Moldy Hotel Rooms, Build-a-Bear, and... POKEMON!!!

[crazypokemon]

Was that deck a championship deck or was that your own personal deck?

 

[Alazor]

Sounds like an amazing story to me. Moldy hotel rooms.. ha! I didn't hear that part.

Peace,

Alazor

 

[baby mario]

Great article Wayne. I really enjoyed reading it and learning about the old days.

I like the idea of being rewarded for taking prizes. In the UK we play best of 3 and I always think it sucks a bit that a 2-1 loss doesn't count for any more than a 2-0 loss when it comes to tiebreakers. Being scored on SOTG is cool too.

 

[X_empoleon_X]

It threads like these that make me regret not getting into pokemon earlier (i started at around holon phantoms but i could have started at around Neo series)

Pokemon has lost alot of the hype it had when it first came out and the decks were alot more fun and the format wasn't as fast as it is now. It was a good read.

 

[Nick15]

Oh man, nothing like a good ol' trip down memory lane. This story reminds me of the TCG Mall tour in my neck of the woods and when I ran into IPGeek21 and his LA krew once or twice... those were some GOOD good times.

 

[Flight]

Great read. I dream of playing Pokémon with my kids when the time comes. Still 17, though. Plenty of time to play and learn more.
Would you wirte more? This is really inspiring. I used to play back then, but not competitively. Never heard of OP before Ruby&Sapphire, so it's just magic to read and imagine what it was like in the old school.
Thanks!

 

[ashinto]

I really wish I played competitively back then, though I would cry when sneasel was banned (little boys don't like it when there fave pokemon is banned, EVER!!)

 

[PokePop]

I had heard about the Scott incident on the boards, but I've never heard the details of what happened before, so it's great to finally hear it from someone neutral who was there!


Wayne, you say there was less drama back then, but I don't think so.
There's been plenty of drama all along.
Heck, the Scott incident inspired months of drama all on it's own!

 

[waynegg]

I had heard about the Scott incident on the boards, but I've never heard the details of what happened before, so it's great to finally hear it from someone neutral who was there!


Wayne, you say there was less drama back then, but I don't think so.
There's been plenty of drama all along.
Heck, the Scott incident inspired months of drama all on it's own!

No doubt about that. Drama may have not been good terminology. It just seemed a friendlier environment where there was better sportsmanship (Scott incident withstanding as there will always be a bad apple or two). I'm sure that was due to being graded on your SotG and it reflecting on your score for the tournament.

 

[kwisdumb]

So, as someone who didn't play competitively at all back then, can you tell me how the scoring worked exactly? You got points for winning, SOTG, and how many prizes you took, and that accumulated into your final standing?

 

[waynegg]

So, as someone who didn't play competitively at all back then, can you tell me how the scoring worked exactly? You got points for winning, SOTG, and how many prizes you took, and that accumulated into your final standing?

Correct. Also remember it was single elimination tournaments, three each day in each age group. The SotG and Prizes taken were the tie breakers to see who the overall winner was from the 3 flights of tournaments.

60% of your score was your win/loss record

20% of your score was based on the number of prizes you had taken in all of your matches combined.

20% of your score was how your opponent ranked your SotG on a scale of 1-5, 5 being the best.

 

[Catbus]

Nice story. You sound like a great dad!

 

[JohnnyBlaze]

We actually started playing in those early days and that was quite an accurate description. I remember waiting in super long lines just to buy 1 pack of cards since they were being rationed at the time. Who would have imagined? We attended the Qualifiers on the East Coast and all the STS, the only 1 we missed was the one on th Queen Mary. I really don't miss DCI and the way WOTC ran their tournaments. The POP system has improved for the most part. Yah there are some flaws but way better than DCI.

This was a great article!!

 

[waynegg]

I really don't miss DCI and the way WOTC ran their tournaments.

The parts of the old tournaments I'm glad to see gone are:

1. The limited number of tournaments. There were less than a dozen that first year and maybe 20 the next.

2. The single elimination style.

3. The extremely limited space for players. With so few tournaments, there really needed to be more seating.

However, I stand by re-introducing the number of prizes and SotG into the scoring system for tie breakers. This would allow for your ranking in a tournament to be based solely off your accomplishments. As is, you rely on your opponents to do well in order for you to do well. It would also, as previously stated, weed out bad apples and make for a more jovial event. Those are the only two points of the way the old tournaments wre run that I would like to see make a come back.

You can always strive to be better :thumb:

 

[Steven_Slayer]

GREAT article Wayne ! my dad didn't do even the half you do to your kids when he get divorced form my mum i think my family just hate the stuff i like because they don't even want to learn something about my hobbie that is pokemon TCG. I didn't play so important tournaments in that time but i cried reading the neo Sneasel stuff sooo touching moment. Please make another article if you remember more stories !

 

[Scottgerhardt]

Am I really rehashing this 10 years later?

Memory is a fickle thing. It allows some things to fade and others to twist and change to the point that they become something entirely new all together.

How true that statement is, and it doesn't apply any more ironically than it does to the statements listed below. Honestly, it was a well written report. Unfortunately, it was absolutely laced with inaccuracies and just bold-faced lies. A couple of my friends informed me of this thread's existence and mentioned it might be a good idea to respond, so respond I will.....10 years later.....on a side note, REALLY?!?!?! Ten years later I'm still having to respond to this? As least this one will be easy. In the past I just had to respond to allegations that were based in truth. These, though, are so far into the realm of fiction it's mind boggling. As a side note, who is this guy anyway? I mean, I have a vague recollection of helping out some guy's kid in line, but I helped out a LOT of guys' kids over the years - this one doesn't really ring any particular bells. Anyway, I digress.....on to the show!

The tournaments themselves worked a lot different than today's tournaments. If you were to lose within the first three rounds, you had plenty of time to sign-up and play in the next tournament. If you lost in rounds 4-6, you could sign up for the third tournament. If you made it to finals (round seven), you couldn't participate in another tournament. Also, every aspect of the game was taken into consideration for your ranking when compared to others in your flight as well as to other flights. Sixty per cent of your score was whether you won or lost, twenty based on how many prizes you had taken, and another 20 on your opponent's rating of your Spirit of the Game on ascale of 1-5. Each of the rounds lasted 20 minutes.

Completely false. Tournaments were run in 32 man flights, single elimination. 100% of whether or not you advanced was based on if you won or lost. Tie-breaks existed to resolve games at time limit, but those tie breaks were first based on who had taken the most prizes, and secondly who had the most number of cards in their deck. That's it. I have no clue where he's getting this subjective "Spirit of the Game" from, but really - when has ANYTHING in a TCG ever been subjective outside of a judges ruling (which is usually based on precedent or rules).

I was able to see the top 4 from the first round. Scott was facing a kid who had shown up with a group of friends. Apparently that group had gotten together and made a deck, which they were all running, that was specifically designed to beat Scott's deck and Scott was none too happy.

This is both true and false. Of course people showed up with decks to beat mine. At the time I was ranked #3 in the world, had a winning record against anyone I had ever played more than 1 match against, and was playing a deck (Potpourri, for those who remember it) that had virtually no counter in the hands of a skilled player. Of course they were gonna build to try beat me, duh. FYI, that "kid" he is referring to was 19 years old at the time, only 5 years younger than me. That "kid" was David "Chippy" Eckhard. I'm sure he appreciates being referred to as a "kid", though.

After I wrote this post, I want to share a virtually unknown story because I find it funny and somewhat related to the above story. Before I moved to California my wife and I came out here for a Christmas vacation. The store she played at had a guy who ran the league/tournaments. The guy had an ongoing challenge. In this challenge you were allowed 1 opportunity only, so if you lost, you were done. You could go to him and hand him a decklist. After that, give him a day or two, maybe a week until the next tournament. At that time, you would play him. He would have looked at your decklist, and then built your deck and a deck designed to beat you. Best 2 out of 3. You lose, nothing happened except you lost and could never rechallenge. You win, you got to keep the deck your deck (the one built from his cards). In the entire time he did his challenge, he lost once ever.....to me. Why? Because simply put, you can't build to beat a potpourri deck - it was impossible, and an absolutely beast in a skilled tournament player's hands. So if the guy who HAD my deck list and a week to prepare couldn't beat me, how do you think the guys who were guessing at my decklist for that day were going to do?

During the previous rounds, the team had scooped to the better player whenever they had to face each other. They thought it unfair for Scott to be participating in this tournament at all since he already had a paid trip to the Super Trainer Showdown via Pojo and they were out to beat him at all costs regardless of any of them actually winning the tournament.

False. Any one of you is welcome to go to Pojo right now and ask him if he was paying for me to go to Long Beach to play in this tournament. The answer is a resounding no. I had no special qualification. Wizards didn't just "give" me a spot in the STS - I had to earn it just like everyone else. The notion that I had some level of entitlement here is absolutely absurd.

In the top 4 they succeeded and I witnessed what seemed to be a pleasant and helpful person while in line fill with rage, grab his opponent's deck, tear it in half like you can with a phone book if you know how, and throw it in his face.

Wait....Chippy succeeded in beating me? Really? Holy crap! Did I miss something? Oh wait...that's right, it might have been my divine right of entitlement that allowed me to just magically appear at the finals table and play in the finals. Oh.....that's right, it didn't happen that way. If you want to accuse me of "stalling" in this match, then at least your argument had SOME basis in reality, because that was the argument that has always been made against me in this match. It's not true. No judge ever even warned me for stalling, and I played at the same pace from open to close on that game as I had the whole time, but at least if you're gonna accuse me of something, accuse me of the RIGHT thing.

So, guys do an experiment here. I want you to grab a 60 card sleeved deck. Hell, grab a 40 card sleeved deck. Hell, grab a 40 card UNSLEEVED deck. Now I want you to go Incredible Hulk on this sucker. I'll wait while you try.....*goes and makes sandwich*

Back....you still trying? Okay. Just wanted to make sure that I'm not a complete weakling here. On my best day I couldn't go phonebook on a 40 card unsleeved deck, let alone a 60 card sleeved deck. I wish I could - that would be AWESOME to have that kinda strength.

Furthermore, I WON. I mean, it just seems like the right play to beat a guy, then rip his deck apart so I can get DQed before I play an win the finals, right? Oh wait...that's right....it's not.

Scott was removed from the venue and escorted out of the mall by security. This was to my knowledge the first time someone earned a lifetime ban from Pokemon.

I could write a novel just on these two sentences alone. I'll try to start somewhere, though. First of all, a LOT of people have earned lifetime bans from the DCI for Pokemon. A few dozen. Hundreds have earned bans from 1-5 years for various infractions. I'd like to note that I am not in any of those categories. While there was a DCI investigation as a result of this event (the DCI investigated 4-5 people total as as result of this event), their findings were that nobody did anything wrong. Nobody, including myself, served so much as a 1 day ban as a result of this event.

There is one almost, ALMOST factual statement here. I was asked to leave the area by security. I was told that I needed to maintain a distance of 50 feet from the tournament area - basically I could watch from the upstairs floor, which is what I did. I was NOT escorted anywhere by anyone. I left quite voluntarily.....maybe with a few additional words, but voluntary none-the-less. Furthermore, this "escort" was not on day 1. It was on day 2. Day 1 ended with me winning my flight and being the top player in contention for the Long Beach trip. Day 2 I came back not to play, but rather just trade, talk to people, and watch my interests in the tournament. My "escort" came during the semi-finals of the last flight when there was a blatent amount of cheating and collusion were going on amongst the players for the purposes of usurping my position as top player in the tournament. A player had a friend scoop to him in both the quarters and another in the semis. It was preplanned and discussed during the match. That is what got me. You can't discuss how you're going to intentionally drop 1 Pokemon, do nothing, and make sure you Lass your opponent to refill their deck as much possible. Do that in a high level tournament and you're booted for collusion. Do that in a mall and no one has the training to deal with it. My "escort" came as I was vehemently attempting to "train" the judges on collusion rules. In the end, his plan almost worked.....almost. His last friend was in the other semis. His friend played my friend. His friend lost. There was no way my friend was scooping in the finals. He was already eliminated from contention for the trip, but he thought what the guy was doing was as BS as I thought it was. In the end, the finals match was played out. My friend lost, but took 3 prizes in the process. My prize record in the last 3 matches (the 3 that counted for the trip) was 6-4-6. His became 6-6-3. I was up by 1, and I won the tip. He was PISSED he couldn't collude his way into the trip, but I guess that just sucks for him. Sorry you didn't get a free trip by cheating.

I was able to watch my son in the fourth tier of the first tournament become the first player to deck his opponent during tournament play (this was only the 3rd sanctioned tournament ever in the U.S.) in less than 15 minutes.

Do I even have to say anything? The initial world rankings came out in August of 1999. While I don't remember the exact date of the tournament, I know I was there with my wife (then girlfriend). We met in March 2000. This was a couple months after that. Anyone else notice a glaring error with the timeline here? Really? 3rd EVER Sanctioned US tournament? Was I travelling to Japan to play sanctioned tournaments? Oh no....that's right, Plano is in Texas, not in Japan. And on a side note, these matches, while very loosely governed by the DCI, were not sanctioned by the DCI. I thought it was pretty weird too.

These were some of the best memories in my life, second only to being there when both of my children were born, and I guarantee I will carry them with me to the grave. Pokemon has meant much to me, as well as to my children, and has brought us as close together as a family can possibly be. There is no greater game the world over!

I feel terrible for you. These "memories" you have that you'll carry to the grave. These "memories" that mean so much to you. These memories are things you made up. I have no idea how much of your story is fact and how much is fiction. I can't really speak for anything you wrote outside of the things pertaining to Dallas. Maybe some of that is right. Maybe it isn't. I really don't care to be honest. In this world you are welcome to hang on to whatever "memories" you have. But, if you're gonna do it, don't do it in a public forum slandering someone with blatant lies.

Guys, pretty much everything I said is researchable if you feel like doing it. Go back and find/read past reports. Check DCI records. Check whatever you want. Everything I said will fact check nicely.

The one thing he did say that I will agree with: Pokemon meant a lot to a lot of people, including me. If it hadn't been for Pokemon, I would not have met so many people that mean so much to me, even to this day. I have fostered friendships and relationships through this game that I hope to carry with me until my final breath, and for that I will always be very grateful.

I'm very sorry to have to bring up an event that was very painful for a lot of people. Again, I didn't even realize this thread existed until it was brought to my attention. I just could not in good conscious allow these things to be said without clearing the air as to the truth. There is an entire generation of Pokemon players that have never heard of this event, and just as many that don't even know who I am. That's cool - I'm a nobody these days that sold some cards for a while and now spends his off-time wandering around Disneyland (I work for the company). If we could just please allow sleeping dogs to lie I would be most appreciative.

The air is clear, and you may all return to your regularly-scheduled PokeGym.

Scott Gerrhardt

 

[mmaxlegends]

yes, what a beutiful article! This was a great read and definitley made my day.

---------- Post added 06/03/2010 at 09:44 PM ----------

um.....wow. akward?

 

[Scottgerhardt]

]um.....wow. akward?

Yeah, tell me about it.