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BGonline.org Forums
What attracts you to tournaments?
Posted By: Phil Simborg In Response To: What attracts you to tournaments? (Matt Cohn-Geier)
Date: Thursday, 30 May 2013, at 4:24 p.m.
Great question and many excellent responses. Joe Russell provided an excellent summary of what I believe most of us here consider.
Of course, for Joe Russell, one of the better players in the world, the risk/reward and financial expectations would be considered far differently than for others, and everyone with different values and different amounts of disposable income would have different thoughts about this as well.
There is no question that seasoned tournament players and highly skilled players, like most on this forum, are not going to be attracted by the same things as a novice player or someone without live tournament experience, but it is still valid to ask the question to both groups.
In the end, there will be no one "right" answer because of the diversity of individual preferences, but there is also no right answer about what a tournament should be about. If the goal is simply to attract more people of all levels, there are clearly some things we can and should change to accomplish that, and I don't believe those things would in any way detract from the things that the seasoned tournament players want...no reason we can't have both.
But attracting a wide audience is not simply a matter of changing the venue, format, pricing, payouts, etc. It requires marketing effectively to a wider audience, an audience that does not come to BGOnline regularly, or to the USBGF site, or GammonVillage or even many of the on-line playing sites (but of course, it would include those). It's reaching hundreds of thousands of people who are playing on their smart phones or who are playing on their street corners and with friends.
Individual tournament directors can never hope to reach and attract a larger public. That's why it has to be done on a global basis, with a complete facelift of the image of backgammon and a public awareness of the challenges of the game and the fun of the game and information on how and where to learn and compete locally, on line, and in major events.
And that is why I am such an avid supporter of federations and finally have hope that this game can and will grow, as I see the federations not just focusing on the tournament crowd, but reaching out to grow the game and enhance the overall image of the game.
Back to Matt's original question. What attracts me most to the major tournaments is the opportunity to play and watch and learn from people like him. And of course, everything else on Joe's list is also important.
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