VOTE on what makes a tournament great.

[Sac]

Organizing and running a tournament is a tricky thing. If you want to weigh in on something that wasn't on the list, please do so.

[om]

I look at what contests are being played and when. I don't function well late at night as I usually get up around 4:30 -5:00AM. A match at 1:30 AM totally sucks for me. Weekend daytime tournaments are the ones I go to, unless they are on the first weekend of bow hunting season

[turk]

What about number of events...I know you young-uns can't handle playin for more than a few hours , but c'mon, I just wanna play as much as I can. We used to call the feeling "foosed out" after an incredibly long tournament.
Turk "foos freak" (ya that's old too...)

[Sac]

Turk, you should be sponsored by 5-hour energy.
I agree with you....I like to have LOTS of events too!
The 2010 OSC will have the most events ever!

[bradlaurine]

One thought was the events with-in the tournament themselves. Too many is just as bad as not enough. The main focus of any event is timing.

The dates of the event are critical.
Lastly, is the marketing of the event. Any event that is perceived as a cool event thus becomes the cool event. Fun factor is a must and needs to be pushed as such prior to opening the doors.

Brad Laurine

[keith]

What makes for a fun tournament?
Good question.
I'd say there are a few things.
One: Get the damn thing done on time. I can't tell you how disappointing it is to spend your time and money to travel to a tournament and then end up playing one game to seven or some other crap because there is no time left.
Two: Have some decent tables set up with decent lighting. Playing on a dark table that bounces around is for people that don't need to see the ball to play, i.e. some kid in his basement.
Three: Have enough room to play and enough room for spectators. Crowding the tables together makes for a frustrating time when it comes to playing and if you can't watch some matches while you are waiting for two hours to play your next match what else are you going to do? Belly up to the bar I guess.
Four: Make it easy to find and be able to use an official. There should be some designated officials that know up front that they are going to be expected to be an official. We shouldn't have to spend 5 minutes to chase one down that doesn't really want the job and then cough up money so they'll do it.
Five: I know, this particular one is more of something for a wish-list. But somebody PLEASE find a way, pagers, cell phones, something! So that a player can be notified that his or her match is up when they are not in the tournament room. You know, so we might actually have a chance to get out of there for a few minutes to relax, get something to eat, etc.

I've got more but I've got to have a beer now, I'll chime in later.

[F-Man]

I prefer locations where folks under 21 can play - they are the future of foosball. I relly appreciate the folks who plan, coordinate, and run tournaments - it's trully a thankless unpaid job.
Things that turn me off are: Having to wait to play a match when a table is open and all four people are available to play it. Complainers - stop complaining and help out. Not finding players when a match is called - I've never seen a local match forfeited because someone couldn't be found. Having to wait to play a match, because one of the players is having to ref a different match - If the ref's match is called, then sorry folks, continue the match without a Ref, find a different Ref, or wait until the Ref is available again.

[Sac]

F-man, great point about the venues allowing under 21 players.

It is looking more and more like the 2011 OSC will be an all ages/all night venue. That was our goal from the beginning...make the big tournaments accessible to all ages. The old guys can have their fun most nights of the week, but man I love to watch the youngsters tear up seasoned vets.