Is it that time again??!! Now i am going to do a bit of complaining here, so just to warn ye all.

1.Retail/Player Information from your area: (Sales information, Tournament/Demo attendance, pertinent retail or design information from players or retailers, Rumors or store closing/opening info)

4 months already..geez, where does the time go to? I mean, it seemed only yesterday that I was printing off the Cardassian and Bajoran/Federation demodecks!

Trek 2E is still going strong. April saw Ireland's first ever Trek Territorials (see more about that below). The game is still doing very well here im Limerick although sales are beginning to slow now, due to the fact that Energise is a mere 6 weeks away, so people are saving for that like crazy. There have been a few new players, mainly young-uns who have grown tired of Yu-gi-oh. The bonus of 2 foils per preordered box has gone down a storm here, and everyone sees it as a great idea. I know 2 players who say they are preordering 4 boxes of product each just to get the set of 9. This will no doubt bolster my tournament attendance. There was one trek tournament, the TOC which attracted 20 players.

LOTR is still doing well, and our local shop has gotten in boxes from the fellowship block, which are selling pretty well. LOTR night has been moved to a Thursday, and that whole day is now LOTR day, where both the card game and board game are played. This will no doubt bring some new players into the fold. The LoTR territorials held at The Gathering had 8 players. I couldn't believe that, even though the game has a good representation in every major town and city in the country, that only 1 person from outside of Limerick made the trip down (The Galway Rider). Such a shame because our rider put alot of effort into advertising it. I know that coming from Dublin, Cork and Galway for a day isn't that hard.

WWE Raw Deal is picking up again, mainly due to a new organisational structure in our local play group. The new set, Velocity, is selling very well. Many of us went to Gencon to play, and in order to stay competitive, we had to get these cards. I will now be helping to organize a WWE night in combination with the Trek Tuesday. Hopefully, I can get the game back to a time where everyone played it! One tournament was held which pulled 12 players.

Yu-Gi-Oh, to my surprise is holding its numbers. It looked like alot of kids were losing interest, but it seems that for every kid that quits the game, another one takes his/her place! The shop is currently out of stock. Averages 20 per tournament (every Monday). Its sells well but

L5R is still the top card game in the shop and the prerelease attracted about 20 players from around the country. I would love to start playing, primarily for the storylines, but 2 games is enough for me (Trek, WWE). 

Magic still has a steady following, but during the whole month, not one game of it was played, as far as I could see. I never see it being demoed, its just the same regular players playing each other. Magic in Ireland is played more on a national level than at a local level.

Warcry has made it's debut, but players are cautious about purchasing the game. The artwork is its outstanding quality, according to people who have bought the few packets that have been sold.

Warhammer isn't being played or bought, and neither are any of the other kiddies games with the exception of YGO. There is some WoTC game called Star..Star..errrr...Star something, cant quite remember, anyway, that doesn't sell...period.

On the table-top front, LOTR can't be kept in stock for more than a few days, it is turning into a monster of a seller.

I see a few players playing the clix games, but there does not appear to be a regular tournament scene.

In terms of tournament numbers, L5R, Trek and Yu-Gi-Oh are in the 15-20 bracket, followed by WWE (12) and LOTR (8).

2. What have you done "For Love Of The Game" in the past month?: (demos, new retailer contacts, new avenues explored, TD recruitment and coordination, events held, tournaments run)?  How does that compare with your plans from last month.

I have demoed the game every tuesday night and on Saturdays when needed. As alot of my goals are ongoing, all I can say is that i'm making good progress. As the number of players in the shop nears saturation point, i think its time to start venturing further afield.

Here is a list of my goals from last month along with how I fared with each one.

Next month sees the ST TOCS coming to Ireland for the first time, and there is alot of anticipation regarding this event. My goal is to have 16-24 players attend.

We had 20 players, which I thought was a good enough number. IF you want to read the report, it may be on DGMA soon enough (I hope!)

I am going to go into overdrive in the search for new players in time for the TOCS.

Of the 20 players that were there, 4 were new players.

On the demo front, I will resume my demoing duties of once a week (Tuesday nights).

Demoed every Tuesday night and the Saturday before the TOC.

Look at the possibility of running early morning trek tourneys on Saturday mornings once a month (3 rounds).

All things going well, these tournaments should be up and running after the energize pre-release. Saturday mornings is usually taken by WWE Raw Deal, but as raw deal gets more popular, it will take a sunday berth, which wil free up a Sat morning.

I also want to begin planning for some sort of league night for the summer.

The league night plans are going very well indeed and I am ironing out a few of the finer points. We are scheduled to begin on the 10th June. About 80% complete.

I am still trying to fing someone who will become a TD for the game. Once I have, I can get more players from around the country.

3. What new target (store, gaming clubs, special event) are you planning to establish contact with in the next month to promote Decipher games. What plans are you making to help current stores become more self-sufficient?

Ubercon will take place on the first weekend of June in Cork, and with the help of James O Donovan from Cork, we will try to promote the game down there, and run a sealed deck aswell. This format is great for getting new players. I will be organizing a trip for the Limerick players down to play on the day, so as to increase the numbers.

Regarding making my store self sufficient, here is the deal. I have been doing this the other way around. Limerick is the centre of Trek activity in Ireland, and if it dies here, then it may die everywhere.That is why instead of me running all over the country trying to keep everything ticking over, I am actively looking for likeminded people to help set the game up in other major cities.

I met a guy from Carlow (Magic Stronghold) at Gencon who has started playing and i have told him that if he wants to get the game going there, i will send hm some free cards.


4. Feedback on Special Promotional events held that month…successes, shortcomings, suggestions for improvement, player/retailer comments

NEGATIVE

I was left with alot of egg on my face when I arrived at my TOC and had to tell my players that I wasn't sent my binders and pins etc etc on time. Not only did this annoy my players, and my retailer, but it anoyed the hell out of me. I don't like breaking promises to my players, and this incident has irreplicably damaged my name. I know for a fact that this was not a one off incident, as it has happened other PCs already. Now I am not sure where this breakdown of communication occured. All the prizes should have been here at least 2 weeks beforehand. As of now, I am still waiting on my prizes (almost 1 month later). On the day, I literally had to beg some of my older players for extra money for prize support, and I had to give away one of my Energise Boxes (Im giving it to the store when i get it for a display of premiere). The shop also gave boxes for cost price. It should not be down to me or my shop to make up for such a mistake, especially not out of our own pockets. I had put an awful amount of work into preparing this event, and it totally soured the occasion for me. So when players keep asking me where are the prizes that were promised, its not Decipher that is taking the heat, its not the distributors that are taking the heat...it is ME and MY RETAILER. To be very blunt, this sort of occurence is painting a very bad picture of Decipher in my area, and once players have been annoyed too much, they will drop the game.

Can we get this sorted out so that others do not have to go through what I had to???

When can i expect my prizes??? Can I get a reply to this (privately if ye want).

POSITIVE

Everyone seemed to enjoy the TOC despite the lack of official prizes that i had promised, with one player telling me that it was the best tournament that they had ever played in (which made my day).
5. Retailer Store(s) or venues you have run your
demos/tournaments:

-Holding Decipher Events   Y
-Information change from previous month   N





Thanks for reading,
Tony



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