Now, typically, a lot of tournaments do not offer “door
prizes” as much more than a novelty prize of some type. However, in our
tournaments the door prizes are legitimate awards. In GW tournaments you win
back your entry fee, or in X-Wing, a whole ship.
After running tournaments over the past six months, we have received
a lot of feedback. It has been a mixed bag a lot of the time. However, that
just comes from players having different expectations. One thing that is ever
present at our events is that the value of 1-3rd placing isn’t HUGE.
Don’t get me wrong, first place is still a considerable prize. However, it isn’t
70% of the entry fee’s piled together. Now, the reality is that there are a
large number of players who won’t have commission painted armies, or the latest
meta-build. So why should they come to tournaments? Well, for the “soft” (as
they have been referred to) prizes! Having random door prizes gives you decent
chance of getting something (remember you can’t be eligible for the door prize
if you have won another award). At our X-Wing tournament this resulted in you
having a 1/10 chance of getting it. Which doesn’t sound like a lot, but it’s
better than going home with nothing!
Aside from that, it really comes down to having a friendly
environment. If you design your tournament to only focus on giving the
competitive players the edge, then you will get the competitive crowd. If you
design it to have “soft” prizes and scores, you will get the corresponding
players. This isn’t to say that the competitive players aren’t welcome, or that
those tournaments won’t be enjoyable. It is simply a model in which to promote
your events from.
Anyway! Hopefully we will see you at one of our events!
- Out
could be honorary "prizes" also. where they get some kind of rank or title for next match up [tourney] with X special notes as to what it entails. think best sportsman/army painted/character/conversion and the like. next time you'll likely have more people with painted armies....be creative and the reward/prizes will be as well, that said have fun
ReplyDeleteInteresting concept. Maybe if you come first or last three times in a row, you get the fourth tournament free.
DeleteOur local RTT gives the usual 1st / 2nd / 3rd, plus last place on BP's, and then funds permitting, gives out random "wonky" awards like best-painted, or mid-pack on BP's or occasionally a "Hey, you have a really cool army" award.
ReplyDeleteYeah those sound awesome.
DeleteI like the idea of door prizes as it gives everyone a chance to win something, even those that bring fluffy lists or are generally not very good players. Creates a much more inclusive atmosphere and there is not so much pressure to win as the prizes are spread around, as well as rewarding those who place.
ReplyDeleteLocally we've switched to the top awards being a trophy, and all the product being draw prizes that everyone is able to win... we give each player 10 tickets as their "door prize" for showing up, and they just put whatever tickets they want into the draws for the various prizes. Since doing so our events have kept up a steady stream of casual players, while the more competitive minded still come out for the bragging rights of the trophy. For our smaller one day events we have a local trophy that stays in store, and if you win a top spot in any tourney your name is engraved on it and you get a cool certificate - everything else is draw prizes. We just found over time that about five players were consistently winning all the product which is quite discouraging to everyone else attending - who you actually need to be there to have the numbers to even have the tourney in the first place! So we switched to catering to the majority - the minority still come out too : )
ReplyDelete