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Author
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Topic: How to attract local players
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stu55
Member
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posted September 16, 2010 10:09 AM
      
There are several colleges and plenty of local players in the area of the store I consult for. But we rarely get them in for anything other than pre-releases. We are the only store in an hour radius of the area as well. How would you go about getting them to come in weekly, play their magic here as opposed to playing at their homes or colleges? What marketing strategies or incentives?
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Myy
Member
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posted September 16, 2010 10:12 AM
  
free Pizza works. you can get the Little ceasar's Hot and Ready for $5.make more tourneys with FNM cards to give away.
EDIT: a friend of mine is having this exact problem, people where he lives are spoiled and don't want to pay for tourneys. he was charging them $2 and they still refused. because the TO b4 him used to do free tourneys, with no real prize, just FNM foils as prizes. hope you have better luck than he does.
[Edited 1 times, lastly by Myy on September 16, 2010]
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slurpee
Member
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posted September 16, 2010 10:17 AM
Offer free foils. For some reason I always get the impression 75% of the people at the Prereleases are there just for it and because it is supposedly free.
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Liq
Member
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posted September 16, 2010 10:23 AM
Lots of free tournaments. Using the Gateway kit to provide 'free promos'.I find that the average player doesn't want to spend money to play but when he can play and get free stuff, he'll join nearly every time. Also be generous with new and/or novice players. If he has a good experience with the place, chances are that he will return. __________________
<Jazaray> LIQ!
<Jazaray> you broke MOTL
<Liq> totally
<BoltBait> Don't make me kick you
<Slinga> Have no fear, MOTL's janitor is here!
<nderdog> So we're all agreed, it's Liq's fault, right?
<Leshrac> let me deal with that
* Liq has been banned
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nderdog
Moderator
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posted September 16, 2010 10:24 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Myy:
make more tourneys with FNM cards to give away.
I'm pretty sure he'd prefer to attract them without risking a lot of trouble from WotC. Wizards is pretty specific that FNM cards must be given to the top 2 in an FNM event, and 2 others given away to people who participate in that specific event. More tourneys with Gateway promos, on the other hand, should work nicely. The real question is, does the store want to bring players in to buy product, or do they want to make money from the tournaments? Either way, I'd recommend a short survey to hand out to potential players to see what they want and what they're willing to pay. If they like prereleases, do they enjoy sealed/draft, or just playing with stuff that's not on the market yet? I get 20+ for free FNM weekly in a county of 25,000. Bi-weekly Extended tournaments for $5 usually bring in about 8. Bi-weekly free 2HG tourneys get about 12 players. We'll have our first release event for Scars, expecting 8 to 10, and depending on turnout and player desire, I'd like to run both prerelease and release events when possible. I'm not sure if the turnouts are because people really like Magic or because there just isn't anything else to do around here.  __________________
There's no need to fear, UNDERDOG is here!All your Gruul Nodorogs are belong to me. Trade them to me, please! Report rules violations. Remember the Auctions Board!
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davef139
Member
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posted September 16, 2010 11:20 AM
Stu we need to know more about the store, and kind of people and tourneys that currently run. Like is Std/leg/vin/ext big or what
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D'Shay
Member
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posted September 16, 2010 11:46 AM
I have found that to bring those people in, you have to talk to them to see what they want. Gamers are a very different type of people Tourny's for me do not make money, but keep people playing and buying cards which is where my store makes the money I just started up EDH around here and it is pulling in players that normally do not play and the tourny was free but I have sold singles that normally would not have been sold it is all about what the store does and promotes that sells the project but just pay attention to what your players want
[Edited 1 times, lastly by D'Shay on September 16, 2010]
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stu55
Member
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posted September 16, 2010 11:59 AM
It is mostly drafting. We do a ton of drafting and the pre-res bring a good crowd.The reason I am looking to increase attendance to get the type 2 and constructed popularity going.
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Malice327
Member
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posted September 16, 2010 12:10 PM
quote:
Originally posted by stu55:
It is mostly drafting. We do a ton of drafting and the pre-res bring a good crowd.The reason I am looking to increase attendance to get the type 2 and constructed popularity going.
I found that doing "at cost" tourneys with prizes really helps bring people in. Charing $10 for a standard tourney with a prize pool of 3-3.5 packs per person prize pool generally draws people (small city in Canada). We made an arrangement with a small but high quality pizza place here, we get large 3 topping pizza's for $8 each, charging a buck a slice for awesome pizza.
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TimeBeing
Member
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posted September 16, 2010 12:59 PM
also whats age range of your players? the store i frequent is very adult oriented. There are few under 20s there, but its got a good group of regulars. There is a ton of play space, so lots of board games, and RPGing happens too.I like is compared to others store because there is a ton of tables to play, good snack options, friendly staff, and good clean bathrooms. Best part is there FNM starts later in the day so i can get there in time after work. Casual events (EDH) are always good. Also sealed events do really well at the store i go to. Peoples 15$ get them packs, they are always going to get to go home with something. Where as even 5$ constructed events have about half the turn out. They even had a decent sealed Summer weekly league that just ended. EDH is pretty big at the store i play in. Almost everyone has one so multiplayer games fire all the time. (and it sells a ton of singles)
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CephalidBreakfast
Member
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posted September 16, 2010 02:54 PM
quote:
Originally posted by TimeBeing:
the store i frequent is very adult oriented.
Are you having tournaments in a porn store? That's got to be against some wotc policy...
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nderdog
Moderator
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posted September 16, 2010 02:59 PM
quote:
Originally posted by CephalidBreakfast:
Are you having tournaments in a porn store? That's got to be against some wotc policy...
Roh roh. Do I need to cancel my Magic, Beer and Porn tourneys? __________________
There's no need to fear, UNDERDOG is here!All your Gruul Nodorogs are belong to me. Trade them to me, please! Report rules violations. Remember the Auctions Board!
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caquaa
Member
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posted September 16, 2010 04:55 PM
quote:
Originally posted by nderdog:
Roh roh. Do I need to cancel my Magic, Beer and Porn tourneys?
send out more invites, I didn't get one!
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mtglover
Member
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posted September 16, 2010 07:38 PM
Kick out all the rude players.
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Malice327
Member
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posted September 16, 2010 07:40 PM
quote:
Originally posted by mtglover:
Kick out all the rude players.
+1
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trying2playagain
Banned
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posted September 16, 2010 08:39 PM
I have to say this isn't the answer he is looking for. But i wish his store was my local store. We have just the opposite problem we have 15 players that show up for every tourney, and another 15-20 that depending on the money situtation and what they have going on may show up. We are lucky if we get 2 fnm is a month like this month he didn't have any
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caquaa
Member
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posted September 16, 2010 10:33 PM
quote:
Originally posted by trying2playagain:
I have to say this isn't the answer he is looking for. But i wish his store was my local store. We have just the opposite problem we have 15 players that show up for every tourney, and another 15-20 that depending on the money situtation and what they have going on may show up. We are lucky if we get 2 fnm is a month like this month he didn't have any
I dont quite understand. He gets 15 people that always show up, but doesn't run a tournament with those 15? The requirement for FNM to be sanctioned is 8.
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Volcanon
Member
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posted September 17, 2010 08:39 AM
quote:
Originally posted by nderdog:
Roh roh. Do I need to cancel my Magic, Beer and Porn tourneys?
In all seriousness in Japan I used to go to an FNM that WAS in a porn store. Well, a porn rental store. (If you're IN Japan, go check it out if its still in business - Yachiyo City, Yachiyodai Stn) I once talked with the owner about porn and I said something like "Japan's got a lot of weird shizzle, eh?" and he shows me videos are illegal in "Canada, Netherlands, most of the United States, Australia (except for the ACT), and New Zealand." Among others.
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TimeBeing
Member
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posted September 17, 2010 09:25 AM
quote:
Originally posted by CephalidBreakfast:
Are you having tournaments in a porn store? That's got to be against some wotc policy...
Nope sadly not. But the store doesn't sell yogioh or pokimon. It's not worth it to them to have to deal with kids and the possible shop lifting and stuff. So I rearly see anyone under 18 or 20 in there. They also are very anti Rude players.
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Conan4015
Member
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posted September 17, 2010 10:42 PM
natural charisma, and rugged good looks!
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mtglover
Member
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posted September 19, 2010 10:56 AM
Have a competition between college students in a tournament.
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mm1983
Member
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posted September 19, 2010 11:13 AM
Local store I play at offers 1 pack prize per person for undefeated players on drafts or 2 pack prize per person for standard. Drafts are $15 and standard is $5. Undefeated players also get the FNM foil or other random foils on Saturdays and those same foils get handed out as a random to someone else who was in the tournament. My local store rarely gets more than 16 people and prerelease/release tournaments get 24 or better usually.
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davef139
Member
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posted September 20, 2010 01:57 AM
quote:
Originally posted by mm1983:
Local store I play at offers 1 pack prize per person for undefeated players on drafts or 2 pack prize per person for standard. Drafts are $15 and standard is $5. Undefeated players also get the FNM foil or other random foils on Saturdays and those same foils get handed out as a random to someone else who was in the tournament. My local store rarely gets more than 16 people and prerelease/release tournaments get 24 or better usually.
Thats gotta be the worst prize payout ever unless there is more.
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Heresy19
Member
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posted September 20, 2010 05:22 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Liq:
Lots of free tournaments. Using the Gateway kit to provide 'free promos'.
Our local store does this. A 1$ league each wednesday/saturday with promos to wins + random boosters. Each round you win 2-0 = 4 points , 2-1 = 3 points, lose 1-2 = 1 point , 0-2 = 0 point. Top1 wins a additional 4 points, 2nd 3 points and 3rd 2 points. If you bring a new customer you get 10 points and if you teach a new comer how to play, you get another 15 points. for each 15 points you have in the system you can get a free booster. 30 points a free 60 ultra-pro sleeves pack, 45 points a free ultra-pro binder, and so on. It works here
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atrius89
Member
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posted September 20, 2010 04:04 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Heresy19:
Our local store does this. A 1$ league each wednesday/saturday with promos to wins + random boosters. Each round you win 2-0 = 4 points , 2-1 = 3 points, lose 1-2 = 1 point , 0-2 = 0 point. Top1 wins a additional 4 points, 2nd 3 points and 3rd 2 points. If you bring a new customer you get 10 points and if you teach a new comer how to play, you get another 15 points. for each 15 points you have in the system you can get a free booster. 30 points a free 60 ultra-pro sleeves pack, 45 points a free ultra-pro binder, and so on.It works here
That would convince me. A local store in the area here tried to do that with multiplayer EDH.. and failed miserably 
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