When Pastimes hosted the Chicago Regional last year I believe it was a 15$ entry fee and the top prize was something like $250 in store credit (not sure on the exact figure, but it was nothing to scoff about).
Figures I’d win the regional that wasn’t paying out, but hey, atleast I got a sweet trophy ;]
Wow, I heard they had store credit on the line but I had no idea it was that much. I have no idea what FFG charges for the kit, but it can’t be that much. So I’m just trying to figure out a way to convince I’m Board to support their big tournaments a bit better. I’d hate to see the top players stop coming assuming they still get a regional.
It had a lot to do with the large turnout and the increased entry fee I’m sure. I’m assuming that 10$ entry is the FFG recommended amount and that by charging 15$ Pastimes still kept the 10$ and just threw all the extra Lincolns into a pot and divvied them out among the top placing players.
I could see an argument for either, though with attendance going down marginally I think I would rather have the lower fee if it meant a higher turnout and a more competitive atmosphere. At the end of the day, I came to play Netrunner, not necessarily to gamble. Cash prizes also seem a bit more fishy to me with FFG allowing intentional draws, but that’s a whole different can of worms I don’t really want to get into.
I’m pretty sure the kit is $75 or so. Pastimes isn’t the norm, but they’re one of the biggest card gaming stores in the Midwest. Their policy isn’t the norm, either, but they believe in increased sales and customer goodwill through store credit. At their regional last year, they gave away 100% in entry fees as store credit. I think top 16 got credit. They charge more, $15 for SCs, and $15 or $20 for Regionals. I’ll take that for more prize support any day.
Thanks! And congrats on winning the whole thing! Our games were definitely great
I’m not sure but I think that the kit is $200 or so.
I think that’s about the price for an SC kit, at least in Germany. I figure a Regionals Kit is a lot more expensive.
That’s really sad then. Costs FFG the same to make as a SC kit. For that price, they can’t throw 2-3x the amount of SOTs in?!? I get cards made for $0.16 each, free S&H, and someone’s making money off that.
OP isn’t about promoting the game, or helping stores; it’s just another revenue stream.
(What’s a Nationals ‘kit’, $500?!?)
Actually, from what I’ve heard that sounds about right.
Last year there were also large and small kits (small was 4 mats, 8 packs of tags and 100 Ken) with varied prices.
Pandemonium Books and Games in Cambridge, MA charged a $15 entry fee and gave $50 store credit to each of the bottom half of the top 8, $75 (I think) to 3rd &4th, $100 to 2nd, and I believe they gave $150 to 1st place.
I was happy to win a mat, but this is the first game I did any tournaments in ever so I probably have lower expectations than most.
edit: They also had 53 players.
Pastimes in CHI last year had 80-some players, charged $15, and gave away $1200 in store credit.
Stores in the UK are very bad. Winner of 77 person SC got $5 store credit and that was only after i pestered them to improve the prize pool the day before.
Depends from store to store in the UK - Bristol gave out about $200 worth of store credit and some World of Android prints for its 42 player SC and statistically it seems unlikely that we were the most generous.
I’d be surprised if any store in the UK came close to that.
There might be volume discounts in play. FFG probably sends out 500 GNKs, but only 50 regionals and 5 nationals. The bigger the print run, the lower the price.
I’m not saying it explains the full markup ($500 seems ridiculous), but it may have an effect.
It was 15$ at Dragon’s Lair in San Antonio. No store credit, but a lot of old game night kit prizes were given out. Store credit would have been awesome though, as I shop there all the time.
$20 in Detroit, but there was a ton of store credit given out ($675) as well as tons of spare promos. Everyone who wanted stuff got stuff 
I think the regional kit is in the $175-200 range, which means you really need to get over 50 to do more than break even if you give out ~700 or more in credit.
lolwut – why bother with any store credit at that point? “Here’s a nickel, kid. Don’t spend it all in one place”
Which is still quite low compared with how much it costs to get OP kits in Europe - they usually end up more or less twice as expensive.
Yeah, that’s a shame. I’m not asking for a ton. Thing is, store credit usually promotes sales, if anything. I mean, people can spend the last dime on just sleeves and whatnot, but, I usually spend over if I have credit. Plus, it moves inventory, and, stores get their product at 40% or so of MSRP, so, they’re doing OK.
I’m not asking for every store to be Pastimes, but, a happy medium would be nice. Not only did the MSN store not give out anything else, they didn’t even have product. They had exactly one pack of the Mumbad cycle.