four and cut the deck. The two lowest cards are partners, with the lowest starting crib, so players move as needed to sit across from their partner. With this “mixed doubles” approach, you don’t need to have a crib partner at registration, which means more people can participate. After the game, the team that wins moves on to a new table, while the losers stay at the table and cut again for new teams.

“We do this for four rounds, with score sheets coming in to get entered into our spreadsheet. We track the wins and losses. So even if you lose 121 to 119, you still get recognized for how well you did,” Shane said. “This magical spreadsheet then puts people into A and B sides, where round five starts. Now, whoever loses gets eliminated. So, everyone is guaranteed five games, with the winners playing upwards of eight games. It’s a good system and gets everyone moving fairly often.”

The Table Flippers have found that focusing their fundraising around a familiar game like cribbage is attracting a wider range of participants than a more “niche” game might. They’re even seeing some repeat attendees.

For their crib tournaments, The Table Flippers primarily advertise through Facebook, but they also print a poster and put it up at Rebellion. “We had low sign-up initially, but the poster seemed to help kick things up,” Shane said. They generally sell out a 32-person event, raising $640 per event.

It sounds like The Table Flippers have found a solid fundraising strategy – one worth repeating!