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Weekly tournament fee: how much?
Posted By: Albert Steg In Response To: Weekly tournament fee: how much? (leobueno)
Date: Friday, 30 October 2015, at 1:28 p.m.
The question of "making yourself welcome" at whatever venue you hold your tournaments is really important.
New England Backgammon Club (NEBC) holds monthly tournaments at a fairly bustling family-oriented tavern in Malden. Theres a large bar, a little game room area with air hockey and a few other games, and a fairly spacious table-area as well as booths circling the room.
A policy that I was skeptical about, fiscally, but which seems to have been working well for us for several years, is that the NEBC pays the first $5 of everybody's refreshment bill. In other words, everybody gets most of a a 'free drink' on NEBC. We have two entry levels for the tournament: $30 and $60, and we pay out 85% of the entry fees in cash prizes. If you enter for $30 you only collect 1/2 the prize. There is also a $40 side pool with 100% return.
The tavern identifies the area where they want us to play, and one waitress attends to all our needs and everything's put on one tab. Individuals pay the TD for their purchases, minus the $5 but plus an encouraged 20% tip on their full purchase amount. The total tab is paid by the TD, and we tip a good 25%. The tavern has a loyalty card, so we accrue points over time for the large tabs and get discounts. Obviously, this approach only works if you're willing to have a club 'Account' -- where the club officers keep a running track of the club balances. At the end of the year, the balance in the club account is used as the prize pool for the Club Championship, based on the year-long points race.
Aside form consuming / timing, it's worth targeting a venue and time of day/week where the establishment might welcome your 'crowd.' We start our monthlies Saturday at noon. If we were to begin instead at 1:00, a lot more people would eat lunch elsewhere before coming. Starting at noon, I'd say a good half order a substantial lunch right away during registration. Space is very ample all afternoon, and I think they're very happy to have us not just for the business but because it gives the room an active / lively / popular feel. By suppertime many people have lost and gone home, so our presence shrinks just as the tavern gets busier and space more scarce -- but many still remain and buy a (2nd!) meal. So - don't purposely schedule events 'around' meals if you want to encourage spending! -- an 'after-dinner' tournament is not going to generate as much business for the venue.
Finally, people have to dress appropriately for the venue and behave well. Especially in a 'family' place where little kids are around, you can't have money flying ostentatiously around the tables, loud trash talking, etc. So you have to be willing to 'call' people gently out when they're threatening your relationship with the house.
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