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Magic events at Pax East
Hello everyone! The Magic the Gathering event schedule is huge this year with many different formats. There is a big change this year comared to year's past. We are implementing "The Prize Wall". The Prize Wall will have many items priced in Prize Tix. In year's past we had difficulty finding a good way to award players with amazing prizes without the players needing to devote time that they may have wanted to spend in the middle of the day doing something else. The Prize Wall is going to have tons of cool stuff. PAX PINS, a variety of play mats, POP Figures, single cards, Magic Booster Packs, Dual Decks, Pre Constructed Decks, Fat Packs, Intro Decks, Event Decks, Prints, Framed Lithographs, Deck Boxes, and Sleeves.
Our Mat Mania events will be giving the Rocket Dragon mat while supplies last, Artist Lars Grant West will be on hand to sing those mats as well. Every player in a mat mania event will receive a play mat just for entering. There is a 2 day championship event for those who want to play alot of Magic. Intro deck League is back. Play anytime you want in our intro deck league area. We look forward to seeing you at PAX!
Our Mat Mania events will be giving the Rocket Dragon mat while supplies last, Artist Lars Grant West will be on hand to sing those mats as well. Every player in a mat mania event will receive a play mat just for entering. There is a 2 day championship event for those who want to play alot of Magic. Intro deck League is back. Play anytime you want in our intro deck league area. We look forward to seeing you at PAX!
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Tom, I think your concern regarding the pins might be misplaced. The majority of your players aren't there for the pins, and those that are will make sure they get one. If people want multiples and they earned the tix, then whats the problem? Other booths let you demo games numerous times for duplicates, or just flat out sell you as many as you want. If you're really worried about it, put a cap per day so if someone misses them for some strange reason, they can stil check back at a later day. Or heaven forbid, they miss it and have to trade with someone. How many Ugin pins were left over from South because of these shenanigans? Please don't make your pin the "annoying one" that pisses everyone off again, please.
Either way. The pins will go to as many people as possible.
If you absolutely must limit the pins, limit it to the number of PAXen that exist: 4
I don't think the sharpie is a bad idea for it, but as long as you inform the person FIRST and not just reach across the counter, grab their badge and start blowing on it germing that shit up. If you're nice about it, people will understand and accept the limits. One big problem I had, was when it was 1 pin per person on Friday/Saturday and then jumped up to 2 per person Sunday, that became annoying for those who wanted them but they were "Super Limited" but still somehow got an increase to give out? That was just douchey imo. Also the classic pins were also all available and the ticket prices lowered on Sunday because the numbers they originally wanted for them were just absurd.
I feel that there shouldn't necessarily be a number enforced, but if people are obviously abusing it they should be aware that they could get turned down. Most people in our pin community are very understanding, and at $20 per pin (which is arguably the easiest way to obtain said pin), I don't see people abusing it as bad as you guys might think.
Trade me pins! - https://pinnypals.com/pals/TheAggroCraig
Second, work out if the Prize cost is actually worth it. There were T-shirts at South that had some pretty good designs, and I would have paid for them in cash. But the ticket cost made them effectively $200 each. For anything on the Prize wall that isn't ridiculously limited (defined as "we have an entire box of them in the back") have a cash option.
Third, as TheAggroCraig has already said, make sure your staff are polite and courteous. There are many people who, if made a grab for without warning, will not react well. Eye contact, asking permission first, basic human decency. Hopefully this reminder is a formality, but at South sadly it was New Information to some of the Channel Fireball staff.
As for Pins: Work Out Your Booth Throughput. If you have 1,000 Pins, and you aren't getting through 300 by the end of Friday, you can relax about "these are limited, you can only have one." At every PAX this has been the mantra of booth workers who have been told by the managers under no circumstances can they give them away freely, because there is a legitimate fear of running out. But then to have those same managers on Sunday giving away fistfuls of Pins at the airport, it's a problem. And it's a simple one of counting. If you have y demo stations each doing z demos per hour, and 8 hours of Expo time for 3 days, your total is x=y*z*8*3. If x is substantially less than your Pin total, you can give away some Pins without worry. Now, I know you have different numbers to plug into that calculation, but even the basic Pins/3 should be an indicator after the first day.
We understand that there is a desire to get the Pins into the hands of different people. But there are plenty of MTG fans and Pin fans that can't attend East. We are taking time to get them a Pin so that in the future they can reciprocate. Given that you are effectively selling the Pins via pushing product, it's as though you have a virtual attendee alongside the real one. You really don't need to be as restrictive as you think. As mentioned above, the restrictions can be taken as a challenge. When told "one per person for the whole weekend", one person took that as a challenge and got several extras. He has been a MTG since the beginning, but the severity of the policy combined with the bad attitude of the Fireball staff at South almost made him quit there and then.
Really, what will help everything is to just run an effective booth. Start the events on time, because we have panels we want to see and can't afford a 40 minute delay once we have paid the money to get in a tournament. Those delays caused people to get their cards and tickets, then forfeit because they had to run across the show floor to queue for a panel or another time-sensitive event. It's not a good intro to MTG when you are sat opposite an empty chair and an opponent-shaped dust-cloud the instant they have their stuff. Beyond simple math, you don't need to put restrictions on most people getting stuff. The vast majority are there for MTG.
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This is kinda my point. I would rather have fun at the MTG tables and go with a couple friends and get my pin. but if I need to go again to get one more the next time would not be fun since I would have to basically cheat the system or beg someone to work for me. If I could hit a couple 90 min Magics I would have fun and enjoy the experience. But if I had to worry about my badge being marked or put on a list then there is a paradigm shift in the experience. I like that I have to participate in the demos and tournaments to get the pin. I love MTG but I don't think it is necessary to limit the number of prizes I can get. There will be enough for all and the focus should be on the play not on the amount of a single item.
I appreciate you reaching out to the community and asking for our input. I wish more booth/exhibitors would do so.
I apologize if I come across as a bit ranty/soap boxy. I tend to do so unintentionally, I just wanted to share my thoughts.