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BGonline.org Forums
Message from an anonymous players to the community
Posted By: Henrik Bukkjaer In Response To: Message from an anonymous players to the community (Chiva Tafazzoli)
Date: Thursday, 7 June 2012, at 10:14 p.m.
>> I will say this, “Why not create a 5pt single elimination tour with a $5 to $10 entry fee. Instead of a prize pool you give out some very nice trophies to the top two finishers."
Or you could go even further:
$0 in entry, with sponsored prizes.
At the Nordic Open, we've tried this. The day before the "real" tournaments begun (still a day which is a public holiday in Denmark) there were held a beginners seminar (free), and then a beginners tournament (also free) - I think Swiss format, 5 rounds to either 3 or 5 points. Beginners only, that is, if you had a record at the DBgF with more than 400 in experience, you couldn't play.
Sponsored prizes, plenty of them actually, and all players winning just a single match would get a free DBgF membership for the rest of the year!
Sometimes this tournament was labelled "Beginners Danish Championship", sometimes just "Nordic Open Beginners Tournament".
The most successful year it attracted 90+ players!!
Relatively small effort in promoting the event, word of mouth, DBgF members encouraging friends and family to turn out, and see what it's all about with this wonderful game. Also advertizing the tournament at local poker fora/clubs, because of the vast number of potential players found in poker (who might be gamblers and very curious towards the game which fed poker so many stars, but doesn't want to start their backgammon careers by paying a high entry fee just to get eaten by sharks.
Unfortunately I must admit, that the DBgF didn't follow up on this huge success and superb opportunity to bring in new members. Nothing was really done afterwards, and the result was that only a few of the players became permanent members.
And this is an important lesson to learn. You need to offer the potential new players more than just the first fix for free! Have more local tournaments planned where they can participate. Prepare some materials for them about the game, maybe even offer them packages with boards and a book, etc. Have local clubs prepared for picking them up as members, maybe even have some education sessions planned. Or some team events / doubles events / beginners tournaments planned not too long after.
I'm pretty confident, that if we put our minds to it and put in the needed effort, we could grow the backgammon community at the "low level" relatively fast and easy. And I think that's what we need, both in Europe and in the US as far from what I can understand. The snowball will eventually turn into an avalanche, and then in time you'd get both more "organizers" and "entrepreneurs" as well as ABT/"what ever top flight" players.
In doing so, organizations like USBGF is instrumental. Local clubs alone want cut it.
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