Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Why dont Card shops host Pokemon leagues and tournaments?

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Crinus

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of course I dont even recall them hosting Pokemon Leagues back in the day and it was always Toys R Us or Books A Million.

But tournaments?

seems scarce now.

Tournaments or Leagues seem to be at odd places like Book stores, Libraries, Burger King, McDonalds, I think 1 league in Louisiana was in a card shop.

But also card shops seem to be vanishing, here in Southern Mississippi their is only 1 shop I know of and its all Football and Baseball mostly, I heard their was some MTG but I never saw it the last time I was in there, then going toward the coast I never heard of any shops down there either, not even in the places like Biloxi or Gulfport.

Most people will bring up the fact that perhaps its not as popular anymore.....

well the collecting aspect might not be, but I can tell you I was surprised to see 20-25 people show up at one league I started attending, remembered back into 1999-2001/2 where I had attended a Trade Night down in Louisiana just outside of New Orleans and would get 35-40 people on some nights but as time went on that numbered went low to like 15 people and it really started dropping off further until it turned into yugioh/pokemon deal, and then more yugioh showed up than pokemon did.

So I am thinking.......hmmmmm it seems its got enough support, why aint card shops really dealing Pokemon TCG items and boosters? Why are they not displaying cards in display cases? Certainly its got support and a good economy for it. But its not really seen, its been Yugioh and MTG seen the most, and MTG I am doubting has more popularity than Pokemon TCG does, it blew MTG away in numbers back in the beginning and this is after MTG had been out for 7-8 years.

I am curious what kind of attendances does people see at prereleases and leagues where they are?
 
I play out of North Texas and I go to league in comic shop, we usually get 25 ppl showin up, and I'm a league leader at a library location where we get 40 on a bad day, sometimes 80 in the summer. and we hold tournaments in other comic/card shops. we hold pre release for our area in a rec center now because of the high attendance, 60+. So i think our area has a nice balance of card shops/library league locations. The biggest problem is most likely space. And sometimes when tournaments are held, the shop owner would probably like a cut of the moneys.
 
Don't know what you're talking about. The only league I know of that isn't hosted at a card shop is the New York City league held unofficially in the rockafella center
 
It depends on where you live. If you live in an area with game stores that are fine with catering to Pokemon fans then you might have a league there, and if there aren't many, or any such game stores you might not have a league at a game store.
 
My "FLGS" decided they weren't making enough money off of Pokemon. He didn't bother to tell me he wasn't ordering anything Pokemon related until, out of nowhere, he let me know my league was no longer welcome. He felt Pokemon was ripping him off, as he wasn't allowed to host the money-making tournaments: Pre-releases. He complained product wasn't moving fast enough, despite his inability to price product competitively. He order entire cases of promos and tins that had little to no interest.

And yet, Pokemon was to blame for his problems here.

From what I've seen, there are two kinds of game shop owners/managers. The kind that understand different demographics spend money differently, and those that expect EVERYTHING to sell exactly like Magic The Gathering.

Sadly, more seem to be the latter than the former, and because of that Pokemon is welcome in fewer stores.
 
I think it depends on how you define card shop as well; sadly almost nothing exists like say Grandpa Moto's place in Yu-Gi-Oh, where they deal in only Pokemon and other related trading cards. Most card shops to me are the ones that deal in your more classical form of trading cards, aka sports trading cards. The stores that seem to be interested in our trading cards and selling/dealing them are usually comic book stores, which also generally cater to anime/manga (which of course is basically Japanese cartoon/comics, which ties into Pokemon TCG).

You also have to remember leagues and tournament locations also depend on other factors as well besides just being a "card shop." Perhaps the card shop owners are unfriendly, their store size is unsuitable to hold events (especially larger ones), and all sorts of other factors might make them unfavorable to host an event or league at.
 
The perfect situation is when the FLGS (Friendly Local Game Store) owner is also a PTO. That's the case in Colorado Springs. But then again, Dale'z Kardz is the premier card shop in Colorado, if not one of the top card shops in the country.

The problem, as I see it, is when the FLGS is not a PTO, or even a TO. Without those PTO benefits, the FLGS has less incentive to run tournaments.

As for leagues, that's definately a problem for FLGS stores if they don't/can't compete with the local economy. Although the league materials are free, if league players don't buy product from the FLGS (ie., prices are too high, selection is poor, don't buy/sell singles), then the FLGS has a problem.

I've seen many FLGS's come and go. The ones that endure are the ones that have good business practices. Sometimes, that's a bit tough in the current economy.
 
Regis_Neo said:
I think it depends on how you define card shop as well; sadly almost nothing exists like say Grandpa Moto's place in Yu-Gi-Oh, where they deal in only Pokemon and other related trading cards. Most card shops to me are the ones that deal in your more classical form of trading cards, aka sports trading cards. The stores that seem to be interested in our trading cards and selling/dealing them are usually comic book stores, which also generally cater to anime/manga (which of course is basically Japanese cartoon/comics, which ties into Pokemon TCG).

You also have to remember leagues and tournament locations also depend on other factors as well besides just being a "card shop." Perhaps the card shop owners are unfriendly, their store size is unsuitable to hold events (especially larger ones), and all sorts of other factors might make them unfavorable to host an event or league at.
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I would go with that answer for alot of places.

Most owners who I known have gone out of business but they tend to want to make money but they seem to ignore Pokemon for whatever reason, they want to promote yugioh or MTG, mostly yugioh because its a rich mans game it seems, hoping yugioh dies down at some point as its become a huge mess.
 
Making money means moving product. Moving product comes from the people who are around every week buying stuff.

I play MTG a lot more than pokemon simply because there are more people I enjoy playing with.

How does Magic: the Gathering move product?
1) They produce products that help people get more and more involved in the game.
2) There is a tournament system (FNM) that encourages competitive play to encourage players to have better cards.
3) The big one: There is a dynamic limited format. Sets are designed for drafting. Each new set contributes something to the limited environment. Major tournaments use the limited format. People really enjoy playing limited and they do it a lot.
4) There is a huge online community. You can play online and you don't need to find 7 other friends to draft with. Just join a que.

Why does pokemon not move product?
1) They count on little league kids asking their parents for a pack or a tin or a promo something once a week.
2) The sets are bad. how many cards in Emerging Powers would you say are actually playable? Hint: its not very many. No one who likes the game wants to buy packs because they can get all the singles they need for $40.
3) Why should I buy product to make a good deck? There is no reward for winning on a weekly basis.
4) Who do I play with? I don't mind playing with some 11 year old kid, but to have fun I want to have good games which comes from other people being good players.
 
As a store owner, who deals with one of hte largest singles selections in the area, there are a lot of reasons that stores focus on other games (MTG mainly) rather than Pokemon.

1. Pokemon is designed to make players expect to get items for free. League is free, Premiere events are free, this is free, that is free. Pokemon players have been ingrained to believe that it should all be free. Pokemon is the ONLY game set up on this model.

I loved it before I had a store, as my mantra was "if we can't sell free, what good are we?". Now, that I own a store, the bug of FREE has come to bite us more than it has come to help us.

Which leads us to the bigger problem, can it be fixed? Once people are hooked on free, can we get them to pay?

Not sure the answer is yes here.

The very thing that many of the players love about this game (FREE) may be the EXACT fact that is keeping it as less than a priority game in stores.

Vince
 
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Actually, I've never been to a card shop where Pokemon isn't played. It may just be my area, but there's only one league that I know of that's not in a card shop. Its in a Starbucks. It may be because I live in Florida and Pokemon seems to be a big deal here especially South Florida.

I would be pretty surprised to see people play Pokemon at a bookstore around here to be honest.
 
In France, a lot of leagues and tournaments are in a game store (including TCG). Tournaments cost 5€ each. Everyone get a booster pack (which costs near 5€). The others are in associative rooms.
(The fact there is no tournament in any restaurant or fast food may be due to a culture's difference, as McDonald's and so on are considered dirty, and restaurants are often closed during afternoon.)

When leagues or tournaments are not in a game store, that's because either there is no game store available in the city (my league), or the game store is too small for large venue (I can access to associative rooms for free that can hold between 20 and hundred of players).

Does everybody get a booster pack in a free US tournament ?
 
no, they eventually get cards from PUSA for attending leagues though.

POP promos I guess what it is.

So its basically free cards for playing, but the downside is the wait period can be months before you ever see sight of them.
 
Here in Australia, every league and tournament is held in a card store. This is a proper card store, selling most TCGs, none of this baseball/sports card crap lol.

Only tournament not held in a card store is nationals.
 
Zarmakuizz said:
In France, a lot of leagues and tournaments are in a game store (including TCG). Tournaments cost 5€ each. Everyone get a booster pack (which costs near 5€). The others are in associative rooms.
(The fact there is no tournament in any restaurant or fast food may be due to a culture's difference, as McDonald's and so on are considered dirty, and restaurants are often closed during afternoon.)

When leagues or tournaments are not in a game store, that's because either there is no game store available in the city (my league), or the game store is too small for large venue (I can access to associative rooms for free that can hold between 20 and hundred of players).

Does everybody get a booster pack in a free US tournament ?
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I think we can all agree with McDonalds everywhere are considered dirty.... :lol:
 
Funny thing. Our premier shop doesn't run MTG anymore. I'm not sure exactly why - I can only speculate.

- Perhaps the owner is not a WOTC PTO, so those incentives aren't there.

- Maybe the MTG players weren't the best. A few weeks ago, I attended a BR in Utah. They were running MTG UT States the same day at the shop. The MTG and Pokemon players were not a good mix - mostly due to the attitudes of a few of the MTG players (they viewed Pokemon as an inferior - "below them" - game).

- MTG players tend to be more savvy buyers. They are more "picky" in buying singles and boosters. Therefore, it takes longer to serve them as customers.

Anyway, I highly doubt that one TCG product is better than another. I really think I comes down to the local market, and how well the FLGS supports that market.
 
When Pokemon first came out, I thought MTG was near dead, it hangs in there but I am of the belief with a good bit of proof that MTG is less popular than Pokemon.

Between both Pokemon and Yugioh, I dont see how or why card shops fool with MTG, I just cant see how they make a lick of a profit off of MTG over Pokemon. Maybe its like Meganium says, I dont know.

Take walmart for example, you never see MTG in there anymore, you still see the traditional Sports cards, you see pokemon, you see yugioh, so obviously those 3 things are selling. They use to carry World of Warcraft cards for that TCG, like I knew would happen with that game, it died off as I think walmart stopped carrying it. Same goes with Target. I mean if it gets pulled out of Walmart of all places, then it aint selling. Simple as that, so I dont see how it keeps card shops owners in business that care to deal in only MTG and nothing else but maybe 1 booster box of Pokemon and a few yugioh cards here and there. Could be why alot of shops like that have gone out of business in the last few years to.

I always viewed MTG as an OLD OLD peoples game, all I see play it is guys in their 40s and up.
 
Crinus said:
I would go with that answer for alot of places.

Most owners who I known have gone out of business but they tend to want to make money but they seem to ignore Pokemon for whatever reason, they want to promote yugioh or MTG, mostly yugioh because its a rich mans game it seems, hoping yugioh dies down at some point as its become a huge mess.
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Yugioh's been going down the drain since 2008 when Phantom Darkness came out. I don't collect anymore but I'm pretty sure the game still has ridiculously expensive cards. If TPCI steps up their game, I can honestly see PTCG overtaking YGO give or take a few years.


IMO, If PTCG had some more stuff for collectors, it would be profitable. Not saying the game isn't profitable but serious collectors would shell out a ton of cash for multiples of a good collector's item.
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My local league is at a card shop, but it is the only card shop in many towns that even carries Pokemon. The shop runs on tournaments for all games basically. Our league each week has a tourney for 2 dollars with packs going to 1-2 or maybe 1-2-3 places if we get over 10 people. On Saturday it is for fun, no tourney. But also, packs at stores like Target and Wal-Mart are going up in price, so it is cheaper to buy at league. By them buying booster boxes they pay less per pack and can keep the cost down. This may lead to a shift. I know at least there are a few of us that buy tins and boxes, but he does have an overstock on some old stuff. But for people like me, I will buy them as I was out of the game for a while and need to complete sets. I like collecting the promos and jumbo cards as well.
 
Although Pokemon sells well (it outsells YGO, WoW and MTG every year). About 90% of the product for the TCG being moved isn't from players. It's from kids who's parents buy them cards because they like Pokemon or people who just simply love collecting them because again, they love Pokemon. My girlfriend has binders, cardboard long sleeves and shoe boxes full of Pokemon cards but she doesn't know how to play (I am fixing this). The WoW TCG also has this problem despite their large turn outs.

The unfortunate matter is, the competitive players in Pokemon are the minority in the TCG world. Magic, WoW and YGO are the big 3 while Pokemon (competitively) is a very distant 4th.

That said though, I am very happy and fortunate that the area I live in has 4 different leagues weekly and tons of places in short driving distances have pre-releases, battle roads..etc.
We only have ONE bad venue that most people avoid because the TO/Professor who runs the league is very shady and is very territorial (he has kicked out kids for playing at different venues. And yes, several people have complained and he's still there)
 
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