If you haven't heard: I Am Your father's day casual event.

It looks like neither of the shops in my area got the memo that "No. I Am Your Father's Day events are [not tournaments, but] casual events." As such, both stores have announced a 100 point tournament starting at Noon (one on Saturday, one on Sunday). So here's the dilemma. After reading the announcement, I invited a friend of mine to come to the event with me. He's been over to my house to play X-wing once before, and he said he was interested in playing more. I was excited to bring him to the shop to meet other players, and to see a bunch of the ships in action on the tables. Now suddenly it's a tournament, and I don't know if that's the right kind of atmosphere to bring a brand new player. I asked the store owner if I could bring a friend, and he said, "That would be great! It will be a casual tournament."

A casual tournament? What in the galaxy is a casual tournament?

I've read kdubb's thread on "be the change you want to see," so I have a squad already picked out*. But what else can I do to make sure that my friend and other new players have a great time instead of being squashed by really powerful squads? Are there others whose FLGS has decided to run the event as a tournament? I'd appreciate any input you have.

*In anticipation of the ineveitable question, "What squad are you bringing," I'll just tell you:

3x Alpha Squadron Pilot

Fel's Wrath

Lt. Lorrir

100 points

Doesn't get much more casual than that, right?

It's not supposed to be a tournament environment, but I wondered how long it would take for it to turn into that. The idea is to encourage new players and get people inthe store, but a tournament environment could turn some in-experienced players off. Got to be careful how you approach this. My plan is to show up and hope to play 2-3 games with some ships I don't typically run. If it's against a newbie, then remind them when they miss an action or even let them try something over again to learn the mechanics. 3 Turn into an obstacle? Let them redo it with a 3 Bank.

This should be about getting players into the game and have some fun instead of letting the pros show off. No places or other prizes should be awarded.

Nothing announced locally yet, but if something does pop up, I'm taking the opportunity to break out of the mold. Set up a furball, play scenarios, or anything that's not 100 pts matches.

My oldest sons will be with me (4 and 6), it is father's day after all, but although the oldest was my wingman at this weekend's team epic, I'm not signing him up to a tournament solo, it'd not be fun for him. I'm hoping it is very casual!

At our local meta people tend to bring more fun and less meta lists to casual tournaments. We typically allow for proxies and more senior players will help run the event or play less aggressively.

A tournament is just an environment - casual or competitive is the atmosphere.

It really depends on the atmosphere. I taught my girlfriend to play by running her through a quick starter-set game at home, then the next day we shipped off to league day at the FLGS. I've got a fantastic set of people nearby and they were all more than welcoming. They were happy to remind her how things worked, helped her remember actions, even gave advice when it was bad for them to do so, just to help give her a positive experience. Couple leagues later, and she actually took first place! (hella proud of her, and infinitely thankful for the IG-88 she wanted to win for me...which she did )

If I end up at such an event, you can bet your ass I'll be looking to play non-tournament games. I can go to a tournament for those. At the very least, if I do end up playing a 100-point game, it sure as hell will be with some kind of experimental list! Relax, have fun, enjoy what the game can do, and be competitive elsewhere.

Seems like a great opportunity to break out some of the missions, or make up your own to play with someone new.

If you're going to play someone new in a death match, setting up two fluffy lists they would recognize from the movies would be nice. Luke, wedge, hobbie, etc... Vs vader and some ties, etc...

A lot of people seem upset that stores would be running a tournament. I'm unsure as to your environments but here tournaments are what bring people out to play. Seeing as 'I am your father's day' is about getting people out and enjoying this game we all care about a tournament seems appropriate.

Another thing to remember is that even at competitive tournaments people, new and old, can play and enjoy the game. This is a community where I have never seen an experienced player willing to crush a new player without also coaching them, hell even at the top tables people often discuss best plays or offer advice after an important turn.

The likelihood of that already happening in my area was very high, even before they announced anything. Still it's nice to put it out to get the stores more involved in making room for x-wing players

It is incredibly frustrating to see how such a friendly, entry level event has been turned into a tournament.

FFG is dominated by tournaments. If people aren't playing in tournaments, then they're playing tournament format pick-up games. The forums here are dominated by tournament format questions, debates and list suggestions. Any new expansion is always viewed through 'how good will this be in a tournament' goggles.

It's discouraging and depressing.

OP, my advice would be don't even go. Invite some friends round and have a team Epic match instead, or start a HotAC campaign, or play through some of the FFG missions/campaigns. Do something a bit more star-warsy than a tournament.

I think it's all about your local store. If your local store draws in enough people to actually entertain a casual day, then I see it as totally not a tournament. If your local store doesn't ever draw in new blood, then I think they will just turn it into a tournament.

It's supposed to be a casual day to draw in potential new players. Give them some nifty little cards and have fun. If enough of the tournament type show up to get the booty, then they will probably turn it into a tournament. At least there isn't an entry fee or prize support. Everyone just gets the cards.

I want to go with my son and I want to get the cards. I don't want a tournament.

For an event seemingly designed A) to get kids out playing with their fathers and B) get new people -- like those kids -- into the game, tossing them into an environment where winning and losing matters doesn't seem like the best idea. It could be the most laid-back tournament in the world, but a kid who goes 0-3 is still going 0-3. Sure, that same kid might lose all three casual games they play, but there are no standings and prizes involved to underline the fact.

My LGS hadn't heard about it prior to my message to them this morning. For Tournaments we normally get 8-12 players so not sure if this will be supported by him (he has an awful lot of X-wing stock to shift though)

There are a lot of Magic/Pokemon/Yu-Gi-Oh players there (along with a lot of 40Kers too) that given the right incentive could be converted!

I may just stick a HOTAC campaign on my local gaming group to suck them poor souls into it!

I may just stick a HOTAC campaign on my local gaming group to suck them poor souls into it!

Episode 6 of my podcast talks about building the casual side of X-wing, but it also works for building any side of X-wing. I go into using all the really cool stuff to draw people in. Multiplayer epic fights, Trench Run missions, and HotAC campaigns are great ways to pull people in. Make sure to have a phone and blue tooth speaker to play Star Wars music while gaming. Make them very informal. Someone comes and looks at the game for more than 5 seconds and you just let them take over some ships. Teach them how to play on the spot. X-wing is an easy game to get people interested.

I may just stick a HOTAC campaign on my local gaming group to suck them poor souls into it!

Episode 6 of my podcast talks about building the casual side of X-wing, but it also works for building any side of X-wing. I go into using all the really cool stuff to draw people in. Multiplayer epic fights, Trench Run missions, and HotAC campaigns are great ways to pull people in. Make sure to have a phone and blue tooth speaker to play Star Wars music while gaming. Make them very informal. Someone comes and looks at the game for more than 5 seconds and you just let them take over some ships. Teach them how to play on the spot. X-wing is an easy game to get people interested.

I'm still on Episode 2 (when my wife's working i stick it on whilst tidying up etc, shes had a quiet week so far this week!)

I've run a little 60 pt game at our local group but the tables are just shy of the 3 ft x 3 ft standard,once i have my eye in with HOTAC i'm hoping it will become a regular.

Generics are always good to teach the basics of the game and with having ships from all 3 factions a three way is doable

Don't worry as we just released Ep 5 yesterday. The next won't come out until next week. I find times for listening to podcasts are during work commute, the gym, and doing the dishes.

HotAC are good as the games are co-op. It's more about the team and less about beating the other guy. You get less sore losers that way and more people into the game.

Why all the hand wringing? Let people play what they like and don't give them crap for it. Whining about people liking something you don't like is far more damaging to a community than a simple tournament.

This is supposed to be a free event... hopefully stores won't be charging a fee.

So two things. I think at times FFG does a less than stellar job of marketing and informing of these types of things. More information, ideas, format, etc should have been offered when the announcement was made. In fact if they were smart they'd have a (or a few) small marketing team which would travel the country set up and run these events in larger areas. They could spend a few hours in 3-4 different stores and make sure the event ran as intended and give away some cool swag. Having no direct presence at large/unique events hurts their ability to engender their brand to new people.

Also players should ask ahead, tell the store they are bringing 8 and 10 year olds for the "I am your Fathers Day" event. Just cause FFG may have fallen down on the information side doesn't mean we're helpless. I called my FLGS asked if they were hosting the event and said I was bringing kids.

I hope my FLGS does this (I had to tell them about it) and I pray it does not become a tourniment. I am planning on bringing my youngest son, he's just getting into the game and would have a blast. But as he's only 7 (almost 8, pew do I feel old) a enviorment that is too competative, as torniments often are, would quickly ruin it for him, and myself. While I acknowladge that not all torminemt are bad, I would prefer for his first not-at-home event to be casual and non-competative.

Why all the hand wringing? Let people play what they like and don't give them crap for it. Whining about people liking something you don't like is far more damaging to a community than a simple tournament.

I think the hand wringing is about how a casual event that could draw in new gamers is going to be turned into a tournament that probably won't bring in new gamers. A tournament is different than a day of X-wing that was meant to draw in new players.

Or....maybe some people want a casual day and it's being turned into a non-casual day by a bunch of the community. So, it's not really whining about how some people at a far away store do things they don't like, but about how this one player wants a casual day at his store with new players and the funky cards, but it's being turned into a tournament. So, he's wondering why is it being turned into what he was looking forward to play.

Why can't you play with new players and funky cards? I've met lots of folks just starting out at tournaments, just there to fly what they like and have fun. This community is very welcoming and helpful to new players, and even the most "casual" squad can win in the right hands.

If you want to do missions or epic or whatever, be the change you want and do it. Please stop insinuating that tournaments are somehow antithetical to casual play or having fun.

In a Team Covenant interview with Steve Horvath, Zach Bunn asks about catering to casual players who aren't dead-set on winning, but just want to play and be part of the community. I see the I Am Your Father's Day as one of these events that is tailored to casual players. It is unfortunate that it may be turned into a competitive tournament.

I believe - and I'm stepping out into speculation territory here - that store owners and players gravitate toward tournaments because there is a strict set of rules to follow and everyone knows what to expect. Casual play has no form and so people are afraid of just being a lot of people standing around or something. The point is that people feel secure with the structure of a tournament and are uncomfortable with the openness of an undefined casual X-Wing day.

Steve Horvath mentioned issues related to the OP's concerns at the 21 minute mark. Like he says there, how do you create compelling casual experiences that the competitive players won't want to swoop in on and inadvertently scare the casuals away?

Tournaments make more money...

At least that may be what they think... this is a good chance to try and get some more paying customers...

I believe the one in my area will be a full casual one and just require you to play one game at the store (they will supply the materials if you don't have any) to get a card.

A tournament is different than a day of X-wing that was meant to draw in new players.

No it really isn't, at least not inherently. If everyone gets the same prizes then it is no longer truly a 'competitive' event and just a way to arrange games for people to play. That type of event can just as easily bring in new players as anything else. Perhaps even be better in some cases since it offers some structure.