Major Announcement: STUD - and no, this is NOT an early April Fool's joke

[kangarau]

STUD: Scrabble Till U Drop

Date: Tentatively scheduled for June 4 - June 12, 2011.

Location: Baltimore, Maryland, in the beautiful yet surprisingly affordable Inner Harbor

Number of Games: 60: 3-8-7-8-7-8-7-8-4, starting Saturday evening and running through the following Sunday.  YES, you read that right.  NINE DAYS of Scrabble.

Divisions: Two

Comments

[scrabblek8]

i wouldn't want to play that many rated games at one time. i would get very bad at scrabble toward the middle and then have self-loathing for the rest of the tournament. i also don't want to go back to dallas a second year in a row for nationals. i think 2011 will be a quiet summer for scrabble for me, but who knows, once we actually get closer to it.

[tolarjev]

I'd love to go to Baltimore, have never been there. But can't play that many days without going insane, & might go back to Bangkok for the King's Cup in June 2011.

[olaugh]

Yes, the likely conflict with King's Cup 2011 (which I was planning on attending) is something to pay attention to.

[skin_it_mahatma]

~
while they have not finalized the dates, king's cup is unlikely to clash with stud.

they used to have it too close to 4th of july weekend, eventually they listened to me and moved it a bit earlier, (so as not to clash with reno which used to attract some thais) but it is still late june, usually.

what usually happens is that we end up doing a "circuit" that involves penang, malaysia as well (and sri lanka for some). penang is typically mid june.

but i will happily ditch penang for stud.

[winterene]

My thinking is similar to Chris Guilbert's, that you are going to have a hard time attracting a big turnout.

Yes, there is a hardcore group, including myself, who would not pass on this even for anything (I'd even plan my Starbucking trips around it), but I can't see too many people even having the time off work for this.

I hope that the event becomes feasible with just a few dozen participants.

[bnjy99]

Knowing scrabblers, I feel that many of them would find a way to make this happen. Heck, I feel like there's a reason that she's planning this a year in advance. I know I'd want to play, and some of my friends said the same, and I feel like she would be able to attract more than a few dozen die-hards.

[winterene]

I agree with you about planning two years in advance.

That gives anybody who is interested PLENTY of time to try and make plans--save up money, vacation, trade off family responsibilities, move to Baltimore, etc.

[bnjy99]

It's one year, not two

[bnjy99]

One more thing I just thought of... The 8-7-8-7-8-7-8 might confuse some people who are already tired and/or driven to insanity. Maybe have 7 on the first day (what's one more night of hotel expenses?) and then just go 7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-4. Or you could do 3-8-8-8-8-7-7-7-4... Or 3-7-7-7-8-8-8-8-4 if you feel like torturing people :)

[lordiceman]

Love the idea. I hope I can arrange my schedule to be able to play in it

[cesarsalad]

I agree with these ideas for the most part. I do think however that a $250 EF may work for this type of tournament. I can't wait to see what type of sponsorship you can get; that sounds very exciting.

[scrabblek8]

50 games sounds much more palatable than 60, and 9 games a day meaning fewer days is also attractive (like Saturday-Thursday -- one fewer vacation days to have to plan around). I'm guessing you'll be able to find some good hotel deals when you can promise them that many nights per guest.

[kangarau]

Rod: I've read and re-read this several times. Your suggestions are enormously helpful. Not saying I agree with all of them yet, but I think you've at least convinced me that Collins has to go.

I think you'll be really excited about my sponsorship plan. It's too premature - as well as too much typing to get into it right now - but it might work. If it does, the top prize will be HUGE.

Let's put it this way - though Spouse advised strongly against making this public - I will share it with you: if all works according to plan, I think 50, even 100K as a first prize is not out of the question. Let's see how many of the naysayers stay home then. :)