TomBacchus
Registered
Hello, I'm new here. Opening up a room in a few months and checking this forum regularly for knowledge.
An idea I've come up with to bring people in and keep them coming is a house ladder system. Maybe this is new, probably not, but the spades ladder I played in a few years ago was one of the most fun things I've ever done in my life. Never seen it done with pool.
The idea is that people sign up to the ladder, a tourney is held and the standings of the tourney are used to establish the original ladder ranks. The winner is #1, the runner up #2 and so on.
The ladder works by a player challenging for the slot above him and defending his own slot at the same time. So if you are #34 in the ladder, you have to play and beat #33 or below to move up the ladder. If you win against a player that is higher in the ladder, you move up half the number of ranks between you and him. So if you are #50 and he is #1, and you beat him, you move up to #25. You don't move backwards in rank unless you lose a game to the number directly below you (#49 losing to #50, they switch ranks) OR if people higher up than you lose to people who are ranked lower than you. People who sign up to the ladder AFTER that original tourney are considered "unranked" until they beat another person in the ladder. Really this "unranked" number is the last and lowest number- so if there are 50 people, and you join on new, you play from the 51st position.
There can be alternate rules, but imo simple is best.
After the original rankings are established and more people join on, the ranks settle in with the best players almost always taking the top 25% ranks.
The five basic rules of the ladder are:
1. If the player ranked immediately behind you challenges you to a game, you HAVE to accept the challenge and set up the date of the match to be within 7 days of the challenge. The challenger has to abide by the date and time for the match set by the defender.
2. In order to stay in the league you HAVE to play at least three games every week in the house at any time during business hours of your choosing.
3. Entry into the ladder costs $10.00 per month per person. Whoever is the #1 ranked player on the last open-for-business-day of the month does not have to pay the membership fee for the following month.
4. Ladder players get a discount over regular players (ie. if normal rate is $4.00 per hour, ladder member rate is $3.00 per hour.
5. Loser reports the loss. If he doesn't, the winner can submit a complaint against the loser and if you get x amount of complaints against you, you are out of the ladder, no refunds.
The idea is to use the room and the ladder to puff up the egos of the players and get them to come as often as possible. After all, statistically speaking, the fewer games you play in a ladder, the harder it is to move up the ladder and the quicker you fall down the ladder as other players pass you up.
Going along with this goal of puffing them up, there can be several little perks for ladder players:
The weekly ad for the room in the local rag (you know, the little town paper that is one big classified section mixed in with a million pizza shop ads) can list the top 5 ranked players in the ladder.
The entire ladder can be listed on a big chalk board in the room, with the top 25% having their names in big red writing.
Prizes for reaching #1 rank can be given out- a nice (but not ultra expensive) cue with the players name, #1 ranking, and date etched/engraved somewhere on the cue. Even tshirts that have the Room logo/address/phone# on them with the players name, date and rank (if in the top 25) emblazoned on them.
So in other words, this would be like a never ending tourney. I figure if I can get 100 people to sign up for the ladder, thats $500 for me, and $500 for prizes, promotional items etc. Also, if "most people" actually stick to the rules to stay in the competition, thats 280+ hours of business I can count on per week from ladder games alone.
Of course there are details to be worked out, but I think once it was set up and the bugs ironed out- things would go pretty smooth. A big chalk board or chart would be up on the wall and as the ranks changed, the chart would reflect the new ranks.
Any opinions on how you guys think this would work out?
An idea I've come up with to bring people in and keep them coming is a house ladder system. Maybe this is new, probably not, but the spades ladder I played in a few years ago was one of the most fun things I've ever done in my life. Never seen it done with pool.
The idea is that people sign up to the ladder, a tourney is held and the standings of the tourney are used to establish the original ladder ranks. The winner is #1, the runner up #2 and so on.
The ladder works by a player challenging for the slot above him and defending his own slot at the same time. So if you are #34 in the ladder, you have to play and beat #33 or below to move up the ladder. If you win against a player that is higher in the ladder, you move up half the number of ranks between you and him. So if you are #50 and he is #1, and you beat him, you move up to #25. You don't move backwards in rank unless you lose a game to the number directly below you (#49 losing to #50, they switch ranks) OR if people higher up than you lose to people who are ranked lower than you. People who sign up to the ladder AFTER that original tourney are considered "unranked" until they beat another person in the ladder. Really this "unranked" number is the last and lowest number- so if there are 50 people, and you join on new, you play from the 51st position.
There can be alternate rules, but imo simple is best.
After the original rankings are established and more people join on, the ranks settle in with the best players almost always taking the top 25% ranks.
The five basic rules of the ladder are:
1. If the player ranked immediately behind you challenges you to a game, you HAVE to accept the challenge and set up the date of the match to be within 7 days of the challenge. The challenger has to abide by the date and time for the match set by the defender.
2. In order to stay in the league you HAVE to play at least three games every week in the house at any time during business hours of your choosing.
3. Entry into the ladder costs $10.00 per month per person. Whoever is the #1 ranked player on the last open-for-business-day of the month does not have to pay the membership fee for the following month.
4. Ladder players get a discount over regular players (ie. if normal rate is $4.00 per hour, ladder member rate is $3.00 per hour.
5. Loser reports the loss. If he doesn't, the winner can submit a complaint against the loser and if you get x amount of complaints against you, you are out of the ladder, no refunds.
The idea is to use the room and the ladder to puff up the egos of the players and get them to come as often as possible. After all, statistically speaking, the fewer games you play in a ladder, the harder it is to move up the ladder and the quicker you fall down the ladder as other players pass you up.
Going along with this goal of puffing them up, there can be several little perks for ladder players:
The weekly ad for the room in the local rag (you know, the little town paper that is one big classified section mixed in with a million pizza shop ads) can list the top 5 ranked players in the ladder.
The entire ladder can be listed on a big chalk board in the room, with the top 25% having their names in big red writing.
Prizes for reaching #1 rank can be given out- a nice (but not ultra expensive) cue with the players name, #1 ranking, and date etched/engraved somewhere on the cue. Even tshirts that have the Room logo/address/phone# on them with the players name, date and rank (if in the top 25) emblazoned on them.
So in other words, this would be like a never ending tourney. I figure if I can get 100 people to sign up for the ladder, thats $500 for me, and $500 for prizes, promotional items etc. Also, if "most people" actually stick to the rules to stay in the competition, thats 280+ hours of business I can count on per week from ladder games alone.
Of course there are details to be worked out, but I think once it was set up and the bugs ironed out- things would go pretty smooth. A big chalk board or chart would be up on the wall and as the ranks changed, the chart would reflect the new ranks.
Any opinions on how you guys think this would work out?
