We have at least six venues that run mechwarrior and all are within 30 minutes of each other. Normally, they do not charge. One venue did charge an extra $5 at a marquee (after charging $30 for 3 boosters). I do not know how that effected attendence because I never went back.

Of the three I go to, two do, one doesn't. One charges five dollars the other one asks you to buy a booster. I believe both of them throw something a little extra into the prize mix. By doing this the store owners are much more willing to step up and let us play a little longer if we run late.

The two venues I play at do not charge. The one exception was the "Dropship Showdown" fee of $5. I'm grateful that they don't charge, especially as one of the venues I play at does not have the greatest attendance- The only person guaranteed to show up is the BM and me, though there are about 5 other regulars that might show up from time to time. At the other venue, we have at least 3 or 4 players a week, but less than half of us are registered, so the BM gets zilch for his time. He's a great guy, though, so I find myself giving him stuff I don't want/need/use since he plays a different faction than I do it's no skin off my back.

My venue charges either a booster or $5 for everything except sealed tournaments. Why? As Dan43 pointed out "the venues are businesses, not game rooms." My gamers come from a wide range of ages and backgrounds and although I understand not everyone has the money to play in every tourny, even parents of the young players say that this gives them something to work for. Besides, unless you are one of those folks who buys two cases off the internet for Billy Bob in Califonia at $5 a booster, effectively taking the profits and business away from the venues then you were probably going to buy the booster anyway. For those of you who are against entry fees, picture this......you are a young member of a local gaming community who plays at a venue. You are a fairly good player but still need to tweak your skills a little. Well, every Saturday you play in a tourny with your friends and every Saturday a guy from out of town who has never speant a dime at your venue comes, beats the pants off the local gamers with his uniques purchased on ebay and then takes the rather popular and expensive prizes without spending a dime to support future gaming at the venue. Does that sound fair?? I thought not. The question that should be asked here is not one of whether or not venues charging entry fees is fair, the real problem behind all these posts about people complaining about rules, policies, venues, etc. is that somewhere out there in gameland are these over-competitive, rude, arrogant players who want everything for free because they play a game. This post was not intended to offend the originator, Kenjelly, it was a relavent question, however I did not feel that some of the responses from other members were very considerate. Mechwarrior is a system, it has manufacturers, wholesalers, venues, battlemasters and players. Without one of these components it could not exist so I'd like for everyone to sit down and think about the consequences of a venue not making money.

The local venue I used to attend (which is currently relocating due to the owners increasing the weekly cost from £20 ($30) to £200!) charged £1 a week ($1.50 ish) to cover the charges which the owner of the room (A Bar) had set.. Originally this was paid by the local gaming store, until the owner of the store decided against it....

My venues charge nothing.

My first venue recognizes that we, playing in his store, are essentially free publicity for the tourneys and draw in new players. New players are new customers. In fact, over the summer he actually opened up 2 new rooms expressedly for miniature games and CCGs. We've told him in the past that other venues charge, and he asked us "why?" Indeed, why? Yes, the venue owner must give up some room, but in return he sells whenever people play games, plus about a case worth of boosters for any sealed event (at a venue with decent turnout).


My next venue is a comic shop. We play in their unfinished basement. They charge nothing for all events.

My last venue holds events in a local Boston Market. They let us in there as a favor. Therefore, we oftentimes pick up some lunch there. If that's an entry fee, then I guess one of them does.

I think stanelli has stated the perfect reason . everyone of us has faced an opponent like that in various games that we have played over the last few yrs, from the CCG's to the CMG's. Their is that one person who spends money getting all those cool game playing pieces that we want but cant have without giving up an arm and a leg to get it. Meanwhile this "newbie" has the money to buy every last power card/fig there is in existance. Those of us that have played magic know those power cards well . When one hits the table it does change the face of the game. And , unfortunately, money does beget power in this games. So Venues charging to play might help curb those people . I for one agree with the charging for tourneys.

my venue makes u buy a pack, but i dunno why becouse plenty of people coming bought packs while they were there, and now some people who cant spend $10 a week for a pack (like me) arent coming. The store gets the prizes for free and gets business on top of it, so i dont see why they should make u buy a pack to enter a tourny.

Once of the venues I play at requires you buy a booster a week from them. Could be the day of the tourney, could have been four days ago. Generally if you're a regular and bought a pack within the past week or so they know you and let you play.

Onve venue I am at is packed with folks. We had 12 people at a constructed tournament and only myself and my co-worker bought boosters. I debate the whole "we're bringing them business" argument. A lot of those guys had CA units they got from a case they bought online and they were discussing it. I wouldn't be surprised if the"buy a booster to play" rule came into effect in that location also.

A lot of venues have to charge in order to get sales from the communities they support.

The venue that I play at regularly, and occasionally BM at, only asks for a food donation to give to the local foodbank. Aside from that, he knows that we will eventually buy most of our stuff from him, since he is the only store in town that sells MWDA.

The other venue is out of town and rarely accessable to me, but they do not charge either, in fact, they do the opposite, they charge ten percent less on game days!

4 bucks. Nobody minds, the BM drives a few hours to get here to play and doesn't get to leave until 10:30. Its kind of a courtesy fee/gas money :)

I don't pay. And Im not going to pay. I buy boosters but i don't get jack. so yeah.

We get charged $4 to play, but the BM is great, and the venue stays open late for us and bought us new tables and chairs so we can't complain.

Those reasons too :)

And now its BMs ;)

We do not charge for WizKids prize supported events.

We may start charging for venue supported events with all monies going to "buy" prizes