While I have no problem with Store Championships capping players at 32 for their event (64 for regionals), as that is what FFG provides prize support for, is there anywhere that says that stores are allowed to cap players are less than that?

Otherwise, stores could limit to 4 players, or 8, or whatnot? I saw nothing in the standard tournament FAQ other than there needs to be at least 4 for it to be official.

My LGS has limited space and capped it at 20 because that's as many as can fit.

My store is limited to 16. Not all stores can support 32 people, due to physical size constraints

Here in Germany stores are usually a lot smaller. Often the store owner can't afford to rent a space and leave the store, so some are capped pretty low (8 for example). I still prefer that to having no store tournaments, though.

Indeed, occupancy fire codes probably name the caps for the smaller ones.

Rules don't really say anything one way or the other as far as I know. In theory if a store limited it to 4 people FFG could refuse to send them a kit next year I suppose.

But those kits are kinda expensive, and unless those 4 people are willing to spend a lot, the store will take a loss on the kit. I imagine that a lot of stores will cap it somewhere between 16 and 32 just because of space issues.

Regionals at the FFG event center wasn't capped at 64 though, there were 80+ there last year, so I think it all depends on how much space the store has.

Can't really expect a small game store to rent a hall or something because they only have room for 8 games.

My FLGS capped at less than that too I'm sure. Sold out even before it was announced that they were taking reservations so no Store Championship for me this year. Bummer.

I know at my store that the TO was playing table tetris trying to max the number. And our cap is well below 32, but in double-digits. So if caps are happening, I'm sure most are for space, not to exclude so only a select group gets prizes.

Rules don't really say anything one way or the other as far as I know. In theory if a store limited it to 4 people FFG could refuse to send them a kit next year I suppose.

But those kits are kinda expensive, and unless those 4 people are willing to spend a lot, the store will take a loss on the kit. I imagine that a lot of stores will cap it somewhere between 16 and 32 just because of space issues.

Regionals at the FFG event center wasn't capped at 64 though, there were 80+ there last year, so I think it all depends on how much space the store has.

Can't really expect a small game store to rent a hall or something because they only have room for 8 games.

Well, the reason I am asking is from now until early March I can hit a Store Championship every single weekend with a drive time of 3 hours or less (I live in Kansas City), and there are even a couple held on Sunday for the option for two on those weekends. Some, like the one in Bellevue, NE (The Game Shoppe) have no maximum players. Others like The Geekery in Shawnee Mission, KS are capped at 32. There are even a couple like Hometown Games in Laurence, KS that have a limit far fewer (20).

It ticks me off that I will be unable to go to some of these smaller events because of the limit seating that doesn't even cover what FFG provides in their kit.

Of course, your first question is why go to so many? I love the competition, meeting new players, and seeing old friends. I love the community, where there is an almost no toxic atmosphere compared to other games like 40K, Magic, Pokemon, or similar.

Saying I can't play because you don't have the room for at least 32 shows poor planning on your part, bad judgement on FFG for allowing championships to be held with less than 32 players, and can upset even local players who are unable to attend due to space restrictions.

Rules don't really say anything one way or the other as far as I know. In theory if a store limited it to 4 people FFG could refuse to send them a kit next year I suppose.

But those kits are kinda expensive, and unless those 4 people are willing to spend a lot, the store will take a loss on the kit. I imagine that a lot of stores will cap it somewhere between 16 and 32 just because of space issues.

Regionals at the FFG event center wasn't capped at 64 though, there were 80+ there last year, so I think it all depends on how much space the store has.

Can't really expect a small game store to rent a hall or something because they only have room for 8 games.

Well, the reason I am asking is from now until early March I can hit a Store Championship every single weekend with a drive time of 3 hours or less (I live in Kansas City), and there are even a couple held on Sunday for the option for two on those weekends. Some, like the one in Bellevue, NE (The Game Shoppe) have no maximum players. Others like The Geekery in Shawnee Mission, KS are capped at 32. There are even a couple like Hometown Games in Laurence, KS that have a limit far fewer (20).

It ticks me off that I will be unable to go to some of these smaller events because of the limit seating that doesn't even cover what FFG provides in their kit.

Of course, your first question is why go to so many? I love the competition, meeting new players, and seeing old friends. I love the community, where there is an almost no toxic atmosphere compared to other games like 40K, Magic, Pokemon, or similar.

Saying I can't play because you don't have the room for at least 32 shows poor planning on your part, bad judgement on FFG for allowing championships to be held with less than 32 players, and can upset even local players who are unable to attend due to space restrictions.

I applaud your enthusiasm but to be honest I'm pretty sure it's people like you that have filled my FLGS and prevented me from attending a local championship. I personally think that if you've had the shot at playing in one of these then you should be ineligible to play in another unless the store in question is unable to fill all of it's slots otherwise.

I'm aware that this is probably an unpopular opinion.

Again, stores do have physical limitations. That shouldn't prevent them from Store Championships, because they are glorified locals, imo.

Fly casual people. Fly casual.

limit seating that doesn't even cover what FFG provides in their kit.

Just because there's 32 cards doesn't mean FFG expects all Store Championships to have 32 players.

The whole point of the Store Championship event is to get as many stores as possible hosting tournaments, not to try and pack in as many players as possible in each one.

Saying I can't play because you don't have the room for at least 32 shows poor planning on your part

Most LGS would go out of business if they had enough space to host 32 players. What you're asking for is simply not feasible for many perhaps even most stores. I'd guess that in the Twin Cities, the closest city to me, the FFG event center is one of the few places that can host a 32 person tournament.

and can upset even local players who are unable to attend due to space restrictions.

Then the store owner should make sure that local players get first chance to put their name on the list. Mine will be limited to 24, and so the owner is making sure that people like me are first on the list.

If doing it that way means someone from an hour or more away can't get in... I wouldn't feel even a tiny bit bad about it.

Rules don't really say anything one way or the other as far as I know. In theory if a store limited it to 4 people FFG could refuse to send them a kit next year I suppose.

But those kits are kinda expensive, and unless those 4 people are willing to spend a lot, the store will take a loss on the kit. I imagine that a lot of stores will cap it somewhere between 16 and 32 just because of space issues.

Regionals at the FFG event center wasn't capped at 64 though, there were 80+ there last year, so I think it all depends on how much space the store has.

Can't really expect a small game store to rent a hall or something because they only have room for 8 games.

Well, the reason I am asking is from now until early March I can hit a Store Championship every single weekend with a drive time of 3 hours or less (I live in Kansas City), and there are even a couple held on Sunday for the option for two on those weekends. Some, like the one in Bellevue, NE (The Game Shoppe) have no maximum players. Others like The Geekery in Shawnee Mission, KS are capped at 32. There are even a couple like Hometown Games in Laurence, KS that have a limit far fewer (20).

It ticks me off that I will be unable to go to some of these smaller events because of the limit seating that doesn't even cover what FFG provides in their kit.

Of course, your first question is why go to so many? I love the competition, meeting new players, and seeing old friends. I love the community, where there is an almost no toxic atmosphere compared to other games like 40K, Magic, Pokemon, or similar.

Saying I can't play because you don't have the room for at least 32 shows poor planning on your part, bad judgement on FFG for allowing championships to be held with less than 32 players, and can upset even local players who are unable to attend due to space restrictions.

Sure its bad to have to turn away players. You know whats worse? If no one gets to play! FFG shouldn't go crazy on space requirements for stores, because that would really damage small comunities.

That shouldn't prevent them from Store Championships, because they are glorified locals, imo.

I was thinking... If FFG limited Store Championships to only those places that could host 32+... I'd bet you'd see half as many, perhaps even 1/3rd as many as we have now.

Heck I'm fairly sure there's some regionals that were caped lower than 32.

Was this when Regionals were essentially store championships? Because while I know some Regionals were capped, I don't think they were that low.

Was this when Regionals were essentially store championships?

Could be, I remember hearing about some really low numbers at some regionals, but maybe it was just attendance and not that the event was capped.

The Atlanta area has almost a half dozen stores large enough to host 32 person store championships, and we award those stores with consistent turn out.

Not uncommon to get 20 on a casual Tuesday.

If doing it that way means someone from an hour or more away can't get in... I wouldn't feel even a tiny bit bad about it.

QFT!

Rules don't really say anything one way or the other as far as I know. In theory if a store limited it to 4 people FFG could refuse to send them a kit next year I suppose.

But those kits are kinda expensive, and unless those 4 people are willing to spend a lot, the store will take a loss on the kit. I imagine that a lot of stores will cap it somewhere between 16 and 32 just because of space issues.

Regionals at the FFG event center wasn't capped at 64 though, there were 80+ there last year, so I think it all depends on how much space the store has.

Can't really expect a small game store to rent a hall or something because they only have room for 8 games.

Well, the reason I am asking is from now until early March I can hit a Store Championship every single weekend with a drive time of 3 hours or less (I live in Kansas City), and there are even a couple held on Sunday for the option for two on those weekends. Some, like the one in Bellevue, NE (The Game Shoppe) have no maximum players. Others like The Geekery in Shawnee Mission, KS are capped at 32. There are even a couple like Hometown Games in Laurence, KS that have a limit far fewer (20).

It ticks me off that I will be unable to go to some of these smaller events because of the limit seating that doesn't even cover what FFG provides in their kit.

Of course, your first question is why go to so many? I love the competition, meeting new players, and seeing old friends. I love the community, where there is an almost no toxic atmosphere compared to other games like 40K, Magic, Pokemon, or similar.

Saying I can't play because you don't have the room for at least 32 shows poor planning on your part, bad judgement on FFG for allowing championships to be held with less than 32 players, and can upset even local players who are unable to attend due to space restrictions.

As far as I understand, there's really no competition for store championships at this point. So, any store that followed the guidelines and requested to host one got one. That means that all your proposal would do is mean that fewer people could play in general since fewer stores would be able to host. How is it bad judgement on FFGs part for allowing as much opportunity for store champs as they can?

The Atlanta area has almost a half dozen stores large enough to host 32 person store championships, and we award those stores with consistent turn out.

Not uncommon to get 20 on a casual Tuesday.

I envy you!

We aren't all as fortunate, though. Tabletop gaming just isn't big in some areas, let alone X-Wing.

I also live in Kansas City, and the stores you mentioned are capped due to space. When the one that capped at 32 announced I was surprised they were even going to try to fit that many in that store. The store in Lawrence, if I'm thinking of the correct one (I've only been out that way once) is going to be extremely cramped even with that cap of 20.

Saying I can't play because you don't have the room for at least 32 shows poor planning on your part, bad judgement on FFG for allowing championships to be held with less than 32 players, and can upset even local players who are unable to attend due to space restrictions.

You maybe need to check your entitlement there hoss.

Assuming that you've got players and tables packed uncomfortably close together, 16 games of X-Wing is going to take up around 400 square feet of floor space (4x6 allotted area for each game). There's not a whole hell of a lot of stores that can dedicate that much of their store to host a tournament.

It's great that you've got the time to hit hit every store championship in a three hour drive from you, but you're not the guy that the store owner is deciding to host a tournament for. He's putting it on to support and grow his local community. He can give two ***** about a guy that drives 3 hours and gives him $10-$15 once a year.

X-Wing is a not a small game, space-wise. It's not big compared to other tabletop miniatures games, but compared to something like Magic or Netrunner it's huge. Not every store has a big enough footprint for sixteen 3x3 games.

FFG Organized Play would be within its rights to say "We're not sending Store Championship Kits to any store that won't take at least 32 players," but theonly result of that would be a dramatic reduction in the number of X-Wing Store Championship tournaments. That doesn't help you either, in fact it makes things worse, as the people in smaller towns like Lawrence drive in to your turf looking for a place to play in a Store Championship.

If you want to play in as many Store Championships as you can, contact the stores with smaller limits and ask them about preregistering for their event. Make it clear that you'd be traveling and don't want to make the trip unless you know you've got a spot. Be prepared for them to say "I'm sorry, we aren't taking preregistrations", either from out-of-towners or at all. That's their right. Above all, don't complain or tell them this shows poor planning on their part.

Gee, it's been a while since I got unsolicited feedback on how I run my business from a total stranger. I could sure go for some of that right about now.

I've witnessed a fire department close down a venue (not gaming) because the owner continued to ignore the occupancy requirements. It wasn't pretty and everyone was p****d at the FD. Not their fault.

Another thing to remember is stores have to pay for square footage. Our FLGS doesn't charge players for a pickup game. Stores that have the space to host a 32 man competition has alot of negative floor space they are paying for. So unless there's a constant source of income from that gaming space it's a big drag on their bottom line.