How hardfast is the date limit of April 1st for the current Store Championship season? Does it invalidate a regionals bye obtained by the winner of the event? I'm trying to coordinate the players and the local stores to make a calendar that makes everyone happy, but it's hard to fit everything before that date.

From what I understand, its less a "hard date" and more a cutoff so that there is a clear division between regionals (which start in May) and store championships.

My question is why, at Mid February, you don't have a date set? Here where I live we got on facebook and by 1 Jan we had a list of every store championship within 4 hours and their dates. Just have the stores chose their own dates and if players make it, so be it. If not, well, all you need is 4 to make it an official event......

I think the biggest issue would be if your closest (only?) regionals is before that store championship, the regional first-round bye goes to waste.

Just have the stores chose their own dates and if players make it, so be it. If not, well, all you need is 4 to make it an official event......

We try to work with the stores to set the dates and have the most players attend each event. This means scheduling events at least 1 week apart, ideally 2.

We also recently set up a 12-week league in which players can play wherever / whenever they want, but get bonus points if they play in participating stores. Said stores also organize league days/nights where you can show up for a game or two, or stay the whole day and you know you'll be able to find opponents. This has helped draw out some players who are not up for full-day tournaments.

Working with the stores has been great for us, and our numbers have been growing consistently. Our first Store Championship of the year this weekend had a record attendance locally (19 players!), and it was held by a store that has only recently gotten into X-Wing events (it was their second ever tourney).

My question is why, at Mid February, you don't have a date set? Here where I live we got on facebook and by 1 Jan we had a list of every store championship within 4 hours and their dates.

It's not that easy to coordinate things between different stores. In my area, we have one Facebook group that we share. We still couldn't get all of the local TOs to talk to one another, so avoiding schedule conflicts has been a matter of luck as much as planning. And it's ongoing! I'm not sure that all of the dates have been set.