got a question for all the judges that have judged, or intend to judge, at any upcoming Premier, Regional, or large scale Yugioh event.

what would you like to see as judge comps. now, the Head Judges usually get a little bigger slice of the pie due to the responsibility issues, but as a FLOOR judge, if you traveled a maximum of 30 minutes, worked from say, 10 in the morning to 9 at night, what would you like to see as a comp for your duties.

now, be fair, and if you'd like to add anything, by all means, post a note to speak your mind. (now remember that most TOs will provide lunch, dinner, sodas, and some snacks throughout the day, so those things don't count.)

based on some responses and suggestions, i may revise the poll and start again...

Clothes sound quite fair, though a booster box + promo etc would be awesome too. Aslong as they can afford give out such rewards for being a judge at any large events, especially for judges who have been going to many events.

-Shiggy

The following is just strictly my opinion of course.

For a regional event: at least 1 box

For a sneak preview: at least 1 box

For a Shonen Jump Championship: one and a half to two and a half boxes

(this is dependent on how may floor judges are there to staff the event. If you have 300 people and only 4 judges...then I think they deserve more than 2 1/2 boxes)

you know, that's how i look at it....

if you have X many players, the TO should have a set ratio of judges to players that would 'work' with the event.

now, if you had say a 50 to 1 ratio, and each judge were to get a box, then that's fine as long as the judges knew that going in.

but what happens when that ration goes up due to more players, or judges not showing up? doesn't the remaining judges have to take the burden? shouldn't the TO hand out the same amount of product, but now the judges get a bigger cut for their bigger responsibility and work load during the day?

i know Simon and a few others are trying to institute change on the East Coast, and i'm working on it on the West.

maybe one day... but this poll was set up to get an opinion from the judges what they feel they're worth... or other 'things' that they may be interested in...

Now I do not think I am greedy for thinking a Box is fair compensation for a regional. Considering some factors. Minimum Wage is 6.75 (California). You can get how many boosters for that? Three sounds about right. Moreover, what is the Average Shift Time for an Event, say a Regional or a SJC. 10-13 hours?

Lets take Fantasyzz's 10am-9pm example. That is 11 hours, that is three boosters for every hour, and that comes out to 33 boosters, around a Box and a Half. That is if one applies hourly wage to compensation. I would like to think my time is actually worth at least Minimum wage.

At the First SJC, we had 309 people playing in that event. We had 5-9 Judges on that Floor, it fluxed because of Deck Checks and the Regionals we had going on at the same times and we were short handed and needed to have some Judge that. We handled a HUGE number of players that day, and we received half a box (12 boosters)for that. I truly would have liked to keep my Judge shirt. I was there at 8am until nine or 10 pm... I cant remember what time specifically...I blocked that part out...but we did 12 hours at least.

I honestly think at LEAST one box for a big event is fair. A litte more couldnt hurt if there are a large amount of players and you are there an long period of time so a Box and Maybe somthing like a Play Mat, and a T-shirt. or a Box and a Half.

It was between the shirt and playmat for me. I just love the Marvel Playmats thet UDE are going to be giving out so i'm with that. =P

Anyway, that aside, lets go over what a judge actually does (as far as I know) at a regional event. Judges arrive about 1 hr to 1/2 before the event, depending on whether or not they need to help set up, which is usually the case as they have to move tables/number the tables/help set up the registration/timekeeping area/help the PTO move stuff (unless of course the PTO is 6'10" and is built like He-Man). And all that is just within the first hour or so. Then while everything is being prepared, judges are often questioned by players about so-and-so rulings. Then the event starts and the judges get into their 'zones' and patrol them for the next 3 hrs or so, distributing the result slips and pens and answering questions and walking and answering questions and walking and answering question and walking...you get my drift. Then we get about a 1/2 hr break for lunch, which the PTO usually provides for, then back to action. Note that this is usually one of the few time judges get to sit down. if they're lucky, they get 2 minutes to sit down in between rounds before they have to get moving again and pass out result slips and to post standing. Then another 4-5 hrs are spent doing the above.

That takes up about 7-8 hrs, depending on the turnout. Finally we have the top 8, which is usually either intense or fun, depending on the type of players. At the regionals I judged at, the players were fairly relaxed and liked to talk to the crowd. There are times when everyone is so quiet and focused that you could hear a needle drop, but aside from that its fun. During this entire time, the judges are seated on both sides of the tables and sometimes in between, watching.....calculating....taking time.......watching again......for a good 40 minutes, assuming that it takes that long of course. then the same is done with the top 4, then top 2.

Once all of that jazz is done with, then comes the part where the judges help to clean up, clearing the waste of inconsiderate players who just dump their trash on the tables and on the floor, not worrying about it because they already paid their entry fee and someone else should pick up after them (notice my sarcasm yet???). Then tables are moved and tables numbers are taken off and the judges go ahead and head home after getting compensated.

After all that, 12 packs seems......a little dissapointing to say the least. To be honest, I absolutely love judging. I love seeing all these people enjoy the game, making friends, trying their best. Its a fun game to me and when i see people having fun with it, I have fun too. I live to give them rulings they can use, card ideas, show them how so and so card interacts, try to define the rulings in a different way. All that good stuff. However, when your effort goes unappreciated and you are just given 12 packs for a full days work.......meh, I honestly don't know what the word is to describe that dissapointing feeling. Maybe someone else knows.

*Note* I am in no way saying that my performance at any premier event is the greatest, nor am i saying that I am the worse. I am saying that I do try my best because I respect the people I work with and I love to judge, thats all.

To be quite honnest, I'm often happy to help out for free as long as it isn't a huge distance for me to travel or on a week day.

Now if I am to get something for my time, which I admit is quite often for this game, a box seems more then enough for most events. An average regional event with around 150-250 people and the time to do that, a box is worth that.
This is of course with the idea that there are at least 3-5 floor judges there, including yourself.

For the larger events, with the same amount of judges for a day. A box and a half or two boxes, or a Box plus a promo seems fair to me as well.

My most recent event was the Seattle RDS Pre-release, where we had little over 500 people show up, but as the PTO did a wonderful job and there were plenty of judges and helpers to go around.
For that, I got a box of RDS and a TP-1 Euro pack and that was easily a good comp to me.

Every other event, I either didn't get any comp (they were often small events however) or I only got a box. Again, at each event when I did get comp that was perfectly fine to me.

Now if it was an event where I was one out of 3/4 judges, which has happened before, with over 350 people and long hours. Then I would say two and a half boxes is what it should be.

It is all based on how much work is needed and for how long. They day is often important as well, as weekdays are more important then weekends and judges should be given more if need to work on a weekday.

It should be noted that I would take the chance to take a test for a higher judge level in the state of Washington over boxes or anything else as comp at this point.

Should be intresting to see what everyone else thinks.

I had considered getting my Level 2 certification at Origins. Then I found out I would have to judge for one of the 8-hour long constructed tournaments. I just didn't have the time to spare for not really getting anything out of it. Especially when I'm at a convention and there's so much else to do. If they would have had some comp stuff there I probably would have done it because it would have seemed a bit more worth my while. Now I'm going to go to a regional event when I have a saturday off that coincides with one and get it out in Madison.

I think an 11 hour day deserves some pretty good compensation. I'm usually the kind of guy where if I have the time to spare I don't mind judging. I would gladly judge a regular weekly tournament for no compensation. But taking 11 hours of my day I think deserves at least a box and a promo card. And being a broke college grad, I'll never turn down a free article of clothing.

It's tough to be a judge at some of these events, considering the amount of people we have to deal with and all of the questions occuring AT THE SAME TIME . . .

Working for more than 8 hours is tough, especially if you're on your feet most of the time and when your judgment is a critical role in how the event flows, it can get stressful. I mean I can only imagine how bad it was for Gary and the TO back at the last tournament in SD last year, having to handle so many people almost practically by themselves. Getting a box is not greedy at all, in fact it should be almost a given for a high-profile event.

Not to mention lunch . . . I mean we gotta eat ^_^

Unfortunately, I've seen 'judges' who just wanna be a part of these events just to be compensated but do a below average job. Personally, I feel that we should screen our judges before a tournament to filter out any chance of this happening.

Given all the work that goes into judging, I think at least one box of product is definitely fair for any high-level event (regionals and higher). All of the fellow judges I've worked with (granted, I've only judged a small handful of high-level events...namely, the stuff that went on at GenCon SoCal in early December last year) have been extremely hard workers, and I can only imagine that a large majority of judges out there put forth the same level of effort.

After judging at GenCon SoCal, which consisted of judging 2 regional events and the Shonen Jump Championship (for me, at least -- Thursday was dead in terms of player participation, and my day on Thursday was mostly spent with Kevin Tewart catching up on rulings and such ;) ), myself and the other judges were compensated with the following (note that each day was as you'd expect: 12-13 hours of judging, maybe less if we were lucky):

* Three boxes of product (I chose two Rise of Destiny and one Man of Steel box)
* One exclusive UDE playmat (very cool)
* One exclusive UDE Red Deckbox (also very cool)
* 10 Extended Art Vs. System promotional cards (some of them very rare...do I even need to say how cool this was?)
* 10 packs of Tournament Pack 4, which was awesome, since I hadn't had ANY Tournament Packs previously (lack of sanctioned tournaments in Juneau might have something to do with it)

I thought this was extremely fair (and then some), especially considering that the PTO provided food & drink on one of the days, and the fact that under UDE's Judge Sponsoring, there was a generous per diem amount, as well as hotel & travel arrangements which were paid for by UDE. Combine all of this with the priceless judging experience I received, as well as the friendships I made with the other judges, and I wouldn't trade the whole GenCon SoCal experience for the world.

Oh, and my vote for the poll was - One box of product, a promo card, and a playmat. A box of product can be attained by anyone, but I would consider a promo card(s) and/or playmat a special form of compensation that shows that the PTO cares about its judges.

i'm going to start another poll with respect to the promo card issue... i'll explain there...

I voted the shirt, promo, and box. Even though I really don't wear the shirts much outside of events, they're kind of cool to have. Promos are a nice extra. As for the box, I agree with what's been said. If you spend a full day judging, a box (or more) seems pretty fair for the work you put in. I've spent over half my day at an event before, and it can be hard work, even if it is fun. I love judging large events, those are probably my favorite.

interesting... over 150 views, and only 20 votes... :disappoin

do we only have like 20 judges on this board... heck, the Rules of Dueling area should prove otherwise...

At the least I think a box would be good base line comp. Of course some events may be larger then other, in which case I think the comp might be increased to maybe 2 boxes..

The Box and promo(or maybe TPs) would not be a bad idea either, maybe re do some promos from early game releases..

I think you should have added the option "all of the above," but I am biased. At the premiere level events there is no question that at the very least, a box of cards should be given as compensation. You are working your brain and your feet, you go home exausted and dogs barking.