REDEYE SURVEY – FINAL RESULTS
68
Players entered
38
Players responded to survey
What division did you play in?
Division 1 – 14 respondents
Division 2 – 13 respondents
Division 3 – 11 respondents
How many miles did you travel to play
in the Redeye?
Div.
1 Avg. of all resp. Div 2 Avg. of all
resp. Div. 3 Avg. of all
respondents
620.57
miles 243.26 92.5
Average
distance of all respondents: 338.63
All
respondents with a distance of over 200 miles, by division:
Division 1 Division 2 Division
3
1658 1400 532
1500 650 400
1500
500
700
300
685 250
675
576
575
500
275
On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being 'most
enjoyed', how much did you like being able to play 24 rated games in 37 hours?
AVG
Div. 1 AVG Div. 2 AVG Div. 3 Overall AVG
9.0 9.31 9.45 9.24
Would you
enter an NSA-rated tournament that promised 24 games in 24 hours?
68%
of respondents would.
DIV 1 Y=
12 DIV
2 Y= 7 DIV 3 Y= 7 Total Y= 26
N= 2 N= 6 N=
4 N= 12
Would you travel over 200 miles to play
in a RATED 24 game in 24 hours tourney?
68%
of respondents would.
DIV 1 Y=
12 DIV
2 Y= 7 DIV 3 Y= 7 Total Y= 26
N= 2 N= 6 N=
4 N= 12
Would you
enter a nonrated Scrabble tournament that promised 24 games in 24 hours?
45%
of respondents would.
DIV 1 Y=
8 DIV
2 Y= 2 DIV 3 Y= 7 Total Y= 17
N= 6 N= 11 N= 4 N=
21
Would you
travel over 200 miles to play in a non-rated 24 game in 24 hours tourney?
21%
of respondents would.
DIV 1 Y=
6 DIV
2 Y= 1 DIV 3 Y= 1 Total Y= 8
N= 8 N= 12 N= 10 N= 30
Would you play in another rated Redeye
(24 games in 37 hours)?
95%
of respondents would.
DIV 1 Y=
13 DIV
2 Y= 13 DIV 3 Y= 10 Total Y= 36
N= 1 N= 0 N=
1 N= 2
Would you play
in another Redeye (24 games in 37 hours) if it wasn't rated?
47%
of respondents would.
DIV 1 Y=
5 DIV
2 Y= 4 DIV 3 Y= 9 Total Y= 18
N=
9 N= 9 N=
2 N= 20
Essay portion
(optional):
Please list specific reasons why you enjoyed this tournament.
I
enjoyed the opportunity to play high-rated players from outside my region.
Also, I was able to play 24 games AND spend an entire day and half to visit
with friends in the same number of days (and cost) of a typical 3-1/2 day
tournament.
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It was well directed, well organized, kept on time,
(most) of the people were friendly even in the heat of
battle.
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the number of games and the people i met
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scrabble scrabble scrabble
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MORE GAMES, MORE GAMES, MORE GAMES!!!
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Stephanie Steele was gracious and ran a beautiful tourney.
All the club members were helpful and we all had tons of fun. I liked eating
meals together and not having to rush out to find a place to eat, the catered
meals were quite tasty. Transportation via rail to the airport was excellent. I
am addict and getting in lots of games was enjoyable. I even played an informal
nonrated tourney at the end of the second day, making 17 games on that day.
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It
was one of the best run tournaments I have attended.
The hotel staff was especially helpful, opening up the pool area for our
impromptu play since the playing room was already taken down. Shuttle service
to take us to a late nite dinner was great. I liked the early morning, 7 am
starts since I tend to be a morning person anyway. I usually do Reno on this
particular weekend, but opted for this one because I could get in more games
and not use additional vacation time.
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I am glad there was an option of having the catered buffets. If I had to coordinate my own meals throughout such a hectic schedule, I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much. The number of games didn't seem to be too much because time always seems to fly during a tournament, for me anyway. Truthfully, I have to say I was a bit weary at the end of day two missing a few easy plays that cost me the game. But I had a similar experience at my first Nationals in Reno. I think maintaining stamina is a part of tournament play, just like studying words or strategy.
I'm so grateful for the opportunity to play this kind of
tournament. I would definitely do it again.
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I got to play a lot of games in a relatively short time.
I helped make history, I guess. I didn't feel at all rushed (although if I'd
had to find meals off-site, I might have done). I have upheld my
reputation as a crazy man. It was a rated event (although considering how badly
I did, that wasn't a plus. I don't blame the pace for my
lousy performance: I got bad racks and I made a few blunders that I don't blame
on fatigue).
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Lots of games in short period of time, therefore
less hotel nights. But does cut down on after hours
activities.
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Everyone
was having a good time; even those on whom the tile gods frowned. And Steph did
a tremendous job with the nuts and bolts of the tournament as well as promoting
a more light-hearted rather than life-and-death approach to the games.
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I like playing Scrabble. This was a fun atmosphere and a neat way
to get lots of games played in a short time. Plus, I play better the second day
at tournaments...
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-- It was like playing two tournaments in one
-- I got to play more people than I usually do in a wknd
tourney
-- Prepaid food was readily available and didn't require planning or thought
-- It was kept on schedule
-- Got to buy a commemorative t-shirt
-- It was exhilarating to play and play and play!
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Stephanie
Steele did a Spectacular job organizing and running this special event. Kudos.
There is no such thing as too much Scrabble.
I
had a four game win streak with the closest game 108 point spread.
Stephanie did an amazing job pulling this all together.
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• It was well organized and well run (and we got a goody
bag!).
• The prevailing attitude at the tournament was one of fun rather than
cutthroat competition.
• From a player perspective, everything seemed to go very smoothly: no
long waits for king of the hill pairings; people stuck to the meal times
and got back to the games on time; the hotel had meals ready on time.
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It was excessive...which I found to be a strong bonding point with my fellow players. There's something special about eating 3 meals a day and doing nothing else but playing Scrabble brand crossword game from morning til night with a great group of people.
I liked the constant thought that I could improve my
standing because there were so many games left.
I liked having people in from around the country with an opportunity to play
them and bond with them in between games...something for which a shorter
tournament provides less opportunity. Thanks, Joe. Overall, I had such a great
time and I think Steph did a fantastic job. I wouldn't trade the experience for
any amount of rating points.
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Seven wins....17 still enjoyable other games
The hospitality of the Walter Blue's
Playing really fine players from across the US
The kindness of all the Minnesota directors, including their newest enrollee
Playing ENROLLEE down to the triple
Knowing how unusual it was to have such nice weather for all 3 days of travel and tournament play
That "it's family" feeling that most scrabblers share when Michigander, Wisconsinites, and Minnesotans smile with genuine good feelings upon spending more times pleasantly together. Every family has some degree of dysfunctionality, so this scrabble family offers and thrives with that as well.
I ramble too much....
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Being able to play so much scrabble although I really
couldn't think for the last 2 games so might not want to do it again.
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I come to play scrabble, so prefer 24 games to the usual 12
games in two
days. I think 15-20 games would be nice, too, but 12 aren’t a lot in two
days.
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Well-organized, I enjoyed being able to play many games,
which made the
long drive more worthwhile. Food arrangements were well done too.
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I liked the challenge of it.
The schedule was great. Liked the breakfast after couple of games, and
the frequent breaks.
We enjoy the people and the competition never a better group of people.
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Traveling to Minn-E-SOTA, seeing Steph and Steph's house and you Joe...:)
Seeing people I usually don't get to see, playing extra games.
Well run, no wasted time
Number of games, location ie MN, director charm
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It was a great tournament. Steph did a great job running it,
it all went
smoothly. She was nice, even at 6 o'clock in the morning with cranky
Scrabble players in the room. It was a lot of fun, I hope to do it again
sometime.
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1) Rated
2) The number of games
3) Location
Excellent directing, very professional, hard to believe it
was this director's debut - amazing, she kept everyone on track which could not
have been easy. Also, it was very friendly. Actually, I think the usual tourney
with an up to two hour lunch just after two or three games in the morning is
far more exhausting than this one.
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I
love Scrabble and love to play. What else would we rather do on a cold weekend
in January? It was fun to play such great games with people I’ve known and
played with for years. Steph had arranged for food right in the hotel so we
didn’t have to worry about anything. I also liked trying a new kind of
tournament. There’s no reason we can’t take a chance or experiment once in a
while, especially with the strong group of club players we have in Minnesota.
This tourney was also on the front page of the Metro section of the newspaper, and I was asked by several people if I participated and what it was like. Great publicity like that helps people interested in playing to find the club scene.
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Finishing in the money
Playing a lot of Scrabble
Hanging out with a large bunch of very strange people
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Steph was great hostess with airport pickups and dinner
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I thought it was very well organized and run. The meal
package was a great idea. I felt the structure of the tournament really
concentrated my thoughts on Scrabble, really focused the experience. (or, you
could say, it's hard to miss it if it won't go away. :-) )
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Liked how everything was taken care of, including meal
options. The number of games, of course. Liked the geographic diversity of
players.
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Lots of Scrabble; good competition; rated tournament; the
challenge;
I'm addicted
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I enjoyed being able to play a lot of games without having to take too much time off from work.
The cookies at lunch the 2nd day were fab!
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Please list
specific improvements which would enhance this type of tournament for you in
the future.
Start at 9am (or
later) instead of 7am. Just because we play for 15 hours in a day, doesn't mean
we should have to start at the crack of dawn. I'm sure I am not the only one
who would rather stay up late than get up early.
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Moving to a 24-hour format would be better. The 36-hour
format was interesting but harder to recover from
if you have to be back at work on Monday (as I know several of us did despite
MLKD). The 24-hour format I think would be more challenging for the long haul
but also easier to recover from as you could simply
collapse all day Sunday. I think it also would provide an atmosphere that is
similar to what some of
us do on weekends which is stay up far too late playing scrabble but with a
twist.
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Nude, large-breasted (or medium-breasted, or small-breasted)
women giving me backrubs during the games.
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Alter the NSA's requirements that games be 25 minutes.
I think 20 minutes is not so much shorter that it
would significantly alter the game. A shorter time
limit would allow more games per day, and I think more
games helps offset the luck factor.
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The only thing I would have changed is that I would like to have a director readily available who isn't playing in the tournament. There were times when I had a question and the assistants always directed me to Stephanie, who was in the middle of a game. Although it didn't come up in this tournament, the thought of the director winning a cash prize also leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
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This tight a schedule wasn't really necessary. Try this: 8 AM start, lunch break at noon, resume at
1:30, dinner break at 5:30, resume at 7:00, play until 11 PM. Repeat. Okay, okay, that's a bit hard
on the locals, and I see why things were done the way they were to get everything over by 9 or so
the second day. But try this for a weekend tournament if you're not trying to approach the magical
24 games in 24 hours: 6 or 7 PM start Friday, 4 games. Saturday: above schedule. Sunday: 9:00
start (let 'em sleep late or go to church), 3 games, lunch at noon, resume at 1:30, 5 games, awards
at 7 PM. There's a proper 24-game tournament in a weekend, with an hour and a half for meal
breaks. If you're not trying to cram the games in, just to fill the weekend nicely without too tight a
schedule, that might be a better scheme.
A quiet hotel helps, but it's hard to know in advance that the management has put spring-loaded
door hinges on all the room doors that cause the doors to SLAM if one isn't careful in shutting them;
also it's hard to know in advance that there'll be basketball teams with potentially noisy young people
staying in the same place at the time. I can't really fault the organizers.
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Lots of games in short period of time, therefore
less hotel nights. But does cut down on after hours
activities.
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I
learned I don't play Scrabble well at 7am so I'd prefer moving the
pre-breakfast games to the end of the day; even if that means wrapping up
around midnight.
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I liked playing two boards to a table rather than 3 boards to a table... Other than that, how can you improve perfection?
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Can't think of any offhand.
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• A vegetarian option for the boxed lunch. (Joe’s note----Guess who?)
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If it could somehow be arranged for me to win more games.................................
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Let me play up! I was so excited to get to play in a higher
division and then the playing up rule got axed. Why come did it get axed?
Bigger space (or less cramped); sitting at a table with 3 games going on after
playing 10 straight games is a little too much. I also must have banged and
bruised each knee about 5 times because I was sitting at an awkward table
position. My best game was in the ante-room with Diane where it was a lot
roomier.
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Shift it to a summer/Fall would say it all.
Don't allow any better high school aged players to play in Division one (just joking Dan!)
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I didn't stay at the hotel where the tournament was held,
but many players
complained about the hotel (noise, problems with plumbing etc. in rooms).
Perhaps a different hotel could be used in the future (the Country Inn in
Coon Rapids was fine for tourneys).
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How about extending the redeye to a few more games, ending
Monday afternoon
(or starting Friday, ending Sunday), 13/13/6 or some such.
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Different Venue, free beer
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MORE SLEEP! :) Can't think of anything else, it was TERRIFIC!
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make it closer to my house
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didn't like that after a final list of entrants and divisions had been set -that it changed( some 1500 players got "moved up", rather than lower rated players getting moved down)
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I would like to first say, the director, Stephanie Steele had done a wonderful job organizing the event. Her attention to smallest detail made the running of this type of tournament smoothly. A well thought plan and execution plus the Hoehn's and Steve Pellinen resulted in a SUCCESSFUL tournament. Having said that, I don't have any specific enhancement to offer.
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Different hotel I am thinking. The diesel fumes (albeit
temporary) were downright AWFUL.
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Not really anything. I had a good idea what it would be like. I do think Stephanie Steele did a fantastic job planning and executing this particular tournament.
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More coffee
Better food
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Early bird and late bird.
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I'm not a morning person, so the early start and games
before breakfast was a little rough, though I suppose it can't be helped with
the tournament format.
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Better draws from the tile bag. Can't think of much else -
maybe a different divisional arrangement, more or fewer divisions. I like one
large division, with no playing up.
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Since it is the concept of a marathon, why not 26 games in
30-some hours?
Let me win all my games.
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Have Coke instead of Pepsi with meals.
A hotel closer to more fast food restaurants.
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WE DROVE FROM DOOR COUNTY WISCONSIN TO MINNESOTA, AND WE
WOULD DO IT AGAIN ONLY NOT STAY AT THAT HOTEL. THE HOTEL WAS NOISY ALL NITE
BOTH NITES AND MANAGEMENT DID NOT MOVE THE NOISE MAKERS OFF THE FLOOR AND INTO
THE MAIN BUILDING. DIV 3 WAS NOISY, BUT PEOPLE WHO FINISHED IN DIV 2 WOULD MAKE
NOISE BOTHERING DIV 3 PLAYERS. ALSO, STRANGERS WERE WALKING IN THE
TOURNAMENT ROOM, NO ONE ASKED WHO THEY WERE OR WHY THEY WERE THERE. THEY JUST
WALKED AROUND, AND WE KNEW THEY WERE NOT FROM OUR GROUP. SECURITY APPARENTLY
WAS NOT AN ISSUE. BUT IT SHOULD BE. 1/2 LUNCHES WOULD BE
BETTER, LUNCHBOX STYLE LIKE SUNDAY NITE. MORE GAMES COULD BE PLAYED.
Addl Random Essays
I'm lazy and I tend to get up late, but I love the game and usually I end up spending the evenings at a tournament in my room, with or without a roommate present, killing time in ways varying from somewhat profitable (reading the Gideon Bible, trying to study) to useless (watching various rubbish on TV) to unhealthy (getting drunk, though I've stopped doing that in an attempt to lose weight), or some combination of those (studying while drunk has an interesting effect:
I seem to be LESS able to anagram while sober, but MORE able when drunk again... the letters seem just to slide into place sometimes). But I digress. As the bumper sticker puts it, I'd rather be playing Scrabble. I've traveled anywhere from 25 (local tourney last year, probably not going to be repeated this year) to a few thousand (Portland, OR) miles already, spent up to $350 on airfare (Calgary) or burned up to 40 gallons of fuel already (Pigeon Forge), committed to anything up to $80/night for lodging -- and I'm sitting on my bed in my room waiting until it's time to go to sleep? Okay, so I don't socialize easily and I am constantly afraid that I'm boring people by talking too much, but I really don't go for prolonged meals, and most Scrabble venues aren't much for sightseeing -- and try to do that in the evenings, anyway...
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As a twenty-year veteran I enjoy this game more every year.
This tournament was especially high up on the "must do" list because
of the reputation of the people who gave birth to this officially
"unwanted child". They know parenting and they came through with
flying colors here. The Baby is healthy and wanting more airtime down the road.
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The main reason for my participation was because of my passion for Scrabble. Having gone to Nationals with many many games, I have come to enjoy tournaments outside of the norm. Another reason was because it was held locally, but more importantly to show my support as a Club 42 member
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I really like the thought of a rated marathon tourney -
which could be fun -- 24 in 24 hrs. WHEE!