Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Will Nationals ever be in Columbus Ohio again?

A

atomant

New Member
Hello Pokegym members,

I am so disappointed that PUI switched the location for Nationals from Ohio to Saint Louis this year. Why? Two reasons: First, Origins is a gaming convention for gamers, and in case you were living under a rock the past 9 years (well, that's how long I've been playing Pokemon TCG), Pokemon is a game that has qualities that cater to gamers (prize payouts, competitions, etc), so naturally Pokemon and Origins is a match made in heaven, right? Second, the hotels in the area for the America center are outrageously over priced! Yes, PUI hasn't listed the "deal" list on Organized play web site so that we can get a discount on hotel rooms, but again, compared to Columbus Ohio--especially since I booked rooms for Columbus Ohio a year in advance and got the "early bird special":frown:-- it is still not appealing to my liking. I really enjoyed attending Origins and I will truly miss the Greater Columbus convention center.

Is there any chance the PUI will return Nationals to Columbus Ohio in the future?

In your opinion, with a declining economy, was this a smart move PUI made? (Heck, it hurt me).

Who else enjoyed the Greater Columbus area? Please explain to prevent this from looking like a poll.

Thank you for reading,
Atomant
 
I expect that numbers will be down this year. There are many issues. First off, anyone who has looked for hotel rooms will find out that the amount for them is about 40 or so more a night. The other thing is some people come out for other things than Pokemon and while the players who strive to play in Worlds will not be kept away some of the smaller players may not go. I do know that where I live some Players were willing to drive to the event, however St. Louis is a considerable amount farther and that might prevent players as well. I am not sure how much it will be down, but I expect it will. I would be a bit surprised if it went up, but I wouldn't be shocked as I can see it happening. However getting back to your original question, I don't think so, but I don't work for POP. I would say that if they were going to go back to Columbus that it wouldn't happen until June/July 2011 as POP has stated that for Worlds they need to book the venue two years in advanced so I would think that the Venue for 2010 is most likely chosen already as I would expect that if US Nationals is to travel/move, that the same method would be applied to US Nationals and it's location.

Drew
 
if POP's intention...as demonstrated by worlds '07 in hawaii...is to make worlds a smaller, more exclusive event and make nationals the big 'party for everyone', moving it away from origins makes complete sense.

think about it: they don't have to worry about event ticketing issues, 'scary' other gamers or other 'family-unfriendly' (not that it was an issue in my own personal opinion, but i know others had the opposite view) concurrent events like the pride parade, and participants having to purchase a badge in order to play.

other games like YGO had already moved their us nationals away from origins. in my opinion it's going to be origins hurt more by this than PUI.

now they're free to make the event as poke-centered as they wish. think of the pokemon rocks america events or the journey across america 10th anniversary tour...all pokemon, all the time. i think this is a great move on their part.

jmho.
'mom
 
I would go and find the thread that ran the week we found out about the location change. Lots n lots of opinions were expressed both pro and con.

Just remember...now its FREE to go to the Championship. If PUI advertises correctly, we could be looking at big numbers again this year.
 
TheDarkTwins said:
I expect that numbers will be down this year. There are many issues. First off, anyone who has looked for hotel rooms will find out that the amount for them is about 40 or so more a night. The other thing is some people come out for other things than Pokemon and while the players who strive to play in Worlds will not be kept away some of the smaller players may not go. I do know that where I live some Players were willing to drive to the event, however St. Louis is a considerable amount farther and that might prevent players as well. I am not sure how much it will be down, but I expect it will. I would be a bit surprised if it went up, but I wouldn't be shocked as I can see it happening. However getting back to your original question, I don't think so, but I don't work for POP. I would say that if they were going to go back to Columbus that it wouldn't happen until June/July 2011 as POP has stated that for Worlds they need to book the venue two years in advanced so I would think that the Venue for 2010 is most likely chosen already as I would expect that if US Nationals is to travel/move, that the same method would be applied to US Nationals and it's location.

Drew
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Drew, the Dury hotel is like $170.00 a night! I want a hotel that's next to, or only a block away. Any suggestions/ recommendations? What hotel did you reserve, and for how much a night?

Back to back posts merged. The following information has been added:

Prof Clay said:
I would go and find the thread that ran the week we found out about the location change. Lots n lots of opinions were expressed both pro and con.

Just remember...now its FREE to go to the Championship. If PUI advertises correctly, we could be looking at big numbers again this year.
Click to expand...

I like the fact that it's free, but the hotel fees are outrageous! Feast or famine?
 
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SD PokéMom said:
if POP's intention...as demonstrated by worlds '07 in hawaii...is to make worlds a smaller, more exclusive event and make nationals the big 'party for everyone', moving it away from origins makes complete sense.

think about it: they don't have to worry about event ticketing issues, 'scary' other gamers or other 'family-unfriendly' (not that it was an issue in my own personal opinion, but i know others had the opposite view) concurrent events like the pride parade, and participants having to purchase a badge in order to play.

other games like YGO had already moved their us nationals away from origins. in my opinion it's going to be origins hurt more by this than PUI.

now they're free to make the event as poke-centered as they wish. think of the pokemon rocks america events or the journey across america 10th anniversary tour...all pokemon, all the time. i think this is a great move on their part.

jmho.
'mom
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I have two thoughts on this. If they do a Worlds again with only 64 players then it should be in swiss best 2 out of 3 as well as top cut the same way. It wouldn't be too time consume as your only going to have six rounds. In Hawaii we were done by 3:30 of all 6 rounds. It meant the whole after noon was free. They could of played swiss AND top cut on that Saturday and still of been done before Sunday IMO. I do however think that 128 players is the PERFECT number of players to allow to worlds however.

In regards to Nationals, if they have the money and think that it will benefit the game then they should be all for it. However, it would be interesting to see if they setup some type of store to try to make some more money to try to recoup some of the cost of the event being held at its current venue. There are other issues like it becomes harder to get sleeves as there is no place to buy them when they hold them at a convention center all by themselves but that is a problem that could be easily fixed. :thumb:

Just a thought to think about,

Drew
 
Unless (IMO), Origins makes certain concessions to PUI, I doubt they will go back to Columbus. After what happened last year with the event tickets, etc....I just doubt it. Likewise, PUI had to pay fees per head on attendees to Origins and pay for space. Again, IMO, as SD Mom has already said, Origins will be hurt more by this move than Pokemon. US Nats has had amazing and steady growth since PUI took over. Over 30 % increase in attendance for 4 years running each year.

Hotel accomodations will be plentiful in St. Louis too. Hotels downtown will always be expensive in big cities. Just the way it is.

As for numbers, I'd say St Louis will hold its own. Their regional does just fine, thx to M45 (Woot Vince!) and TX is not too far away for drivers......TX's numbers are TX sized (think Super sized for the Cooks CHAW!). St Louis is a major hub and centrally located in the USA. IMO, our numbers will at least equal last years and may exceed them again.

Hope to see you all there!

Keith
 
Vince got 226 for Regionals last year. I'd be surprised if he doesn't exceed that number this year. Between all of the Regionals within reasonable driving distance (MO, IN, WI, TX), there were 816 players. Between all the States within reasonable driving distance (13 in all), there were 1059 players. Nationals last year had 956 players. I don't forsee attendance being lower this year. In fact, if you are able to plan at the correct time (about 2 months in advance) and through the correct locations (name your own price), and are willing to stay a little bit further from the convention (say, a mile or so), you can probably find some pretty good deals. I stayed at a hotel for Regionals last year for $25/night, nice place too.

Of course, you can also wait for the expected PUI deal on a hotel in the area. At worlds at least, they have seemed to find some pretty nice deals on some good hotels...
 
Guys.... The bigger STL Hotels might be a little expensive for some taste. But there are sooooooo many "chain" hotels that are reasonable within a short drive of the America's Center. And STL is right on the Illinois State line.... You can stay cheaper on this side of the Mississippi, and drive 15 minutes over there.... There are plenty of good options, so don't let hotel prices detour you from this good time....

(Disclaimer --- Do NOT mistake EAST ST LOUIS, ILLINOIS as something "close enough" to warrent staying there. East STL is an extremely rough/rundown area.)
 
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This is a WONDERFUL move on PUI's part. I am in Missouri and I don't just say that because I live an hour away. I say this because no more BADGE'S!!! With a family of 4 people playing Pokemon, last year was RIDICULOUS!! A FREE Pokemon event should take the cake for everyone!!!! Anyway, you are always going to get those people who will whine and cry wherever it is. I didn't complain because I had to drive to Ohio last year. If you are a true Pokemon fanatic, you will go wherever you need to go to play in Nationals.

As for the hotel prices...if you don't mind driving 15mins to get to the Convention Center, then right across the river is plenty!!! You have: Granite City, Fairview Heights, Collinsville, Caseyville, etc which are all kept up very nice and have great prices on their hotels. And as someone already said : DO NOT MISTAKE EAST ST. LOUIS AS A PLACE TO STAY. IT IS A VERY ROUGH PART OF TOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For those adults who want to find something to do, there are Casino's and tons of restaurants in the area that are wonderful. For the kids, tour the arch, go to the zoo, go to the science center, go to the museum...there are endless options in the St. Louis area. And don't forget....Six Flags is just a hop skip and jump down the road in Eureka!!!

I think everyone will find (after the complaining and whining and finally just coming) that this will be in the best interest of our Pokemon players and that it will be amazing!!! I have complete faith in PUI. It CAN'T be worse than Origins..that's for sure!!!!
 
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I just hope that Nationals is on a different weekend than Origins next year.

I don't like having to choose between them.
 
The Gorn says it well. It would be nice to have the choice next year for those that want to do both US nats and Origins.

We're looking forward to Nats in Missouri! "Show Me" a fun time!

In Columbus we drove 10 miles away from Origins to get to a nice priced hotel ($60) with free parking and free breakfast, indoor pool. It was an easy, quick drive, much much cheaper than staying near Origins. I expect to find similar deals in St. Louis.
 
Nationals was moved closer to me , so I'm not complaining.
But the thing is , I need to save up quite a bit of money for nationals if I want to go.
I need to either go with friends , go with a carpool , and bug my parents to pay their way and come with me to nationals.
 
I'm not sure why everyone is complaining about the hotel costs, they aren't really more expensive than Columbus. In fact, when I looked they were cheaper. They're going to be expensive no matter what big city you look in. There are no badge costs, so that saves some money. Just win States, Regionals or stay with someone who does maybe?
 
Scizor said:
I'm not sure why everyone is complaining about the hotel costs, they aren't really more expensive than Columbus. In fact, when I looked they were cheaper. They're going to be expensive no matter what big city you look in. There are no badge costs, so that saves some money. Just win States, Regionals or stay with someone who does maybe?
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"Cheaper"? Sir, what hotel did you reserve?
 
I was looking at hotel prices myself, and saw some rooms for around 70-80 a night. Granted, these were a short distance and not right next door to the center, but when you have a room that is around 150 a night, pile people into the room and split the cost.

For example, over the weekend, I was in Columbus for an anime convention. We stayed at the Hyatt, which is known to be very expensive. They had rates on the room for the con at 105 a night. 122 with tax. We had 6 people in the room for all three nights. Each of us spent just around 70 dollars to stay there for the whole weekend. Splitting costs is really one of the most efficient ways to go.
 
SD PokéMom said:
if POP's intention...as demonstrated by worlds '07 in hawaii...is to make worlds a smaller, more exclusive event and make nationals the big 'party for everyone', moving it away from origins makes complete sense.

think about it: they don't have to worry about event ticketing issues, 'scary' other gamers or other 'family-unfriendly' (not that it was an issue in my own personal opinion, but i know others had the opposite view) concurrent events like the pride parade, and participants having to purchase a badge in order to play.

other games like YGO had already moved their us nationals away from origins. in my opinion it's going to be origins hurt more by this than PUI.

now they're free to make the event as poke-centered as they wish. think of the pokemon rocks america events or the journey across america 10th anniversary tour...all pokemon, all the time. i think this is a great move on their part.

jmho.
'mom
Click to expand...


I don't usually agree with mom on issues but this time she hit the nail right on the head. This is a perfect answer for what POP needs to do. The fact that every year its at origins was convinent but it was driving some families away due to the HUGE size and badge cost. Yes Dark Twins had a point that some players come for more then pokemon but most are there for that one weekend and if POP wants to make it the biggggg event then this might as well be the way to do it. I fell down the road there will be changes done to nats based on this attendance record and venue choice but for now i think POP wants to test a new water and see how it floats. I just hope its as good as advertised and now anything less.

Ohh and to mention about hotels. Look at the online sites and they will show that the hotels are cheaper then what dark twins is spouting.
 
FireFighter095ReBorn said:
I don't usually agree with mom on issues but this time she hit the nail right on the head. This is a perfect answer for what POP needs to do. The fact that every year its at origins was convinent but it was driving some families away due to the HUGE size and badge cost. Yes Dark Twins had a point that some players come for more then pokemon but most are there for that one weekend and if POP wants to make it the biggggg event then this might as well be the way to do it. I fell down the road there will be changes done to nats based on this attendance record and venue choice but for now i think POP wants to test a new water and see how it floats. I just hope its as good as advertised and now anything less.

Ohh and to mention about hotels. Look at the online sites and they will show that the hotels are cheaper then what dark twins is spouting.
Click to expand...

Hope you didn't get hurt when you fell down the road.
 
We won't be hanging around the convention center past Saturday if we don't make the second day, we'll be leaving early. Whereas at Origins, we would stay around just to look at the other games and booths and come back to watch the finals and play league on Sunday.
 
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