I can't say that I enjoyed this bi-weekly, and for more reasons than just my crappy playing.
First things first:
Have the bi-weekly rules set up BEFORE people sign up for them. If I signed up (or Ariel signed me up...) for a bi-weekly that has a certain stage list that should be what is used. No last-minute changes. A lot of people at the bi-weekly didn't seem to know which levels were 'legal' and which weren't. There was confusion and it made everything look terribly unprofessional. Don't assume that everybody crawls the boards prior to a bi-weekly.
Second: We're getting really bad with starting the tournaments promptly. This time wasn't too too bad but some others have really pushed things a bit late. Also, when tournament matches are called and people continue to play friendlies it wastes a lot of time.
Third: While things usually go well, on occasion conflicts happen over who plays on what television. The best way to do things is to have each television be a 'station' and
have the tournament organizer call out the matches and which stations they will take place at. This will eliminate any television problems, give the tournament organizer a better sense of how the tournament is progressing and it will speed things up considerably.
On that note, Ben, if there isn't an official rule that winners matches automatically get priority for the big television than that's a load of bull****. Outside of grand finals, all matches are equal and nobody is entitled to the big television any more than anybody else. Again, this won't be a problem with assigned stations.
I'd like to reiterate that the first post is a mess and is terribly unhelpful as far as having a complete ruleset readily available.
I'd like to propose that Ben take over the post and status as tournament organizer, if he is willing. Perhaps a new thread would then be needed. I feel that he's the most qualified and would do the best job (even if we never agree on stages
) especially in keeping things running smoothly. Ben's maturity and experience as a tournament organizer would be better for the community as a whole and having a FULL ruleset written out, whether written by Ben himself or otherwise, is something that we should have had a while ago.
Lastly, I may be alone on this but
I'm not terribly fond of having the basement stink of cigarette smoke or weed. While asking people to refrain from such during a bi-weekly may be too much, it would be nice if a bit more effort went into hiding the smell from the rest of us.
That we are on going on to a twenty-sixth bi-weekly is a good sign but there are plenty of ways that we can improve the whole experience for everyone.