Well - not quite yet, but we know we need to tweak the format a bit. Our Grand Prix has been a bit of a victim of its own success - with more people coming meaning too many matches to be fitted into too little time.
Our main aim with the GP was to create one night a month for people who couldn't come every week, and to make it a night where everyone competed in the same tournament. It's fun, refreshing, and good practice to play people we don't often play against, who may be of a very different skill level from ourselves. We know you appreciate that aspect of the format.
But large turnouts have meant we've had to reduce match lengths (both points and time), and sometimes tried to cram 5 rounds of matches in, leaving the pub staff hanging around at 11.30pm needing to lock up while the last dice are still being rolled. All of which has created a bit of a stressful atmosphere for some people.
We welcome any feedback on how we might improve the format - start earlier in the evening; spread it over 2 nights; possibly even restrict the numbers of entrants; or any other suggestions welcome.
To begin with at this coming month's GP we'll experiment with a maximum pool size of 16 players, which in turn means only 4 rounds, but does mean two separate pools (and so two winners per night) if we go above 16 players. We'll see how that goes, and perhaps try other options in future months
We hope to see many of you back on Monday for the first Grand Prix of 2024!
That's a good move, a good revision.