13 & under UK National Championship

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John Danker

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I've long been a fan of having a 13 & under age limitation tournaments. It gives younger players a chance to play agaist their peers and those with a sim. amount of experience. Now, before you go chastising me, I know full well that a 9 year old can be just as good of a player as a 29 year old, I'm not going to argue that. It would seem to me though, that since the game is geared toward younger gamers, it only stands to reason that an age bracketed tournament at SJCs, regionals, and nationals would be nothing but good for the game as a whole. Certainly anyone under the age of 14 could feel free to enter the regular tournaments, I think, however, that providing this age bracketed tournament would be a good and positive addition to what's already been in place for quite sometime.

You'll see an article about the 13 & under UK National Championships on Metagame recently. I'd love to see the same in the U.S.
 
I thought it was a nice touch, but I wish that the Metagame coverage given to it had been as expansive as the other articles they write. It seemed a bit lacking, with its brevity, in acknowledging the Under 13 Tournament as being just as valid as the main event.

Weren't there Toys R Us league games set up for younger duelists to compete without the pressure of the adults and teens present? (Ill admit its been 3 years since I was stateside, but I know there used to be at 2 different Toys R Us in the Atlanta area)
 
I agree with this. From my conversations with some of the younger players at my local tourney, they do sometimes find playing older people a little intimidating (usually for no cause, this is just an 'ease' thing). Anything that would put the younger players more at ease can only be good.
I am aware that some teenagers are uncomfortable playing against younger kids, and can act intimidating also. Personally I think that this is a maturity thing, and that those teenagers need to grow up...
The important thing about this would be to ensure that the under 13 age bracket is not seen as any less important than the over 13 group. We dont want any 2nd class citizens in yugioh.

Incidently, in a relatively similar mode, I noticed that there was an upper age limit of 32 on the gameboy world championship. This is something I really cant see the reason for. If one wants to limit it to 'youthful' players, 32 is an odd cutoff...
 
Oh really? I haven't paid much attention to the Game Boy tournaments. They actually cut it off at an age eh? Hmmm, sounds unusual. I wonder if that was a Konami decision or if that had some input on the part of the software manufacuturer as well?

I think that a 13 & under nationals would give that age group a better chance at prizes. We used to hold a 13 & under tournament every Sat. morning and after a couple of months it pulled in as many if not more players than the normal tournament. The parents felt better about their kids playing with others of their own age group as well. We often did a mini-clinic afterwards and took time to educate the parents who wished to learn the game as well. That tournament brought a lot of players along and into our normal tournaments that I'm willing to bet we'd have never seen register otherwise.
 
We have a respectable number of 'youngsters' at my local tourney, and the older players make it a specific point to help them with their decks, let them know what is a fair trade and what isnt, explain how the card mechanics work etc.
Their parents like the atmosphere this raises, and numbers are increasing, which is good.
Furthermore, as most of the older players enjoy 'interesting' decks, the youngsters aren't being forced into the CC mold, which I have noticed discourages those who cant get hold of the 'CC required' cards. A discouraged player is one who stops playing.
When a youngster plays an off the wall deck and beats the older players with it, then there is much rejoicing all around!
 
The funny thing is, older players (as in older teens to young adults) play the game more and are tournies more than kids, which Konami and UDE are marketing the game to in the first place. Funny. There should be type of tournies like that. As the reasons everyone above has listed.
 
As an older 'older player' (mid 30s), I have definately noticed a lot of teenagers at the bigger events, with fewer older players. Locally, there is quite a spread, and many of the teenagers have stopped playing, being balanced out by the youngsters, college kids and parents.
 
marketing younger is nothing new though. Its meant to encourage consumers to stick around for longer. Look at Joe Camel (negative image, I realize). Its a similar thing here. The game itself may be more aligned for older players, but if younger players get interested early, they stand a better chance of sticking with the game longer.
 
Plus it makes me feel less ashamed when I enter tournies when I am like in my later 20's going on 30.
 
english chef said:
I agree with this. From my conversations with some of the younger players at my local tourney, they do sometimes find playing older people a little intimidating (usually for no cause, this is just an 'ease' thing). Anything that would put the younger players more at ease can only be good.
I am aware that some teenagers are uncomfortable playing against younger kids, and can act intimidating also. Personally I think that this is a maturity thing, and that those teenagers need to grow up...
The important thing about this would be to ensure that the under 13 age bracket is not seen as any less important than the over 13 group. We dont want any 2nd class citizens in yugioh.

Incidently, in a relatively similar mode, I noticed that there was an upper age limit of 32 on the gameboy world championship. This is something I really cant see the reason for. If one wants to limit it to 'youthful' players, 32 is an odd cutoff...
Click to expand...
Im pushing 40, and I was basically shown the door at a Books-A-Million I went to. The Manager said she had received complaints from parents who didnt like their "kids" playing with adults. Mind you, there usually werent any Parents around, as they usually just dropped their kids off to be Baby-sat by Books, while they go shopping elsewhere.

So, after arguing with the manager and explaining to her that there is no "age range" or "age appropriate" for Yugioh, and after her being insistent upon the fact that her Customers came first (again, mind you, most of the Older Teens and Adults ALSO bought quite a few packs while they were in Books... "Customers"... go figure??), and that as long as she was Manager, that was the way it would be ran. No one above 13 on Saturdays, and 14 and above would be on Monday evening between 8-10pm.

Then, she changed it to be 13 and below must have a Parent or Guardian, 14-16, can be unaccompanied for Saturdays, and 17 and above on Mondays.

Some people who have no idea what Yugioh is about really cause the most problems when it comes to this game!!
 
<nodding in agreement with masterwoo0> I think thats why they are a bit more loose on who they let sign up as hobby leauge people as opposed to sanctioned tournaments. I think the whole thought pattern there is that the hobby leauge sites are more loose knit and for learning....the problem is that most of them don't look upon an experienced player as someone that can help them teach and help those younger players to enjoy the game more.

If such places would give all a chance and weed out those who aren't in the spirit of the function it would be wiser.

It would seem though, having talked with the local hobby store at which we have our sanctioned tournaments that UDE is making their selection process for who they allow to run hobby leauges to be more difficult as well.
 
John Danker said:
the problem is that most of them don't look upon an experienced player as someone that can help them teach and help those younger players to enjoy the game more.

If such places would give all a chance and weed out those who aren't in the spirit of the function it would be wiser.
Click to expand...
That was my MAIN point in argument to her! I explained to her that if you just let the children play on their own, most will result to playing as they see on the Show, and with no one to correct them, they will carry that over to eventual Tournaments, where the Parent will feel even that much more enraged when the perception is, their child is being cheated by someone who "doesnt" know the rules, when it is their own child who is clearly disadvantaged.

I even offered to provide a Q & A session for Parents that wanted to know more about how to play the game, as well as the Staff, and Supervise the players if she made one day available to all players of all ages.

As of last week, she pretty much blew me off, so I just go to another Books where they are less concerned with who is there, as long as they do not get out of hand with Language, and any of the other "normal" concerns involved with a public establishment.
 
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