Ideas for getting a league or open gaming night started in a store?

[Bosco]

Hi All,

 

My friend who co-owns the Portland Game Store has asked me to tap the Ordo community (we're the ideal kind of players for the most part) for ideas on getting a recurring 40k league or open gaming night started in their store on weekends.  

 

Do you (or did you) frequent a FLGS to scratch your grimdark itch?  If so, was there any particular draw to bring players into the store you'd suggest they try to repeat in their setting to bring this aspect of gaming to life?

 

 

Any helpful input or suggestions are appreciated.  Mods, if there is a better location for this thread, please feel free to move it as necessary.

[Swan-of-War]

Some places offer a small discount on products purchased during their respective game nights (i.e. 10% off 40K on 40K Thursdays)

[Brother Glacius]

Escalation leagues are always nice. It allows all sorts of players (new to old) to join in. The trick is to not have it grow too quickly or too slowly. Small entry fees are fine, and even better when coupled with a league discount on league night. End it with a random draw for prizes. You can incentivize participation with extra draws gained by hitting certain goals.

 

For example, week 1, 500pts, bonus draw if you have a full painted HQ. Week Two, 650pts, bonus draw if you bring a full painted troop choice. Week three, 750pts, bonus draw if you have been there for all three weeks. etc

 

The store will need to do some bookkeeping, or ask someone to be willing to do the bookkeeping. Then blog/share the progress of the event. 

 

Basically, create an event that seems fun, and it will bring players. Give them incentives to stay with it. Typically, players that play and have fun in a store will drop their cash in that store. Win/Win for everyone.

 

Don't have prizes based on any sort of standings. That is a great way to have people at the bottom drop off due to no chance to win. You can have a minimum level of participation though...say its a 10 week league. Players must be present and have played for 5 of the weeks.

 

Find other ways to get players involved. Let player submit a write up of a battle report for an extra drawing. Or maybe have a weekly spotlight on a model that someone painted for that week. That sort of stuff gets people invested.

 

Oh, and don't over complicate things. Watch out for "wacky scenario syndrome" and the like. The game is good on its own. Keep themes and such basic. You don't want a "special scenario" to cause someone to have a bad game. 

 

And for an escalation league, its really nice if you have an organizer who keeps an eye on the games themselves. I don't mean watching every moment, but just making sure they know how players are doing. Someone who can help with match ups and the like so that people get in good games.

[Sugarlessllama]

We have been hosting a narrative campaign at Red Castle for a month or so and it has been going well. We chose RC for the following reasons:

 

1. Parking: RC has a good size lot next to the store.
2. Access to beer and food: Several bars, and eateries within a block.
3. Hours: Open until midnight.
4. Number of tables: 4 full size tables built only for wargaming. (GG has more tables, but they are folding tables with loose planks of wood on top.)
5. Lack of other wargamers: We didn't have to compete with other wargamers for our Monday night slow. 

It would be awesome if they would offer a discount, but that is something we are working on. However, in the end it is all going to come down to the community organizers. We have been active in getting people to show up on a regular basis and fostering a casual gaming atmosphere. If you have someone willing to herd the cats, people are going to show up to their FLGS for game night. :D

[wildcat]

After a dwindling 40k group, we have started a narrative campaign. The winner of each week, expands the narrative, picks the points, and rules for the next week. It has been a lot of fun, tends to make people think fluffy. One week we had 6 people, with 1000 pts each, no vehicles, no alliances to each other, play for a relic, which involved boarding 6ftx4ft ship. It was a lot of fun.

 

Discounts help to get loyal customers, especially on league nights.

[Guest Mr. Bigglesworth]

Can't stress bro g's point enough:

Don't have prizes based on any sort of standings. That is a great way to have people at the bottom drop off due to no chance to win. You can have a minimum level of participation though...say its a 10 week league. Players must be present and have played for 5 of the weeks.

 

I like to win but I don't play to win. I play because it is a game and it is social. I truly hate best general prize focus.

 

Have a league few. Since you serve beer have a way to earn a raffle ticket for buying your opponent beer or drink for the under crowd. You can earn raffle tickets for showing up, winning, painting, and forum posts. League fee can be offset by purchasing so much in product each night. Have a minimum attendance of 2 nights a month to win. Also bonus ticket for bring a friend.

 

Just some ideas I know I like it is when I get a discount but if you do a discount you will need to do a flat league fee and you will have to decide if it will be each night or monthly or per season depending on when prize pool is done.

 

Also product prizes can go further than store credit but can be difficult to measure. If you don't have attendance think of sharing the league night with age of sigmar so you can a full gw crowd.

 

Good luck

[AbusePuppy]

Other folks have made a lot of good points, but two important things to add: first off, have a good venue. If all you've got is a dank closet with room for four people, you're never gonna build attendance to a reasonable level, so make sure you've got a large enough spot with enough terrain and tables that everyone can play. Terrain is way more important to fun games than most people tend to think- and having unique and interesting pieces can really add to the immersion of a game. Secondly, you need to be consistent in running your league nights, especially early on. Ensure that, whatever your schedule for games is (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc) you keep to it and remind people that it is happening. Nothing is a bigger turn-off for potential attendees than showing up to find no one else there- if you say you're gonna be there every week, then d*** well be there every week. Once you've gotten the ball rolling for long enough you don't have to be quite so fastidious about this, but early on especially you need to establish the pattern for folks.

[Guest]

Hi All,

 

My friend who co-owns the Portland Game Store has asked me to tap the Ordo community (we're the ideal kind of players for the most part) for ideas on getting a recurring 40k league or open gaming night started in their store on weekends.  

 

Do you (or did you) frequent a FLGS to scratch your grimdark itch?  If so, was there any particular draw to bring players into the store you'd suggest they try to repeat in their setting to bring this aspect of gaming to life?

 

 

Any helpful input or suggestions are appreciated.  Mods, if there is a better location for this thread, please feel free to move it as necessary.

 

As mentioned, consistency is a big deal. Not just consistent times, but consistent "opponent acquisition" is a big deal. For example, If I go to WOW for the Ordo Game Night, I know that I typically need to set up an opponent in advance, or I won't get one. Meanwhile, if I go to Guardian Games on their League night, I'll very easily be set up with a random opponent.

 

Showing up at a regular game night only to find out that no one will play with you is rather devastating. The worst thing a game store can have is a game night where there is infrequent access to opponents. If you run into this, I strongly suggest some sort of team or free-for-all imposed house rules. Going to play 40k and not getting to play is enough to make players seek another store.

 

Beyond that, the mentioned discounts can help. It is notable that if you offer discounts on a certain day (like game night), setting up your Inventory to capitalize off that can be helpful. For example, GG's game night is wendesday where they off 20% off. I'm pretty sure their 40k replenishes on Thursdays or Fridays. So new releases/acquisitions will sit on the shelf for almost a week before the discounted game night rolls around. This means that items which are in hot demand will often be purchased before the game night, and at full price.

 

Allowing outside food can also go a long way. If you sell food, try to get things that aren't sold cheaper down the street at a mini-mart. You don't have to compete for prices, just find brands that aren't sold locally (ten block radius, that's locally). Guilting players into buying overpriced food isn't a good practice. This is especially true, as the poorer players will often get torn between food and products....which means you really aren't gaining any more money. And remember that poorer players are most of 40k players, just because the hobby is spendy enough to make a middle-income person seem low income....

 

Beyond that, one thing you could do is attempt to push a game night that promotes an uncommon aspect of the hobby. Apocalypse 40k, in example, is a style of 40k that isn't done regularly at any local game store I know. There's also City Fight, Kill-Team, Planetstrike, and Death from the Skies. You could try to specialize in a niche aspect of 40k game nights so as not to directly compete with other local game stores.

[WestRider]

I also want to second the bit about not getting sucked into wacky scenarios. We just had a mega-battle up here recently that left a number of us pretty unhappy due to "wacky" Rules like it being announced Turn 3 that all of one side's Deep Strikers didn't Scatter and got to Charge on the Turn they came in.

[Guest]

I also want to second the bit about not getting sucked into wacky scenarios. We just had a mega-battle up here recently that left a number of us pretty unhappy due to "wacky" Rules like it being announced Turn 3 that all of one side's Deep Strikers didn't Scatter and got to Charge on the Turn they came in.

Surprise rules are the worst.

[Bosco]

Thanks for the input all, it is greatly appreciated.  Fortunately, a lot of this isn't new, just a matter of implementing and organizing.  I'll post here (Ordo) with more items and updates on any league/game-night development for the location.

[Sugarlessllama]

Well another idea is of course making a specific FB group. Making events and inviting people to them might be just the thing needed to kick off the game night promotion.

[peter.cosgrove]

You have to implement something that makes it better than playing golf. For a certain type of individual heading to a golf course, drinking a beer while walking or riding through a manicured park in beautiful weather is very relaxing. Even if no one else shows up you can still go play a round on your own. These are things you can't do playing 40k. Golf and 40k have a lot of similarities. You have to spend a large amount of money to put your own kit together, you tend to spend a certain amount of time practicing or planning when you aren't playing. Before you take an action you generally look at the terrain and obstacles to figure out where you can go and what range you have based on your kit. The worst part would be having people show up and no one is available to play. Second worst is an overabundance of house rules or weird rules adjudication. Having a judge who is also a player who is also the person you are playing who is also using a house rule that doesn't play the same as everywhere else that overwhelmingly benefits the person you are playing is somewhat disheartening. And third would possibly be conflicting time/date with other venues.