Minimal prize support? Everyone got R1 and R2 rulers. These seem to be ~$8 each, so that's $800. Then there was the kit itself, which I believe is $160. Then there were what seemed to be 16 trays, which seem to be $20, so another $320. So, for the $3000 collected income, they were spending $1280 on prize support. All of which was announced beforehand. And as it turns out, they only collected ~$2100 of it, but still had the full cost sunk. Tell me, would you prefer to go if they were charging $20 and offered no additional prize support? Because about $12 of your $30 went towards prizes (assuming the full 100 people). And that's not even counting all of the overhead, staff and opportunity cost to run the thing.

Now I won't deny that I probably won't be returning next year. It was the furthest I've ever gone for X wing (including Gencon), had the most in tolls (stupid Chicago), and the highest entry fee. But it wouldn't be because of the $30 entry fee.

Minimal prize support? Everyone got R1 and R2 rulers. These seem to be ~$8 each, so that's $800. Then there was the kit itself, which I believe is $160. Then there were what seemed to be 16 trays, which seem to be $20, so another $320. So, for the $3000 collected income, they were spending $1280 on prize support. All of which was announced beforehand. And as it turns out, they only collected ~$2100 of it, but still had the full cost sunk. Tell me, would you prefer to go if they were charging $20 and offered no additional prize support? Because about $12 of your $30 went towards prizes (assuming the full 100 people). And that's not even counting all of the overhead, staff and opportunity cost to run the thing.

Now I won't deny that I probably won't be returning next year. It was the furthest I've ever gone for X wing (including Gencon), had the most in tolls (stupid Chicago), and the highest entry fee. But it wouldn't be because of the $30 entry fee.

$15 with 120 people ($1800) resulted in....

Kit $160?

32 play mats $40 each so $1280

Raffled off 15 or so ships $200 at least

$300 in store credit

There were a few other little things given away but I can't remember them. Everyone that stayed until the end of day one got something even if just an old promo.

That amounts to way more than $1800.

Giving away product and store credit is gross profit for the store. Plus store credit is amazing prize for many reasons.

It's hard to spend exactly $20 or $30. So people usually go over and spend more money. It also gets people back into your store to spend it in the future.

Minimal prize support?

Minimal is really in the eye of the beholder.

Everyone got R1 and R2 rulers. These seem to be ~$8 each, so that's $800.

Those are only valuable to some people. For people who have one, or don't really want them they don't have much value. So on top of the cards you get from FFG, and that assumes you get one or more...

You're really playing for the chance to score the top 16 or better prizes, that and the chance to play a lot of X-Wing. So depending on how likely you think you are to finish in the top 16, how much value you put on that, and how much value you put on just playing...

$30 may be way too much, or it may be a fair price. The point is, that it's up to each person to decide, and there really isn't a wrong answer.

Now if everyone was guaranteed to get $15 or $20 worth of prizes then that's something different. But I frankly don't consider the value of the cards myself, because while you may be able to sell them on eBay for a ton, you may not, and you may not want to bother with the hassle.

So what you got is $30 for $10 worth of rulers, plus some cards which may or may not have value, and the chance at more, plus the games. Not everyone is going to consider that a good deal.

Minimal prize support? Everyone got R1 and R2 rulers. These seem to be ~$8 each, so that's $800. Then there was the kit itself, which I believe is $160. Then there were what seemed to be 16 trays, which seem to be $20, so another $320. So, for the $3000 collected income, they were spending $1280 on prize support. All of which was announced beforehand. And as it turns out, they only collected ~$2100 of it, but still had the full cost sunk. Tell me, would you prefer to go if they were charging $20 and offered no additional prize support? Because about $12 of your $30 went towards prizes (assuming the full 100 people). And that's not even counting all of the overhead, staff and opportunity cost to run the thing.

Now I won't deny that I probably won't be returning next year. It was the furthest I've ever gone for X wing (including Gencon), had the most in tolls (stupid Chicago), and the highest entry fee. But it wouldn't be because of the $30 entry fee.

Again, I guess I'm spoiled.

$15 with 120 people ($1800) resulted in....

Kit $160?

32 play mats $40 each so $1280

Raffled off 15 or so ships $200 at least

$300 in store credit

There were a few other little things given away but I can't remember them. Everyone that stayed until the end of day one got something even if just an old promo.

That amounts to way more than $1800.

Giving away product and store credit is gross profit for the store. Plus store credit is amazing prize for many reasons.

It's hard to spend exactly $20 or $30. So people usually go over and spend more money. It also gets people back into your store to spend it in the future.

I guess you are spoiled. I tend to prefer the stores that support X wing at least break even. It sucks when they go under because they can't turn a profit. Even when you discount everything by 50% to put it more at store cost instead of retail cost, you're talking about $1050 in prize support minimum . So you have $750 for the store to pay its employees, overhead, and any opportunity cost for not running other events. If we assume a 12hr event with 2 people supporting it full time, at $10/hr, that's $240 in wages, plus a bit more in SS taxes and unemployment that the employer pays, let's generously say just $250.

And let's also say that nothing is rented. I would state that the monthly utilities for a store that large are probably at least 3000, or $100/day, same with rent at $100/day. We can put these under the cost of running X wing because the entire store space is required all day for it. So now we've worked down to $300 profit / misc expenses. And this is all best case scenarios (assuming 50% cost for all prizes, assume full 120 attendance, assume no extra setup costs).

Since most weekends are where game stores make their money, let's go ahead and say that the owner is netting $300 every weekend day, $100 every weekday and analyze if that's a profitable model. That would mean that the store is making $4730/mo. Over a year, that is 56.7k profit for the store. I'll let you decide if that's worth it, but as an owner, that seems like an awfully low amount of money to be making considering the risk and the sunk cost of inventory and fixed cost to operate.

So are you assuming that the people attending the event are not going to buy a single item there?

A snack, a drink or maybe a ship. Perhaps a board game they've been meaning to purchase?

Madrid, the calm before the storm. I thought it was a cool pic to share.

For the stream, first round starts tomorrow at 10:30 CEST / 4:30 EDT, while the sixth and last should be at 19:30 CEST / 13:30 EDT. Sunday, Top 16 will kick off at 9:45 CEST / 3:45 EDT. Final around 14:00 CEST / 8:00 EDT.

https://www.twitch.tv/firstearth

Red chairs Op

Nice setup.

We'll be streaming the top cut of Raleigh regionals tomorrow at https://www.twitch.tv/atomicempire

Six rounds of swiss will be up eventually, but we don't have room to set up the streaming hardware until the top cut. If I go like 0-3 or something equally embarrassing I'll try and get things started up earlier, but the plan now is to stream the cut. We're also trying a few new things out, so look forward to my bad commentary when I'm knocked out, and I've asked a few other players if they don't mind commenting when they're free.

Well, there are 5 other US Regionals tomorrow. I'm sure at least one of them will have a stream we can watch.

We'll be streaming the top cut of Raleigh regionals tomorrow at https://www.twitch.tv/atomicempire

Six rounds of swiss will be up eventually, but we don't have room to set up the streaming hardware until the top cut. If I go like 0-3 or something equally embarrassing I'll try and get things started up earlier, but the plan now is to stream the cut. We're also trying a few new things out, so look forward to my bad commentary when I'm knocked out, and I've asked a few other players if they don't mind commenting when they're free.

Nice!

Are there squad lists of the Top 8 somewhere?

We'll be streaming the top cut of Raleigh regionals tomorrow at https://www.twitch.tv/atomicempire

Six rounds of swiss will be up eventually, but we don't have room to set up the streaming hardware until the top cut. If I go like 0-3 or something equally embarrassing I'll try and get things started up earlier, but the plan now is to stream the cut. We're also trying a few new things out, so look forward to my bad commentary when I'm knocked out, and I've asked a few other players if they don't mind commenting when they're free.

Nice!

Are there squad lists of the Top 8 somewhere?

No, because the tournament hasn't started yet.

We'll be streaming the top cut of Raleigh regionals tomorrow at https://www.twitch.tv/atomicempire

Six rounds of swiss will be up eventually, but we don't have room to set up the streaming hardware until the top cut. If I go like 0-3 or something equally embarrassing I'll try and get things started up earlier, but the plan now is to stream the cut. We're also trying a few new things out, so look forward to my bad commentary when I'm knocked out, and I've asked a few other players if they don't mind commenting when they're free.

Nice!

Are there squad lists of the Top 8 somewhere?

No, because the tournament hasn't started yet.

Ah right, didn't see that. Looking forward for the stream

Minimal prize support? Everyone got R1 and R2 rulers. These seem to be ~$8 each, so that's $800. Then there was the kit itself, which I believe is $160. Then there were what seemed to be 16 trays, which seem to be $20, so another $320. So, for the $3000 collected income, they were spending $1280 on prize support. All of which was announced beforehand. And as it turns out, they only collected ~$2100 of it, but still had the full cost sunk. Tell me, would you prefer to go if they were charging $20 and offered no additional prize support? Because about $12 of your $30 went towards prizes (assuming the full 100 people). And that's not even counting all of the overhead, staff and opportunity cost to run the thing.

Now I won't deny that I probably won't be returning next year. It was the furthest I've ever gone for X wing (including Gencon), had the most in tolls (stupid Chicago), and the highest entry fee. But it wouldn't be because of the $30 entry fee.

Again, I guess I'm spoiled.

$15 with 120 people ($1800) resulted in....

Kit $160?

32 play mats $40 each so $1280

Raffled off 15 or so ships $200 at least

$300 in store credit

There were a few other little things given away but I can't remember them. Everyone that stayed until the end of day one got something even if just an old promo.

That amounts to way more than $1800.

Giving away product and store credit is gross profit for the store. Plus store credit is amazing prize for many reasons.

It's hard to spend exactly $20 or $30. So people usually go over and spend more money. It also gets people back into your store to spend it in the future.

Yea, you are spoiled. Most tournaments here are around $15 - 20 dollars and you get a few ships and the tourney kit.

Now THAT is a tournament setup! Nice!

Well, there are 5 other US Regionals tomorrow. I'm sure at least one of them will have a stream we can watch.

http://twitch.tv/512squadron

Austin TX Regional with 96 slots (looks like it will be nearly a full day).

Raleigh Regional stream is up at https://www.twitch.tv/atomicempire

I'm not casting it because I'm not bad, but Ben Keller and Derek Tokaz commentating the swiss rounds for us. Round 4 finishes up in 15 minutes.

For 70 players? Yea, 2100 probably just covers the rulers, trays and what sounds like extra staff. I see no real glaring profit margin here.

No freaking way. The rulers are a range 1 & 2 with company logos. The trays were only top 8. The extra staff consisted of a few guys who didn't do much & a red headed girl who sat at the front mean mugging everyone. I was very unimpressed at cost / value and I had ignored a warning by another Chicago player who opted out because of the way they run their events.

Minimal prize support? Everyone got R1 and R2 rulers. These seem to be ~$8 each, so that's $800. Then there was the kit itself, which I believe is $160. Then there were what seemed to be 16 trays, which seem to be $20, so another $320. So, for the $3000 collected income, they were spending $1280 on prize support. All of which was announced beforehand. And as it turns out, they only collected ~$2100 of it, but still had the full cost sunk. Tell me, would you prefer to go if they were charging $20 and offered no additional prize support? Because about $12 of your $30 went towards prizes (assuming the full 100 people). And that's not even counting all of the overhead, staff and opportunity cost to run the thing.

Now I won't deny that I probably won't be returning next year. It was the furthest I've ever gone for X wing (including Gencon), had the most in tolls (stupid Chicago), and the highest entry fee. But it wouldn't be because of the $30 entry fee.

Again, I guess I'm spoiled.

$15 with 120 people ($1800) resulted in....

Kit $160?

32 play mats $40 each so $1280

Raffled off 15 or so ships $200 at least

$300 in store credit

There were a few other little things given away but I can't remember them. Everyone that stayed until the end of day one got something even if just an old promo.

That amounts to way more than $1800.

Giving away product and store credit is gross profit for the store. Plus store credit is amazing prize for many reasons.

It's hard to spend exactly $20 or $30. So people usually go over and spend more money. It also gets people back into your store to spend it in the future.

Again, you gotta consider the source here. One is a great shop with great people ,organization, & events. The other is a place that thinks they are somehow 'special' and offering a 'unique' experience' and charges over MSRP on everything. I'm glad I went just so I never feel the urge to do it again.

.... In other news... Lots of Palp on the streams today... Crossing my fingers it doesn't keep up all day.

I really think triple jumps have scared the meta to palp aces which has the thinking player going toward stuff that kills palp aces.

Raleigh stream is fairly annoying with the commentators writing things like "deadman flying" on the screen and giving everything nicknames when they type out the squad lists. I know this isn't esports but give it a break. Not new player friendly and fairly juvenile in my opinion.

Raleigh stream is fairly annoying with the commentators writing things like "deadman flying" on the screen and giving everything nicknames when they type out the squad lists. I know this isn't esports but give it a break. Not new player friendly and fairly juvenile in my opinion.

They guy in the chat isn't helping either. "FLY CASUAL BRAHS!" Using completely random words in place of actual upgrade names has absolutely nothing to do with Fly Casual. I've closed the stream, you ass.

Well, Double K-wing is top seed at Texas. Going to have go to sleep soon, though...

Just watched the Texas final match. That, folks, is why we don't joust a TIE swarm.

Edit: was it the final? Lol idk, forgot to check. Whatever was on, I watched it. 2K vs Whisper + mini swarm