Catching Up with BridgeScanner
BridgeScanner is one of the leading websites for locating a bridge event anywhere in the world. There’s listings for thousands of events from organizers and players, and there’s more planned for the site to make it even better. We caught up with the BridgeScanner CEO Erikas Vainikonis to find out what’s new.
“BridgeScanner is doing pretty well,” says CEO Erikas Vainikonis. “Over the first 4 months of operation, we’ve seen more than 20k unique visitors on our website. We’re seeing it as good results, since our statistics tell us that users tend to come back. Of course, this means they like the project so far!”
And this very true: a recent mention in the International Bridge Press Association Bulletin has given BridgeScanner even more excellent publicity, and you can find all of the leading bridge events and a ton of the smaller ones listed on BridgeScanner already.
Starting in July, they have some more features coming to the site; “Event organizers will be able to create their own account and post event information on BridgeScanner, and we’ll have an identification process in place so we can be sure the person is the organizer of the given event.”
Also being introduced is a results system that allows organizers to post the data in real-time, and “more features in the works right now include a secure online payment system that allows players to pay their entry fees directly and online” says Erikas, “We’re also making the tournament registration system more advanced, including an event organizers back-end where event owners can go through things like budgets, entries and promotions.”
As well, they’re introducing a new events calender, and they’ve just come up with a service called Find Flights/SkyScanner in order to find the best deals on who to fly with to the nearest bridge event – what Erikas calls “a widget that will become more advanced with time.” They’re planning to introduce more options that can help you to find hotels, restaurants and car rentals for travelling to any bridge events you’ll find listed on the site.
Soon readers can look forward to a print-format BridgeScanner magazine being introduced in Istanbul. Erikas notes this will likely cut down on the amount of flyers that event organizers need to print in order to promote their events – and we’re sure it will be a fascinating read at the same time!
“As we’ve mentioned before, BridgeScanner has become the central place for finding all the information that bridge players could need to find the best event to play, and all of the tools to fit all of their needs once they’re at the event.”