Last time I talked about growing Kaijudo, I mentioned some tips and ideas to help get new players involved. This time I am going to speak on a more personal level and choices people make that affect Duel Day attendance and other Kaijudo activities. It may seem like one person taking a break for a couple of weeks does not have any importance, but in some cases it does. Getting new players involved is necessary and so is keeping the players you currently have.
In many places the Kaijudo player base is low and it is important for everyone who plays to attend a Duel Days once a week to keep everyone involved. One thing I have noticed that happens at some local tournaments in my area is that one person will not go, which causes another not to go and so on. It is the Domino effect. This happens all the time and I just do not understand it. If people do not show up because other people will not show up, then there will never be enough people for the tournament. I am including myself in this group. It was brought to my attention a couple weeks ago when I showed up for a tournament and there was only 2 other people there. So next week we did not go because no one showed up the week before. Well it turns out, that week 3 other guys showed up when we were not there. Then you can guess it, we showed up the following week and no one else was there because we did not show up the week before. So just because a couple people decided to skip a tournament we lost 3 possible tournaments we could of have. It is really just about dedication to the game, are you willing to show up to tournament knowing no one else may show up? If you decide not to show up, that might be the one time another person does. Also if no one shows up, that is a great way to get new people involved.
This next issue is going on in my area and I am not sure if it is happening in other places as well. When Kaijudo started out we had 1 main store that held Duel Days, then a little down the line we got another one, which was great because we have tournaments on Saturday and Sunday. Now we have 5 stores with an active 20ish person player base. Having 5 stores that hold Kaijudo can be seen as a good or bad idea. It is good because it has the potential to reach more people because they are all in different areas. The problem with that is, they are all within a 40 mile radius so a lot of the players going to them are the same. When we just had 2 stores holding Kaijudo we had 12-15 person tournaments every week. Since all the new stores we are only getting 5-8 a week. Very rarely do we get past 8 anymore. Which I hate because I do not feel like 3 rounds is enough for a tournament. We have gain a few players but I think we are spread too thin now. Instead of have 1-2 good size tournaments a week we are getting 4-5 little tournaments that people do not like going to because so few people show up. Once again the resolution of this issue relies on you as the player. The players would rather go to the location close to them rather than travel to ones that are further away. It is all about convenience. Once again I am including myself in this group. I try to go to 4 tournaments every week to help with attendance and so I can play as much as possible. However, there is one store that used to get a lot of people but I do not like going to anymore because it costs me $15 to go out there because it is so far. I would rather go to a store 20 minutes away than an hour away. Now that we are all spread out we have to take it upon ourselves to help grow the community at the new stores in order for it to survive there. This also applies if you only have one store with low attendance. This responsibility also falls onto you as a player. Just because stores start holding tournaments, does not mean the game is growing. If there are more stores than players, that is a bad sign.
I am dedicating this next part to those who play Kaijudo and do not have any players in your area. If there is absolutely no one that plays in your area you might need to host tournaments just using the demo decks or competitive decks. Doing this also depends on your dedication to the game. People will not get into a game when they all they have to play against is someone who has access to every card in the game and they are just using a demo deck. If you really want to start having tournaments with people just for playing Kaijudo, you may have to use a bad deck. We had a group of kids that played at one of our Duel Days during the summer. He really has not played much since school started, at least I am hoping that is the reason. I made sure when I played him and gave him the win sometimes. I played with him and always took it to game 3 to show I couldn’t be beaten that easily. He always got so happy every time he won. It is no fun to show up every week and just lose. So if you truly want Kaijudo to grow and can push aside your ego you can grow the game.
As you can see from these topics, it all comes down to you. What are you willing to do in order for Kaijudo to succeed? It is not up to the stores to do anything. The game is only as good as its players. I hope you take these words to heart and it motivates you to get things started in your town or get your player base larger.
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