Yu-Gi-Oh!

Yesterday, Alex and I hosted our second Yu-Go-Oh tournament at the JFK Library. Last year, we held the tournament in the summer after we asked the YAs hanging out in the library what programs they would like and they all said a Yu-Gi-Oh card tournament. We learned a lot from our first tournament: make sure "Pre-Registration Required" is prominent on our flyer, separate kids by age so 10-year-olds don't have to play against 18-year-olds, kids may hate rules but they need them anyway, and pizza turns kids into savages. Last year, we allowed 16 kids to play in the tournament and we had many more than that register and end up on the waiting list. On game day, several of the registered participants did not show so we took kids from the waiting list. But 60 kids showed up that day, a lot more than we expected.

This year, we decided to hold the event during Spring Break. We allowed 32 kids to register and we held two tournaments concurrently, one for kids 12 and under and one for kids 13 and over. We had 15 kids on the waiting list, even after we had doubled the size of the tournament, which turned out to be a good thing. It rained yesterday, a phenomenon that usually means an empty library. However, about 40 kids showed for the tournament (not all of whom were registered) so almost everyone got to play. Sure, some of the registered participants didn't show so we got to everyone on the waiting list plus some of the kids who simply showed up.

Everyone had a great time, even me and Alex. After the first round, we held the second round on one side of the auditorium and let the other kids play for fun on the other side. This way, even the kids who were unable to participate in the tournament got to play Yu-Gi-Oh. We served sandwiches and chips with juice for lunch instead of pizza and soda like last year. The kids still liked what we served, but they weren't as crazy as they get when the pizza guy shows up. The comment cards we had the kids filled out showed that they 1. want us to continue to offer Yu-Gi-Oh tournaments, 2. want us to offer them more often, and 3. want a tag team tournament. 1 and 3 are very likely possibilities. Not sure about 2 though. Maybe Alex and I will think about it when the memory of yesterday fades.