Sorry if this question seems naive but we are opening our center on March 1st, and we are already being bombarded with questions about tournaments.  This is a console only center so we'll be limited to console tournaments.  So far we've had requests for :

Tekken
Street Fighter
Madden
Halo3
Call of Duty 4
Guitar Hero
Gears of War

 I found some rules for some of these tournaments on the forum - but is there a general template - a Tournaments for Dummies - sort of reference?  What's the difference between Game Night, a Ladder, and a Tournament?  How do you determine the prizes?  How do you divide up the teams?  Do IGamers play online against other centers?  Where can I find the schedule and rules, if so? 

 
Sorry for these stupid questions but I really need some basic Tournament 101 information.  Thanks to anyone patient enough to reply.

 Hi Score
 

I don't think there is a Tournaments for Dummies primer.  From reading how other centers do tournaments I know that some formats that work at other places don't work at my center (I'm also a console-only center).  For example I run my team-based tournaments (Halo 3, Gears of War, Halo 2) as 3v3 and rarely do Free For All events.  I've only got 18 360s so that is what I've found works best here.

Also, I find that you need to take customer tournament requests with a grain of salt.  I get people in all the time asking for tournaments in this game or that game, but when it comes time to put up the money they are nowhere to be found.  I had a guy come in and say he could "guarantee" at least 8 people for a Madden 08 tournament right when the game came out, so I scheduled it, promoted it (website, fliers, press release), and ended up with exactly 1 participant.  The "winner" is happy to call himself the GameYard Madden champ, but I've found it's tough to get teams in for the biggest-name games, let alone all the other games that customers say I "should" do tournaments for.

Also, the iGames ladders are competitions between iGames centers and run multiple weeks.  I believe the Ladders and Game Nights are the same thing ? (correct me if I'm wrong here), and tournaments are self-contained events.

I hope that helps.
 

HiScore:

I found some rules for some of these tournaments on the forum - but is there a general template - a Tournaments for Dummies - sort of reference?  What's the difference between Game Night, a Ladder, and a Tournament?  How do you determine the prizes?  How do you divide up the teams?  Do IGamers play online against other centers?  Where can I find the schedule and rules, if so? 

Sorry for these stupid questions but I really need some basic Tournament 101 information.  Thanks to anyone patient enough to reply.

It takes time to develop and get going right.

I'm putting together a document to outline Tournaments for new Game Centers, but it's not ready just yet. In the mean time, please let me know what specific questions you have.

iGames organizes a few different kinds of competitive events:

- Game Nights (Ladder Format) is a week-night competition, once per week, between Teams located at different Game Centers around the country. Each Game Night runs for about three months. We charge only $25 to join for Standard Members (free for Advantage). You can hosts as many local Teams as you want and charge any rate you want.

- Launch Party Competitions are casual, fun events with giveaways to promote the multiplayer aspects of a new title. The cost is minimal and you get extra game copies and goodies to giveaway. These events are one-day only (three hours or more).

- Tournaments are one-day or two-day competitions that we host, featuring a really big prize pool (thousands in cash and prizes). Teams register to compete from a Local Game Center and then compete online against other Game Centers. We do Tournaments for new games (Launch Tournaments), as well as Tournaments for really popular games (Counter-Strike, Halo 3, etc.)

Outside of what we bring, you can host your own Local Tournaments / Events. The challenge is that players want attractive prizes, but that's costly to fund on your own. Sponsors take a lot of time to acquire.

The fundamental question is always - what is the objective/goal of your event?

- To reward existing customers with something fun?
- To maximize profit on a particular weekend?
- To increase weekday utilization?
- To attract new customers?

All of the above is not usually an option.

If you know what it is you want to accomplish, then it will be easier to determine the details - what format, how big of a prize pool, how much to charge, etc.