Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

~~Opening a League for the First Time - HELP !!!~~

Water Pokemon Master

Water Pokemon Master

<a href="http://pokegym.net/gallery/browseimages.p
Mike (Porygon) and I have been thinking about starting a Pokemon League in our area (La Habra, CA), and since he is turning 18 in like 20 days, we are going to go through with opening one up. There are leagues in our general area, but they take like 45 mins - hour to get to, and it is hard to get to them every Saturday. So, we wanted to make a more local one for people that we know in our area who like Pokemon, since there are several who do.

Anyways, we wanted to know a few things first:
1. Can a league be held at a pizza place that has plenty of space? Does it have to be in a store?
2. What happens if we do not get enough players to come? Is there any sort of limit?
3. Can a league be held multiple times a week?
4. Who from the PokeGym would come? Or occasionally visit? :biggrin:

Yeah, so those are our questions for now. We seriously want to go through with this, and are hoping to have a big league in the future where everyone can come and have a good time. :)
 
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I am also considering running tournaments as well. So if anyone's not really interested in coming to a league in La Habra, but would be interested in attending any type of tournament around here, please let us know. :thumb:
 
I dunno. Next year, I'll be 19, and I'll set up a league at college. Tourneys if the players want it, but League comes first.
 
1. Yes it can, I know a couple of other League Leaders who run some in Pizza Places. Just has to be a safe place for kids and teenagers. But its always better to try and have one that sells Pokemon Cards.

2. There is no limit, just need to have some players. POP just wants to know how much you get usually, so they can find out how much things you will need in the League Kit.

3. I think so, your able to edit your times and dates anytime on your League Profile...so you should be able to.

4. Its really up to them, should be fun for whoever goes.

Well good luck with the League, its very fun to run them and you get to play as well. Its fun to meet New Players and Teach them how to Play. :)
 
Is this going to be done with the knowlege/permission of the pizza place, or are a group of you just planning to 'show up' at the same time each week? You really need to talk to the restaurant and make it 'official', since they will show up as a league location in the locator on the POP site.

Check with your venue...since it's a restaurant...to see if they want a minimum purchase from you each week for use of their space.

If you're holding league on a Saturday afternoon, for example...that's prime time for party rooms, especially once baseball, soccer, etc. start having post-game parties; you don't want to have your space continually 'cancelled' at the last minute because the restaurant got a better offer for their party room. If they require people to buy food/drink to use the space, make that _clear_ to your members that the league's use of the space _depends_ on it.

I'd hold on to the League books myself; I do that with my League. I've had too many instances of "I forgot/lost my book" in previous years of League; if you have them, you'll never have to deal with that, nor with players who take your league book to a different league for stamps...but want their badges, packs etc. from _you_.

Decide at the beginning if you're going to allow kids to be 'dropped off'; this is something you'll have to discuss with your venue. IF they'll allow kids there on their own, you'll have to set rules up concerning if there's a minimum age kids have to be to not have a parent/guardian/responsible adult/teen with them, if kids are dropped off do you need a cell phone number of the adult, what to do with kids whose adult doesn't show up to pick them up on time :rolleyes: etc. All of this needs to be decided BEFORE any such situation comes up.

If you/your location decides to allow drop offs, make it clear that it's a privilege, not a RIGHT; if a kid is a PITA, you and/or your location have the right to say they're not allowed to be there without a responsible party. Same with people who use you as 'free babysitting' and continually are late picking up their kid(s) after league time is over; you can't really leave a child in a public place alone if they're attending YOUR event, since you're the responsible party as LL.

I know this is the 'no fun' stuff, but it's also stuff you have to think about: what to do with disruptive kids, theft, etc. Being a LL is not just stamping books and handing out promos; I've been a GL/LL since the WotC days and have seen everything I've mentioned above, since then.

Hope this helps...good luck!

'mom
 
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Wow. Thanks for the advice, I was actually wondering myself how we would work out having kids being dropped off and etc. I'll have to keep all of that in mind. :biggrin:

But don't worry, we will have to permission of wherever we choose to se the League up. (Since we aren't too sure about the Pizza place yet, anyway.)
 
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Good luck on getting your league up and going. We started our's out with 3 members (all being my family) and we are up to 17 I believe since Christmas.

Advertise, Advertise. It really helps. Look around for newspapers that will publish an article, many community papers will do it for non-profit groups. Have you looked into your local library. I can't say enough about our's, they have been great. It will only work if they have a conference room (so check them out). We run our league on Monday's & Saturdays. Since sport season is always upon us, they usually take up Saturdays & they'll come on Monday but for those who have too much school work will come on Saturday. So for us it really works out.

As for running tourneys. If you want them sanctioned you must be a TO. If your wanting to just run something for fun, I don't see why ya couldn't do that. Just please stick to tournement guidlines already in use, that way you have no conflict with your players if they begin playing sanctioned/premiere events. Trust me there are still people out there who will play by WOTC and not by Nintendo.

One last thing- Show your location sponsor and your potential League members you are SERIOUS about this. Your goal is promoting the game and providing a safe fun environment for all ages. We had a parent call us the other day asking if her 5 yr old could play. So you'll get them of all ages!!
 
Some double-checking questions:

1. Do the league kits cost money? How often do they come in? And how much do they cost if anything?

2. For regular league play everything must be modified, right? I just want to be sure here.

Thanks
 
Porygon said:
Some double-checking questions:

1. Do the league kits cost money? How often do they come in? And how much do they cost if anything?

2. For regular league play everything must be modified, right? I just want to be sure here.

Thanks
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1. The league kits are free. Granted if you report your league results on time will determine on how fast you receive them. League runs six weeks. Usually 2 weeks before the season is over, the window opens up for reporting and ordering the next season. Me personally, I've always received my kit within a week of ordering the new season. You don't report your season, you can't order the next!!

2. The only time you have to be modified, is if you are running a modified event. There are different challenges in the league season that put a spice on league play. For us, we have older players getting back into the game and don't require them to be modified. We do however suggest they consider modified so they can play in the premiere events and take full advantage of the player rewards program. I suggest you let league be fun & filled with a little of everything.
 
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Thanks for your help. I still can't believe you went from three members to 17, that really must've taken quite a bit of advertising.

I'm trying to get the word out, and some people are showing enough interest to come once... in awhile. But I'm going to keep on trying. :D
 
Why are you trying to get the word out?!?! You aren't even 18 yet, we don't have a location, and POP does not know who you are and that you want to start a league. Geeeez. I guess you are advertising a ghost league. :lol:
 
Water Pokemon Master said:
Why are you trying to get the word out?!?! You aren't even 18 yet, we don't have a location, and POP does not know who you are and that you want to start a league. Geeeez. I guess you are advertising a ghost league. :lol:
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Aren't you two working together on this? Why would down his early planning? Advertising early can have it's benefits.Gives players something to look forward to and prepare for.
 
I printed out flyers for my league and gave them to everybody that played any kind of TCG. I also put them up all over the host store. I had 25+ people sign up for the league the first week. We have around 15 regulars already (4th week in). Another thing I did was make 100+ grab bags with 1 holo/promo/rare/reverse holo per pack and a bunch of commons and uncommons. I gave 2 to anybody that showed up and 2 for each friend that they brought. Helps out a lot with the younger kids... they have a ton of friends :biggrin:
 
I have a 'league binder' with old WotC-era league promos in it; league members can pick a card from it every week. Since many of my league's members were not around during the WotC league era, they've never seen/earned these promos...and are thrilled to get them; I'm glad they're being put to use/appreciated rather than taking up space at home. Win-win...

'mom
 
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