Greetings gamers! For some time, the tournament scene was dominated by a powerful corporation, dominating all around them and forcing TO’s to labor tirelessly, a slave to the screen, sweat dripping from their faces as they enter data for their event while the onlookers cry out “How long!” They said, “I must travel hours to my homeland and need my scores now!”
That corporation was Microsoft, the master software? Excel.
Now you may guffah, but I assure you, you have no idea the strain TO’s have had entering data into said spreadsheets only to have hearts sink when the information was inputted wrong, or there was some kind of error in the information and you had to retract a prize already given. TO’ing can be very stressful and having to enter everything by hand made the system rife with errors and was a very stressful process in those last moments of the event.
There have been many software iterations, pretty much all of which I have used and still use today like Warscore for my league event. But when I run tournaments, I only use Best Coast Pairings.
It needs to be said I am not being compensated for this article. I see something that needs to be supported by players in the ITC and that is Best Coast Pairings.
Before Best Coast, TO’s had to enter in tons of information by hand into a spreadsheet and then had to send it to Reece, who also entered the info into the database by hand. He had to spend hours upon hours each week just inputting data. Now things are seemless and automatically updated when the scores are entered. BCP is one of the best new gaming aid inventions for tournament play today.
Now, with Best Coast, TO’s have a tool that handles the scoring of events for them so they can do more important things like handle rules calls, walk the room, take pictures, and just enjoy the event more as a whole. It frees up a ton of time for TO’s to be on call. Another great feature is that it reduces errors in scores as both players need to agree on what is entered and put in their personal password o confirm. Without BCP, super large events such as the upcoming 500 player LVO, would probably be logistically impossible or at the very least extremely time consuming and filled with errors.
They have done all of this, pretty much for free, looking for alternative avenues to raise funds for their business. They are acting as the credit card service and will process payments for the event, paying out to the store/TO/event before the event and only taking a modest fee. I wish we had done this for our event The Boise Cup GT last year as the store’s web cart has had some hiccups and the point of sale system was clunky and very hard to know how much money we actually had.
Its been a bit since they introduced their latest venture, but still not too late to get in on it! Behold, the subscription service! They have three payment plans – $4.99 a month, $27.99 for 6 months, and $49.99 for 12 months. I am proud to say I’m Number One! First to sign up (outside of the BCP team I am told) I’m getting a tat to remind others of my accomplishment!
What you get is:
- access to all the rosters from every event in the BCP database.
- Access to all events in the BCP database.
- Points that you use to get discounts with retailers, such as FLG!
- Other bonuses as time goes by.
If you are a TO and use BCP, you should try to find a way to help them out. At the very least, please try to get everyone’s list into the system as this is a big selling point for the subscription service. It also helps you and your event. It helps your players so they can see their opponents list and it helps the community see what players are using to plan their own lists. It costs you very little except some time and helps keep this great app going. Next I would suggest using their app for players to purchase tickets. It helps put pressure on those procrastinating as they can see just how many tickets are left, its fast and payment comes very quickly to your account. Finally, I would suggest supporting the app with a subscription service as it is a small price to pay to have seemless tournament running software powering your program.
If you are a player, then you should also consider a subscription service. You get access to every event that publishes lists (and with more putting them up as part of the award packages) you get to see the meta as it forms and get some great ideas for your own army, as well as seeing what you will need to be prepared for.
Again, I’m not getting anything for this, just the knowledge that in supporting BCP I get to continue to use it for my events, which I will do each and every time for my one day tournaments and larger GT’s! We are using it right now for Boise Cup 2018 so get on over and get your tickets to Boise’s premiere GT on June 23rd and 24th, 2018. Its going to be a good time.
At any rate, try to find a way to help these guys out. They have provided an excellent free service for us gamers and I would hope that we would rally to support them.
And remember, Frontline Gaming sells gaming products at a discount, every day in their webcart!
