Focusing just on the format itself, outside of commentary/streaming things, here were my random chicken scratch notes I took during it:
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Early matches were a slog. Perhaps adding a 5 minute challenge clock will speed things along. If neither player hits the challenge then you start a fresh “2 minute drill”. That will make it max 7 minutes per game . . . under 30 minutes for a match guaranteed.
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1-day event? Handling 36 players in 6 hours worked great time wise. Is the vibe of this event supported by the ‘practice evening hanging out the night before’, followed by the ‘one day of crazy action’.
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Tied to BBH WC moving forward? Tied to SPC as the ‘other’ event that weekend? Random stand alone event in Chicago? What’s the best future for this moving forward? Helping give the BBH vibe certainly helps being the same room, may be a Raw Thrills/Stern question going forward.
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Loser’s bracket 2 out of 3 slog. Do we switch to single game matches in the loser’s bracket? Certainly that turns up the intensity, but it also makes it far more volatile (not necessary a bad thing?). Much of this is timing. If it gets to a 70-80 player event then this is must for a 1-day event.
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Longer Championship match, it went too fast. Best of 3 on all three games.
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Is 3 titles good enough? Question for Stern or potential other manufacturers being able to sponsor the event. Anything more than that helps move matches through faster, but increase the logistical challenges.
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“Nuanced” challenges . . . are they good, are they not? The 3-ball versus 5-ball decision brings those intentional drains into play far more often to execute a quicker path to certain objectives. I found the breakdown of the rules to that crazy detailed level very
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Do we continue trying to make sure we break at least one playfield glass every year?
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Can we put Dave Snipes in a sound proof box?