Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Change in UK prerelease prize structure? (UK TOs, please view and confirm)

pokeguru

pokeguru

New Member
Hello. I'm not entirely sure about the accuracy of this, as my memories from this conversation are a little vague. However, I'd really like to know if it is true, as it has been bugging me.

I was informed by my TO and good friend, Gordon "Chalkey" White, at a prerelease this past weekend that the prize structure for prereleases were changing. Apparently, he received a letter from The Place for Games Ltd, saying that all the players would now be earning at the end were 4 boosters, prerelease pin and card and, depending how far they got, the tournament winners pin and poster (only if they win overall in all 3 age categories). This seems quite a shock, compared to the prize I earned at the Emerald prerelease (ending up earning a box in total of product throughout that day by winning the PR), and I was wondering how other UK Tournament Organisers felt about this...pretty sudden change of events.

We were also told we were now forced to charge £15 for our prereleases and could no longer run our "Weekend ticket" option....well, we could, but it won't be discounted. Since our TO regularly buys the rest of his product, I don't know exactly what real problem there was with this, but I'm happy to accept this if necessary.

What I'm not so happy about is the fact that players who could usually earn more than double the amount they paid in prizes alone are now only earning 4 boosters and a couple of other things. I, like many other players I know, use the prereleases to get a large amount of the cards for a relatively cheap price, which really helps the younger players, for example, who just don't really have the money to afford to buy the set through boosters. After playing in a few prereleases though, they ended up collecting enough of the set to build pretty good rogue decks, which do quite well. The fact is that if this really now is the prize structure, they now suffer a great disadvantage.

I don't know all the information about this; I'm not a TO yet, nor am I a league owner. I don't have the letter on me to hand, as our TO has it. My information may not be fully correct; this was mearly the information that I remember from a discussion with my TO.

I am, however, a player concerned about whether this really is the right choice for players. If another UK TO can put me at ease or at least confirm my thoughts about what exactly is going on for us in the future UK prereleases, that'd be great. If I seem a bit annoyed, I apologise, but if this is true, I'd like to know for sure.

Thanks very much,
PokeGuru
 
10 total packs is all you get in the USA PR too, unless the PTO throws extra product in for top finishers. 6 to build with, 4 at end and 2 POP packs.

Keith
 
Some UK TO's were running tournaments where the prize structure was altered so that the top players got more and the lower ranked players less.

POP have confirmed that the prize structure for Int'l events is set by the LD and TPfG are now insisting that we give the min away to each player. That does not stop TOs altering the prize structure by topping it up and distributing more goodies.

I think we achived that at the http://www.theplayersclub.org.uk/ pre-release in Slough. As a TO I prefer to ensure all players go away thinking they got a good deal for their money and the flatter prize structure does just that ensures all go away with more than they paid for plus a days play too :D
 
we've received 10 packs minimum since team rocket returns (at least). Its an excellent way of running things IMO- those lower placed players aren't therefore paying for the winner's prize packs!!
 
afirule said:
we've received 10 packs minimum since team rocket returns (at least). Its an excellent way of running things IMO- those lower placed players aren't therefore paying for the winner's prize packs!!
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Not all the UK's TO's were running on this system and it was only this pre-release where TPfG specifically stated that TO's couldn't alter the prizes.

Personally this is the system we always used at www.southeastchallenge.com and www.gamersguild.co.uk pre-releases so you may not have seen the older winner takes all system some TO's favoured.
 
i remember at one pre-release for hidden legends, top place got half a box and i got like 2 packs. it sucks when that happens...

even though ive won pre-releases now and only received almost the same as everyone else, id rather the lower places went away with a good amount of cards--> encourages people to stay in the game and come to more pre-releases!
 
afirule said:
i remember at one pre-release for hidden legends, top place got half a box and i got like 2 packs. it sucks when that happens...

even though ive won pre-releases now and only received almost the same as everyone else, id rather the lower places went away with a good amount of cards--> encourages people to stay in the game and come to more pre-releases!
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Can't agree more pre-releases seem an excellent way to get more players involved and coming to tourneys :D
 
You better prepare for a new worldwide standard for prereleases.
6 boosters to play, 1 for each player who completes tournament.
than for each player attending 1 booster which is up to the TO to staffle (bulk) and given to the nr 1-4.
this way at a large attended tournament the winners get 4-5-6-7 boosters and everyone else 1.
 
It's not really fair for there to be large prizes in prereleases, since they are mainly luck-based. Winning boxes sort of took away from the point of the prerelease: getting a look at new cards and trying them out. Under the 10 total booster plan, this generally works out. If a box is the prize, it becomes an overly serious event at which somebody tries to score a cheap box through luck.
 
Wow, I'm actually surprised by the number of replies I got here. Shows what happens when you head off to 1st day of new school term. :mad:

I seriously had no idea that this was the similar deal in other places in the UK, but TOs could use their own product to increase the fund. This is what happens when there is only one TO holding prereleases in my area. It seemed a bit weird why they decided forcing the thing specifically for these prereleases...Ah well.

The flatter structure may seem fairer, but doing the "higher you rank, more prizes" system appears to keep the competitive spirit a bit more alive up here. Of course, with some people who may appear a little TOO competitive, that's not always a good thing.

Good to know that the thing is a topic of discussion for most UK players here.

EDIT: The policy we used to run, before the forced change, was that there wasn't just a box for the winner and that's it. What we did is increased the "prize pot" by a few boosters for each player that entered and that gets split up depending on how you did. Players who came, say 10th, in a 17 player tournament would get *tries to think back to when he came 10th in a PR* I think 3 or 4 boosters, plus the POP boosters and pin/promo, wheras a person who came 4th would get around 10 boosters, and the other stuff mentioned earlier. Perhaps this is the system everyone else runs, I don't know. Like I said earlier, I'm not a TO yet, so I don't know too much about prize structures yet.
 
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PRs are meant to be FUN, not competitive. Therefore, that appears to be the reason POP/PUI has instituted the flat prize structure and the same price. Believe me...the kids love opening those 4 add'l packs at the end of the tourney instead of seeing a couple of people only walking away with a box or half box.

Keith
 
All Pre-releases held in Bournemouth offer this prize structure. 6 packs for deck building plus an additional four packs in prizes.

This has been the case for almost every Pre-release I have attended.
 
Russfierce said:
All Pre-releases held in Bournemouth offer this prize structure. 6 packs for deck building plus an additional four packs in prizes.

This has been the case for almost every Pre-release I have attended.
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PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Great to see you got back ok russ =) Worlds was a blast.

Sami :thumb:
 
w00t! Sami's back! GJ at worlds dude. :thumb: *end spam*

Right, so my question is just about answered. The thing is I still want to know exactly why they've decided to specifically do this for the UF prereleases. Also, will this be the case for all prereleases from now on in the UK?
 
They didn't. As previously stated they've been doing this since TRR. There are no signs of it changing anytime soon.
 
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