I've had my level 1 tournament organizer certification for years, but have never actually lived in a place where I was able to set one up. Since I decided to get back into the game, I looked around town here for players and found that there really aren't any. So I figured that it's up to me to try building some kind of player community, and decided to take my judges test this morning. I only quickly skimmed the basic rulebook and passed the test no trouble!

Now I think if I can do the Demo Team one so that I can get some stuff to give away I might be able to get something going around here. At least that's what I'm hoping for.

Where you at?

Congratulations! Good luck to you in finding new players. Building a new community can be a lot of fun!

Do you have a local store that would be interested in hosting tournaments? If so, I would suggest they look into joining the Hobby League program. A lot of people view the Hobby League kits as a way to supplement an existing player base, but with the new Marquee events it's a great way to start off! Advertising a random tournament is great, but advertising a tournament with official promo cards and playmats as prizes is even better!

Also of note: The "demo team" has recently been re-established as the Specialist Program. Specialists are volunteers that not only demo the game to potential new players, but also help grow a community by organizing and judging tournaments exactly like you're looking to do. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask them here, or on the UDE Organized Play forums here.

:)

Thanks for the replies folks! I'm in Calgary, AB, Canada. There isn't much going on in town here at all, but I'm hoping to change that over the next few months. By all accounts there is a fairly large VS community in Edmonton but it's about 3 hours drive away from here.

I'm friendly with the management at a few shops. As you suggested, I'm hoping to do some asking around over the next month or so to see if I can find one or some that would be interested in joining the Hobby League, or at the very least let me schedule some demos. I am pretty sure at least one shop would be agreeable, the matter would be more us finding a time when I could be available and they're open!

I'm optimistic about it though, and looking forward to playing a few games, even if I'm just explaining the rules. :)

I have a PhD in duelology. I still have not found a practical use for that degree.

Well so far I'm 2 for 3 with the places I've been to to talk with managers. Of those, the only reason 1 declined is because they have no gaming space to speak of. I still have another 6 to 8 places to stop by and have a look at, but I'm hopeful that I can easily set up a minimum of 5 or 6 locations to run demos at. If I'm able to even draw in a few people at each place, I'll be happy. Still lots of work to do though.