How do you become an official judge and orginizer?

There is no such thing.

Yet.

FFG doesn't have a protocol or anything.

Individual stores order tournament kits from FFG. Then each individual selects someone to be the judge at the tournament. It is usually a store employee somewhat familiar with the game, or a local player who volunteers not to compete and act as an impartial judge, or a local player who competes in the tournament and designates a 2nd player to act as the judge in the event that an issue arises in the judge's match.

The short version is each store picks their own judge and to be a judge you have to have a good relationship with the store staff.

Thanks everyone for the info.

This is probably one of the more frustrating aspects of FFG's organized play. I recently saw a youtube video of an x-wing tournament and the announcers were talking about an FFG Offical Judge Program. and to be honest as a Tournament Organizer I would greatly appreciate that and support FFG in this regards.

I also think they need to seriously reconsider some of their tournament structure, either make all your game tournaments swiss and style it as swiss or just don't bother releasing a kit with inaccurate, or at the very least complete instructions from pairing breakdowns to scoring. the current kits are garbage in this regard. FFG needs to get a handle on this seriously. sorry just ranting a bit lol

I like the fact that there are SC/Regional/National/Worlds events that are set up to a certain standard, and I would be happy to see an official judge training program for those.

But for local tournaments using the seasonal kits, I think it's better to keep things loose and let event organizers do whatever they want within reason and still have some official prize support.

So a friend and I are trying to start a group at a local game store. We want to eventually run tournaments and all that when we have enough players. The store owner is super cool and wants us to get that going. I'm more familiar with the rules and FAQ than my friend, so it's more likely that I would be the TO. I'm fine with this and told the owner I'm happy to be a TO. I understand that in higher level tournaments TO's are not to participate but up to and including Store Championships, they are allowed to play.

a local player who competes in the tournament and designates a 2nd player to act as the judge in the event that an issue arises in the judge's match.

When I saw this I wanted to clarify it so I don't misunderstand.

The way it looks is that if I am both being a TO and playing in the tournament, as long as I designate someone else as a secondary TO, it is okay, even if that secondary TO is also playing in the event. Am I understanding this wrong?

So a friend and I are trying to start a group at a local game store. We want to eventually run tournaments and all that when we have enough players. The store owner is super cool and wants us to get that going. I'm more familiar with the rules and FAQ than my friend, so it's more likely that I would be the TO. I'm fine with this and told the owner I'm happy to be a TO. I understand that in higher level tournaments TO's are not to participate but up to and including Store Championships, they are allowed to play.

a local player who competes in the tournament and designates a 2nd player to act as the judge in the event that an issue arises in the judge's match.

When I saw this I wanted to clarify it so I don't misunderstand.

The way it looks is that if I am both being a TO and playing in the tournament, as long as I designate someone else as a secondary TO, it is okay, even if that secondary TO is also playing in the event. Am I understanding this wrong?

Yes. This way there is someone to make a ruling while a TO is playing their match.

So a friend and I are trying to start a group at a local game store. We want to eventually run tournaments and all that when we have enough players. The store owner is super cool and wants us to get that going. I'm more familiar with the rules and FAQ than my friend, so it's more likely that I would be the TO. I'm fine with this and told the owner I'm happy to be a TO. I understand that in higher level tournaments TO's are not to participate but up to and including Store Championships, they are allowed to play.

a local player who competes in the tournament and designates a 2nd player to act as the judge in the event that an issue arises in the judge's match.

When I saw this I wanted to clarify it so I don't misunderstand.

The way it looks is that if I am both being a TO and playing in the tournament, as long as I designate someone else as a secondary TO, it is okay, even if that secondary TO is also playing in the event. Am I understanding this wrong?

Yes. This way there is someone to make a ruling while a TO is playing their match.

Even though both matches would be going on at the exact same time and it would slow down not 1 but 2 games? Interesting. I doubt it would come up with my buddy and I but that's good to know.

It shouldn't take more than 30 seconds out of anyone's game to make a ruling, and most matches are played without requiring a TO's ruling.

I'm a TO and don't designate a second even if I do play. If a ruling is needed, I ask a player at a neighboring table whose knowledge of the game is at least as good as mine and I let them make the call. It's really not a big deal.