Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

This game needs better prize support

Status
Not open for further replies.
edwarpy said:
Hear, hear Scipio! You think all my trainers gather 'round because of the 1.00 worth of POP pack
cardboard I give out each week? Nope. 'Prizetime!', means real prizes, nothing to do with POP.
It's more likely the $10-15 worth of actual cool stuff we ship every week. You think it matters?
You bet. Our league are such givers, we have kids asking if they can run prizetime next week and
give away their cards! You think it matters? Yeah. After nine months of a brand new league we
had the biggest prerelease turnout in the state:

40 x 25 = 800 smackeros. POP investment = $20, maybe.

With other product we buy, that's and easy $1000 where there was nothing before....
Click to expand...

That is YOUR league. Each league handles stuff differently. My league consists mainly of kids who come in here with pretty much NOTHING to begin with, and just look for a good and fun time - kids who get happy just recieving an old Mew promo because OMGITSMEWIGOTSOMETHINGRARE. I do things with holidays and give out some stuff as well, that is my method. I prefer to keep it all free because of the fact that these kids don't care nearly as much for playing as most experienced players do. Each league has his own approach, I run mine in a loose manner, letting the kids have their fun. Not having to charge anything. Given as how I'm not a prerelease TO (Not a TO at all for that matter), prerelease means next to nothing to me.
Bottom line: Each league works differently. The guy I aimed at was being sore about his league's entrance fee compared to prices so I explained him how the very basic works. If you want to run your league that way, all the power to me. But I will stick to my way, just as how other league leaders do. I'm getting enough attendance in the end, the store is happy with the sales increase they get and the kids are happy with their fun hours after a long school week.
 
ShopCCNC -- a quick lesson in retailing.

Last week our Scouts visited a major sporting goods store on career night to learn a bit about the retail business. One of the sales statistics they use involves counting each person who walks in the door and compare it to the total number of sales. On a good day, they'll achieve 25% -- that is, only 1/4 of those who enter their store actually buys anything.

So, the question is, are the other 75% bad for business?

Every business should expect window shoppers and "mall rats" to loiter/linger in their store. Enticing those non-shoppers to "open their wallets/purses" is what retail is all about.

Nevertheless, I can understand there are some major moochers out there. At our last City Championship, one of the winners was a player who has never bought a single Pokemon card -- he borrows his friend's deck every week. THOSE are the kind of players who are bad for business, IMO.
 
SteveP said:
ShopCCNC -- a quick lesson in retailing.

.......


So, the question is, are the other 75% bad for business?

.
Click to expand...

Hmm wrong question!

The real question is do you still have a viable business if the sales rate drops, and at what point does the majority of non-paying browsers prevent potential paying customers from entering the store?
 
As a fan of Yu-Gi-Oh!, I kind of need to step in here to actually stab my game in the back for a few moments...

Our prize support and the fact we pay for tournaments is the very reason we have so much trouble with thieves, cheaters, and the like in our collective events (tournaments and pre-releases). That, and the fact we have so few in a collective area that the crowds are massive.

My former friend (we've had some rough times lately) played at a recent tournament with a Zombie deck containing Plaguespreader Zombie (for those whom play Pokemon to know, it's a good card and highly-valued)... He placed in the top 16. Later that day, his deck was stolen. Want to know why? There are four major reasons that Yu-Gi-Oh! has more of these problems reported than Pokemon:

1. We have less Organized Tournament Events than Pokemon.
2. We have more concentrated Organized Tournament Events than Pokemon (meaning that we tend to have 150+ players in an area at a time, which translates to a thieves' playground if the players aren't paying attention to their belongings).
3. We have ludicrous prize support. 4th place in Nationals gets a PS3 and packs, last time I checked. States are just about as insane...
4. We pay $15 a pop for our tournaments, if not more.

Moral of the story? Don't change a thing.
 
Ardoptres said:
You get scholarships worth more than a PS3 at US Nats I believe.. Lol.
Click to expand...

True, but that's just 4th place. <_<;;

And that's actually Shonen Jump Championship, which is different from Nationals/Worlds. Nats and Worlds have prizes that change every year, if I'm not mistaken, the only constant being Golden Sarcophagus.

Edit: For iteration...

1st A laptop computer, championship trophy, the Shonen Jump Championship Prize Card "Doomcaliber Knight" and booster packs of the most current set + Nats invite
2nd 16GB iPod Touch, Nintendo DS Lite, "Doomcaliber Knight" and booster packs of the most current set + Nats invite
3rd Sony Playstation 3 Gaming Console, "Doomcaliber Knight" and booster packs of the most current set + Nats invite
4th Sony Playstation 3 Gaming Console and booster packs of the most current set + Nats invite
5th - 8th Nintendo DS Lite and booster packs of the most current set + Nats invite
9th - 16th iPod Shuffle and booster packs of the most current set

The number of booster packs goes down for each ranking, but they're not extremely low. Shonen Jump Championships take place less frequently than our Regionals, but are essentially our most-important tournaments other than Nats/Worlds. They take place in most of the same locations as the Regionals, however, and you do not need to win a Regional to get into the SJ Championships.

It's the most common way to get in to Nationals...
 
Last edited:
NoPoke said:
Hmm wrong question!

The real question is do you still have a viable business if the sales rate drops, and at what point does the majority of non-paying browsers prevent potential paying customers from entering the store?
Click to expand...
Rates, numbers, statistics...

I suppose you could argue that any statistic can be used incorrectly.

My whole point was that you have to expect some percentage of non-paying browsers.

In my opinion, a store owner that runs league should do the following in order to keep both classes of players happy:

- Any purchases you make at the store are tallied on your account.
- Based on your tally, you pay less or $zero to play at the store.

Obviously, you should also provide incentive to attract new players (ie., free entry for one month).

With more revenue, either through sales or entry fees, the store-owner-PTO can cover costs AND provide better prize support.

One final word. I MUST tell you how good our Colorado store-owner-PTO is. Once per month, he charges $5 per player. For each week that we hold league, he opens about 6-8 boosters and has a random drawing for the holos, rares, and uncommons. The players LOVE IT!
 
SteveP said:
One final word. I MUST tell you how good our Colorado store-owner-PTO is. Once per month, he charges $5 per player. For each week that we hold league, he opens about 6-8 boosters and has a random drawing for the holos, rares, and uncommons. The players LOVE IT!
Click to expand...

I had no desire to move to Colorado until now. :p

All jokes aside, that's pretty awesome.
 
Like ArmoredMewtwo said, once you start comparing one TCG OP to another, you "open a can of worms."

You can only compare it historically to itself, then ask, "Why the change?"

If I really wanted, I could pick US Nats -- the year that WOTC lost the license. The prize support at that event was absolutely massive, relatively speaking. I finished 3rd in the Prof Cup. I got a dozen booster boxes, a limited-made red Professor jacket, a trophy, some uncut foil sheets, and other misc stuff. The winner got 4 cases (or more), a complete base set 1st edition, a gaming system, the red jacket, a big trophy, and more.
 
Last edited:
SteveP said:
Like ArmoredMewtwo said, once you start comparing one TCG OP to another, you "open a can of worms."

You can only compare it historically to itself, then ask, "Why the change?"

If I really wanted, I could pick US Nats -- the year that WOTC lost the license. The prize support at that event was absolutely massive, relatively speaking. I finished 3rd in the Prof Cup. I got a dozen booster boxes, a limited-made red Professor jacket, a trophy, some uncut foil sheets, and other misc stuff. The winner got 4 cases (or more), a complete base set 1st edition, a gaming system, the red jacket, a big trophy, and more.
Click to expand...

Thats what we need.
 
and why was the prize support so massive the last year wotc had the license?

...because they were getting rid of their branded product, that's why...

'mom
 
SD PokéMom said:
and why was the prize support so massive the last year wotc had the license?

...because they were getting rid of their branded product, that's why...

'mom
Click to expand...

Well no duh it was like ude day this weekend but they should have a fire sale of older stes at nats and worlds.
 
I know I'm kind of just jumping into the shark tank here :lol:

I have never gotten into YGO but from what I have read, the prizes are great!
But the downside of such great prizes also means that people will be more willing to do anything to get them. (steal cards, decks. Cheat, and other things)

I don't know how the community, as a whole, are at YGO events, but from my experiences at origins, reginals, states, citys, and other sanctioned events, the community is somewhat, how do you say, trustworthy.

At my states last year, for example, I had left my deck on a table by the food court. I realized after getting back to the play area I had left it somewhere! I went back to the table and it was gone :*( I looked for people with the same deck box I had and it was no where to be found. I then walked to the stage and found my salamence, dragonite, and raquaza deck box sitting right in the middle :D I was running a deck with some very valuable cards in it (TSD, claydols, non tin darkrai lv.x's and honchkrow lv.x's).

What I'm trying to get at here is if the same value deck was left in a tournament where let's say, a car was the 1st place trophy would it still have been returned? Probably not sadly :/
But if the prize for first was let's say, a box of the newest set, Would it be more likely that the deck would be returned? Probably.


Conclusion:
Would I rather have prizes that are amazing, but have to pay a fee, and loose the trustworthyness of the community?
Or
Have smaller, more just for fun prizes that are also free ,and have a crowd of just die hard fans that are there for the love of the game?

When something is free, don't complain, take what you can get from it :thumb:
 
pinkertonfan said:
You do realize that the deck that won nats only cost about $200.
Click to expand...

Yes i do but look at the one deck that wins more than half the tournys.. Tele-DAD.. how much does that deck cost to make? $1500. True the deck that won nats was only about $200 but almost every event is won by Tele-DAD or more than half the decks that make top cut are gues... Yep.. Tele-DAD... Tele-DAD is like the Gardy-Gallade for pokemon. There are very few decks that beat it and even then its always a tough match.
 
mine is cooler said:
I know I'm kind of just jumping into the shark tank here :lol:

I have never gotten into YGO but from what I have read, the prizes are great!
But the downside of such great prizes also means that people will be more willing to do anything to get them. (steal cards, decks. Cheat, and other things)

I don't know how the community, as a whole, are at YGO events, but from my experiences at origins, reginals, states, citys, and other sanctioned events, the community is somewhat, how do you say, trustworthy.

At my states last year, for example, I had left my deck on a table by the food court. I realized after getting back to the play area I had left it somewhere! I went back to the table and it was gone :*( I looked for people with the same deck box I had and it was no where to be found. I then walked to the stage and found my salamence, dragonite, and raquaza deck box sitting right in the middle :D I was running a deck with some very valuable cards in it (TSD, claydols, non tin darkrai lv.x's and honchkrow lv.x's).

What I'm trying to get at here is if the same value deck was left in a tournament where let's say, a car was the 1st place trophy would it still have been returned? Probably not sadly :/
But if the prize for first was let's say, a box of the newest set, Would it be more likely that the deck would be returned? Probably.


Conclusion:
Would I rather have prizes that are amazing, but have to pay a fee, and loose the trustworthyness of the community?
Or
Have smaller, more just for fun prizes that are also free ,and have a crowd of just die hard fans that are there for the love of the game?

When something is free, don't complain, take what you can get from it :thumb:
Click to expand...

Essentially my point.

The sad truth is this: the reason that it is stressed so much that there are cheaters/thieves/scum in the Yu-Gi-Oh! community also happens to be the reason why it does exist. People are afraid of their cards getting stolen... People don't attend. Numbers drop. Players there have more chance of winning. The thieves there steal cards/decks to sabotage opposition, and, if they aren't dealt with, soon have some of the highest chances to win. Cheaters do essentially the same thing. As for those that play fair, rarely will they be 'nice' people, and most of the time they'll run broken deck types like DAD.

All in all, it's not very profitable for anyone but those individuals. That's why I (along with some official tournament judges) struggle so much to fight that vindictive system... But, no real luck yet. >_<

poke_master2008 said:
Yes i do but look at the one deck that wins more than half the tournys.. Tele-DAD.. how much does that deck cost to make? $1500. True the deck that won nats was only about $200 but almost every event is won by Tele-DAD or more than half the decks that make top cut are gues... Yep.. Tele-DAD... Tele-DAD is like the Gardy-Gallade for pokemon. There are very few decks that beat it and even then its always a tough match.
Click to expand...

Gardy-Gallade is actually good most of the time, though. The only reason that Tele-DAD does so well is because it's played by the majority of players whom can afford it. One Torrential Tribute and there goes the strategy.
 
Yu Gi Oh is statistically more expensive than Pokemon. So what, it also has a different OP, different structures, and different prize ratios. Trying to compare the two is like comparing Boston Market to Vin Diesel. Even if you make a comparison... so what?
 
SD PokéMom said:
and why was the prize support so massive the last year wotc had the license?

...because they were getting rid of their branded product, that's why...

'mom
Click to expand...
Yup, and it was very memorable for those on the receiving end.

But the point is, WOTC was always a bit more generous with player prize support, relatively speaking. I'm just comparing WOTC and PUI at that level only (prize support).

Certainly, PUI has done a number of things better than WOTC. For example, PUI is better at staff support, so it seems to me.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top