Of course are some CC's in Europe NOT FREE

[Rainbowgym]

While the difference in entree fee and prices of the latest Prerelease still giving me a bad taste.
Already another inequalty appeared.

We are not suprised that again things are different (read more expensive) in parts of europe.
While everywhere in the US the City Championships are free (no entrancefee).
While on the INTERNATIONAL pages of the CC's is announced that INTERNATIONAL CC's are free.

Suprise they aren't.

5 or 6 euro is charged and it will suprise me if indeed the same prices are available.
Another example of bad arranged International OP.

This comes of the INTERNATIONAL PAGES SO THIS TIME NO SOFTY/SPINNING EXCUSES ABOUT THAT WE DON'T READ WELL, IT'S OUT THERE LOUD AND CLEAR.
The only ones not knowing this are meaby the National Distributors???
Did they got another freeguard to do what they like?????



What are Pokémon TCG City Championship Tournaments?

The Pokémon TCG INTL City Championships are title events where players in each of the three POP-recognized age categories can earn the title of City Champion! Results of the City Championships count toward your Modified Constructed Rating!

INTL City Championship Events are operated by independent tournament organizers across the World.

When are the Pokémon TCG City Championships?

Pokémon TCG INTL City Championships will be taking place starting in November 2004. To find times and locations of City Championship events in your area, click here.

Remember, while we frequently update our events schedule, we recommend that you contact the local tournament organizer to confirm event schedule information.

How much does the event cost?

Beginning with the City Championships, all Premier Events, other than those that use a limited format, such as a prerelease, are FREE! That's right-there is no admission fee for a City Championship! Get your decks tuned up, and get down to your local City Championship location for your first shot at these free events!
What do I need to bring and know?

Bring your POP ID card, if you have one. If you don’t have a POP ID, one will be given to you at the event.
See the Pokémon Floor Rules for more information about what to bring to an event.
Make sure you arrive on time. If you are late for registration, you may not be able to play in the event.
To participate in the event, you must be a player in good standing and abide by the Floor Rules.
See the Legal Notice for certain eligibility requirements and other information, including information concerning limitations on Pokémon’s liability.
What is the Tournament Structure?

The Tournament is run using the Modified Constructed Format and Age-Modified Swiss pairings. If attendance is appropriate, some organizes may choose to run straight Swiss pairings. See the Pokémon Floor Rules for information about the Modified Format and Swiss. The number of Swiss rounds run will depend on total attendance at the event.

What are the Prizes?

All participants will receive a Pokémon TCG City Championship Promo Card and a POP Series One 2-card promo pack, just for playing!

Please contact the local tournament organizer to confirm the exact prize structure and age groups supported at each event.

What happens after the Tournament?

After the tournament ends, the tournament organizer will submit the tournament results to Pokémon USA, Inc. Pokémon, which sanctions the tournaments, will determine player rankings.

[Lord Broly]

Oh for the Record, The Canadian City's are
free so it's not just the United States.

[Rainbowgym]

Point is they should be free anywere around the globe, that's what PUI says at their website.

IN case I'm again not believed here is the info out of the official tournament locator.
Tournament Name: City Championship Dendermonde
Tournament ID: 05-01-000056
Organizer Name: Hilde Moens
Organizer Phone:
Category: Modified - Constructed
Date/Time: 1/4/2005 1:30 PM
Location: Tîp Top Moens
Address: Sint-Gillislaan 75
City: Dendermonde
State:
Country: Belgium
Status: Pending
Admission: 5€
Details: City Championship. Speciale prijzen, en een bye voor de eerste ronde van het Belgisch Kampioenschap te winnen

[Marcello-Milord]

So Lia, our distributor don't know if CCs will be free or not here... it's a mystery and it's not fair, you're right...
Think that our OP manager don't even ordered the kits... I'm so upset... in less than 1 month I'll have my CC, and I'm sure prizes won't come in time.

[PIKA-PIKA]

they will not be free in Slovenia
i send a copy of POP's announcement to our distributor. They said they know about Premier events being free but decided to charge a fee of 2euro to cover their costs (place rental...)

[ukpokemonpro]

they will be free in the uk although the headcount bounty paid in the UK is not a direct read across from the dollar price paid to TO's in the US.

But already we have again a major discrepancy between the STATED RULE INTERNATIONALLY and the FACTS in some Countries. Have you left comments at http://op.pokemon-tcg.com/mypokemon/feedback/?category=International

I find these get answered whilst emails do not always get a reply? Maybe there is a log kept of questions submitted this way or they have a higher priority? Anyhow they generally get a response within a week or two.

If the site says they're free they should be free!

[Rainbowgym]

Do you really think, I'm going to waist another minute to mail PUI about this.
Forget it.

The only thing I will do is making these kind of discrepancy public, so that our US friends know that we are not lying about what is happening here.
I tried to conversate about this kind of things for more than a year and nobody listened.

[Prof Donphan]

... and at Italian CC we will not have boosters (as prizes) from last expansion, but from EX DRAGO Italian expansion.... :-((((

[Rainbowgym]

That's about the same as at Nationals getting Sandstorm while Hidden Legends is just out.

[Type O negative]

For the 10- and 11-14 age groups* 15+ did get Hidden Legends. Still a bad situation though.
But then again, will there be CC's in Holland? If only for that darned age requirement to become a TO... Oh well, I don't really count on one happening here, let alone a free CC.

[Rainbowgym]

For the record TON, only the nr's 1,2,3 of the 15+ got Hidden Legends, the remaining ones got Sandstorm also the ones in 15+. EXcuse me I was somewere in top 8 and my memory is not yet leaving me.


Also I expect at least 2 or 3 CC's in the Netherlands.
Erik of PSgames announced to one of us that they have plenty of TO's, so we will wait and see when those TO's are really organizing something.

[Michel]

I've played a tournament in Dendermonde this Wednesday and I've talked with Hilde (the TO) about the CC.

In a mail she received a couple of weeks ago from the distributor, there was no mention of the fact that CC would be free events.
Then she has given the info as usual for the tournaments she runs, asking 5 Euro for the participation.

She told me she would contact Intrafin (distributor) about that.
It's probably (I hope it's only that) only a question of timing in the deliverance of the information.


But I have 2 questions without answer :
1 who will pay the eventual costs like the renting of the venue if the players play for free ?
2 who will pay the eventual additional prizes ?

I thing most of the TO's will agree with me if I say that the entrance fee is used to pay the costs of the tournament and/or additional prizes.
Will the local distributors compensate that ?

[Marcello-Milord]

Ya, same problem I was thinking 'bout.

PTOs in US receive a compensation and reimbursement for their tournaments. In other terms, they pay for the materials, and oney will ne refund after the tournament by PUI. For US it's different. If the kits have a cost, distributor don't present them to us. We have to establish an entry fee in order to pay the distributor, or be refunded of our money.

And I hope that won't lead us to be suspended from POP 'cause we are making a free event a paid event :P

PS Most of my playrs have internet and are aware of the Free-tournament thing... And when I anticipated that maybe that won't be our case, they were really unhappy.

[Rainbowgym]

Michel I have to disappoint you, I already mailed with the TO of another CC.,
The answer from Intrafin was: FREE CC's are only in the US.
Also the pricestructure is not the same as in the US>


Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem paying a few Euro's for a tournament.
I know that the venue has to be payed, but 2 euro a person should be enough to do that.

I DO have a problem if the ones responcible announcing that CC's are FREE, while they aren't.
I also have problem paying money for an events which should be free, BUT ALSO HAS LESS PRICES than his "brother" in the US.

This inequalty is pure created by PUI themselves, and that's the whole problem.
Not only a distributor who is not willing to put money in OP, but the problem is in the US, were somebody well payed takes these kind of decissions.


And suspended from POP????
Why, you are the only ones organizing.
If every European TO had the guts to say, we don't organize anymore untill everything is equal arranged, then there was NO OP in Europe.
Then you could make a fist, but all I see is TO's taking what is given and than complaining about it's not equal.
Each TO who is going along with this inequalty is saying, I AGREE WITH THIS INEQUALTY.
You only can thank yourself for the situation in Europe and don't blame PUI or the Disctributor, you had the option not to organize.

[ukpokemonpro]

Michel I have to disappoint you, I already mailed with the TO of another CC. The answer from Intrafin was: FREE CC's are only in the US.
Also the pricestructure is not the same as in the USFor the record again CC's in the UK will be free and the TO's will be recompensed at a rate of £5 per head to help pay for the venue. This is good.. not knowing dates being therefore unable to book a venue, advertise and push events that are happening in Jan and Feb that is what is bad!

[Michel]

Lia, I don't want to start a long discussion about what intrafin has said or not.
Now the question is : will the European distributors follow what's on PUI's website, which is an official decision ?

If they don't, International POP will be for me a pure joke and PUI's website a site you can't rely on. It will also prove that POP in Europe is in the hands of people who not only dictate their views to the community, but also to PUI.
But I prefer to wait and see what will happen in the next few days/weeks. ;)

You know my position about the fact you and other profs from Holland have quit POP. TO's saying they will not run CC's is an option, but I think it will penalize the players first.
You still have the opportunity to run unofficial events, which is not always possible for everybody.

And when i see what happens in Holland (no prerelease, no tournaments anymore, only one league, ...), I wonder if someone really cares about that.


UKPro, 5£ per player is nice indeed. Will we see once again an international POP different from country to country ? :rolleyes:

[Rainbowgym]

Michel, all we in Holland can do is wait and see.
Even if we kept our TO status, we were not allowed to organize anything official.
Or request last year to do 4 or 5 CC's was denied, or requests to do Prereleases too.

So with that in mind you can understand why we don't want to be TO anymore.
Unofficial we can do even more than official, but it costs a lot of time and energy.

It's happening again, out of 2 countries there are different stories.
And If nobody asks about that entrancefee, it's not going to be changed, those kind of things are not happening spontane.

[Michel]

Intrafin told me this afternoon that PUI's website is wrong.

The free Premiere events for International is a decision taken but applicable in 2005, not these CC's.

So TO's may ask a fee for their CC's.

Two remarks :
- PUI's website (official POP website !!) wrong :mad: :confused:
- UK CC's free are now breaking Internatial rules :lol: :lol: :clap: :thumb:


To be continued ...