we get store credit as a prize, it can be a great motivator sometimes

the venue doesn't charge for the free prize tourneys, senarios.
I really couldn't afford to pay to play each time i go. When i buy stuff i buy locally when i can and buy most of my stuff at one time though.

One of the venues here charges $5 a player and uses that money to buy boosters--at the end of the tourney we open the boosters and draft--1st place gets first pick and down the line--that way every one walks away with something and the winner often leaves with an LE and a unique or other top piece

Our venue would most likely charge a fee if it wasn't for the fact that gamers buy more while at the venue during gaming. For less than a dozen people, we can polish off a case relatively quickly.

The local venue that I irregularly attend just started requiring a $5 fee to play (as of the New Year). However, the fee can also be used towards in-store purchase on the day of the event, so it's not that bad.

I'm not overjoyed with the situation, but I can understand it. And to be fair, the store owner does wonderful job of ensuring that any kids who play in the event always receive a prize regardless of how well they actually did on the battlefield (usually an excess figure that he provides from his own collection). When the venue owner does something like that, you really can't object to his wanting you to make a purchase from his store, can you?

Our venue is rather hapazard about it. Sometimes we pay, sometimes we don't. Sometimes we get an extra booster or LE leftover from some point, and sometimes we don't. I think its perfectly fair to pay. The venue lets us use the space and the usual $5 isn't much.

Two of my venues charge $5 Cdn. each while one does not. At one of the ones that charges, no player leaves without a prize, even if it is store credit. The other provides boosters if enough people show up.

I think its worth it.

The people that play at my venue has to pay 4$

My venue is free for all players to participate in the tourneys.

when i was still in germany (now in finland for half a year still) being an envoy and such, i was charging 10 EUR total for any event.

note: i had to get there by train (100km ) and pay the ticket (20 EUR) together with a friend who was coming with me.

it was like: everybody has to pay 10 EUR divided by the number of participants, that i get back my ticket. seems fair to me, since i cant play, waste an afternoon and get ####ty figs for it :p

Well, my Venue doesn't charge. Why? I don't...have a Venue where I live. I only play with friends as a result. HOWEVER, I do have something I want to note regarding the practice, as I am familiar with it from another kind of business.

Arcades. Arcades even today, what few remain in America, will often charge extra for tournament events. You know, tournaments for the modernized versions of stuff like Street Fighter 2. Fighting game tourneys.

They charge a fee, and it's not hard to see why; there's extra trash/traffic generation they have to clean up after the event, plus extra wear and tear on the facility (minor, probably falls under 'extra cleanup'), and then extra wear on the equipment. That is, the games themselves. The fee is understandable in light of all that. How would this apply to an MWDA event?

Similarly. More trash pickup (most players "keep it clean", I know, but there's going to be something just by virtue of how many people are there), and possible wear and tear to things like Mapsheets and so forth. Plus venues are now having to provide extra or sole prize support out of their own pocket now due to Wiztopps' cutbacks, right?

So while no venue I play at charges, since I go to no venues, I would find the practice perfectly acceptable and understandable. I'd probably max out at 5 dollars entry, or "Buy a booster", myself.

They don't charge fees at any of the venues I play at, which is a good thing. I wouldn't really want to play that much if they started doing that, unless it was the 5 dollars/booster deal, which would actually rock, and would get more people in to play I would think.

I wish the venue I play at would use the $5 entry fee towards store credit. I would by the ICE singles he has there for modify purposes..
Then I've also heard stories on the venue was charging people just to trade with the gamers there. Bad stlye. Lose of Cool Points in my book.

And the booster drafts for us are only $40 Cdn. thus (though not much) we save about $8

As long as the money is put into the pot for more prizes for the tourneu, I have no problem with that. In fact one of our BM's said that is the "official" WK stance. Whether that is true or not I don't know.

We did have one chain venue that charged for all tournies, but I think everyone stopped going and they stopped hosting them except for the north (rich) side stores.