ACF Bulletin

Since 1952, the official publication of the American Checker Federation

This page (written by Jim Loy) is about the ACF Bulletin, and will include sample issues, so that you can see what it looks like.

The ACF Bulletin is a bi-monthly membership magazine, not sold by individual subscription. It is sent only to members of the American Checker Federation. ACF dues are payable in advance for the calender year, January through December. Dues are $40 U.S. per year for members in U.S., Canada, and other countries, of which at least $10 is for subscription to the ACF Bulletin.

IMPORTANT DUES NOTICE: The ACF Executive Board approved a member dues increase effective in 2012. Raising dues in a tough economy is not an easy decision, but it is noted that ACF has not raised dues on US members since 1996. It is also noted that other game organizations (chess and pool checkers) have already required dues for their members far above the $25 we have maintained for many years. The bulletin we print eats up all of our current available cash flow. Many of our current members paid their lifetime dues over a decade ago, and no income is received from them today, yet they continue to receive bulletins (as they should). The cost of postage continues to increase. We frequently run into bulletins being returned to us because a member moved without informing us of an address change, a situation which also costs ACF money. The new dues structure will be as follows (12-month membership with mailed bulletin, unless otherwise noted)

The ACF Executive board continues to assess our fiscal situation. We have restored our 501(c)7 non-profit status that was not renewed many years ago. Tournament Directors should note that dues collected at ACF-sanctioned events now follow a 12-month membership period (no pro-rated dues for 4-months only, for example). Please check your expiration date on your membership card (or bulletin address label) and remember to submit your dues to the ACF treasurer (address on front cover of the ACF Bulletin) if they expire at the end of the year. Payment may also be made on-line (with small PayPal fee) at ACF Store

• About a typical issue:
  • Front cover with table of contents and addresses of some officers. Be sure and read the table of contents, as some people miss things and then complain later.
  • News page
  • Tournament Results
  • Tournament Calendar (and Club Calendar)
  • Beginners' Page
  • Obituaries
  • Ccorrections of Kear's Encyclopedia
  • Checkers Market Place (in the December issue)
  • Continuing games of the Three-Move National Tournament
  • Numbered Board
  • other things (scattered around the ACFB)
• ACFB #313 through #333 (including the games of the 2004 National Ty.):

  #313 (Feb. 2005)	#319 (Feb. 2006)	#325 (Feb. 2007)	#331 (Feb. 2008)
  #314 (Apr. 2005)	#320 (Apr. 2006)	#326 (Apr. 2007)	#332 (Apr. 2008)
  #315 (Jun. 2005)	#321 (Jun. 2006)	#327 (Jun. 2007)	#333 (Jun. 2008)
  #316 (Aug. 2005)	#322 (Aug. 2006)	#328 (Aug. 2007)
  #317 (Oct. 2005)	#323 (Oct. 2006)	#329 (Oct. 2007)
  #318 (Dec. 2005)	#324 (Dec. 2006)	#330 (Dec. 2007)

• ACFB #334 through #350 (including the games of the 2006 and 2008 National Tys.):

  	#337 (Feb. 2009)	#343 (Feb. 2010)	#349 (Feb. 2011)
  	#338 (Apr. 2009)	#344 (Apr. 2010)	#350 (Apr. 2011)
  	#339 (Jun. 2009)	#345 (Jun. 2010)
  #334 (Aug. 2008)	#340 (Aug. 2009)	#346 (Aug. 2010)
  #335 (Oct. 2008)	#341 (Oct. 2009)	#347 (Oct. 2010)
  #336 (Dec. 2008)	#342 (Dec. 2009)	#348 (Dec. 2010)

• Sample issue (Feb. 2012)
• Errors in the ACFB (I promise to continue making errors in the future)
  • ACFB #313, Feb. 2005, page 7, second PSCA Ladder should be Tribble's Ladder. Page 11, the third diagram should have a White king instead of a Red king. National Tournament pages: the cross tables were shown in ACFB #315. The tournament took place in Vegas.
  • ACFB #314, Apr. 2005, p.12, 2nd line, "18-22 26-17 15-18" should be "15-11 7-16 18-15". Last paragraph of that article, 2nd line, "double corner" should be "single corner". National Ty. pages 9 and 10 were missing. They were printed in ACFB #315, Jun. 2005 before p.17. On the back cover, Lisle Cormier was the GA State Champ.
  • ACFB #314 and #315, on the cover, "Since 1948, the official publication of the American Checker Federation," should be "Since 1952 ..."
  • ACFB #315, June 2005, pages 10 - 12 said April and ACFB #314 at the top of these pages.
  • ACFB #316, Aug. 2005, Tournament Results, some of the dates are shaky or missing. This may have happened in other issues of the ACFB, as these reports are typed by a number of people. Page 8, bottom paragraph, "autobiographies" should be "autographs."
  • ACFB #318, Dec. 2005, the fifth member of the British/Irish team was Bill Dobbins, not Brian Dobbins.
  • ACFB #319, Feb. 2006, dated Feb. 2005 at the top of every page. Page 1, Amangul Durdyeva is from Turkmenistan, which I misspelled. The District 8 champ is Rupert Boeselt, not Ed King. The Nebraska State Champ is George Stallsworth. Top of National Tournament page 53, "Continued on back cover" belongs on the previous page. The New England Dist. 1 and States Open announcement has some strange characters in it; see ACFB #320 for the corrected announcement.
  • ACFB #320, Apr. 2006, the "expanded map," inside back cover, was reduced back to its original size.
  • ACFB #323, Oct. 2006, p. 2, the bottom two tournaments are the same.
  • ACFB #328, Aug. 2007, p. 3, the two bottom tournaments were played in July, not Aug. P.7, middle paragraph, end of 3rd line, 19-15 is 18-15 (sent in by Ted Speevak).
  • ACFB #330, Dec. 2007, front cover, two items on p.10 are on p.6
  • Also see Critics' Corner within each ACFB for the correction of more errors.
• History of the ACFB
  • The ACF began in 1948, by a merger of the ACA and NCA.
  • Issue #1 of the ACFB was published in 1952, with two pages of news and numerous pages of ACF National Ty. games. The Editors have been Lee Munger (1952-1960), W. Burke Grandjean (1961-1989), Charles Walker (1989-1994), Alfred E. Lyman (1994-2003), Al Darrow (2003-2004), Jim Loy (2005- . . . )
• The guest computer article (Play Against the Computer by Bob Newell) in the April 2008 ACFB has received favorable comments. See the original at http://www.bobnewell.net/checkers/learncheckers.html part 4.1.
• Champs
• Checkers Market Place
• Bonus! Tribute to Paxton. I've typed this famous newspaper. Read it and be amazed.
• Deadline: As bulk mail is much slower than I expected, I will try to finish the ACFB by the 15th of the previous month. Small additions and changes can be made right up to that day. The deadline for the December ACFB may be a few days earlier, because the mail is even slower then.

© Copyright 2012, American Checker Federation

See Contact Us for the email addresses of these officers.