Tournament Director's Kit?

Does anyone feel they have good organization for a Tournament Director’s Kit? I’m trying to get a bit more organized and in thinking about the last set of larger/smaller events I’ve run, I usually schlep a bunch of stuff in a used box and call it a day, but it’s often fairly disorganized.

As I’m thinking about it, I feel like it breaks down into three categories: Paper, Small Things, Big Things

Paper / Flat Things - Could fit into an accordion file

  • Name Tags
  • Envelopes
  • Scorecard Printouts
  • Rules Documents
  • The nifty two-page helper PDF for rulings
  • Paper Brackets
  • Machines Settings Checklist
  • Machine Signage (i.e. “Play Extra Balls”, “Plunge Extra Balls”, Machine Setting Notes, etc.)
  • Clipboards
  • Money Bag

Smaller Things - Could Fit into something like https://www.harborfreight.com/24-divider-storage-container-94458.html?_br_psugg_q=storehouse

  • Dice (for tiebreaking scenarios)
  • Bad Pens (that you don’t mind people stealing)
  • Good Pens (that you don’t want to lose)
  • Markers
  • Small Prizes (Keychains, Stern Army Dog Tags, Broken Pinball Parts)
  • Tape
  • Stapler

Larger Things - Something like this depending on size - https://www.homedepot.com/p/HDX-12-Gal-Tough-Storage-Tote-in-Black-with-Yellow-Lid-206100/207207157

  • T-Shirts
  • Translites
  • Trophies
  • Gaffer’s Tape
  • Large Prizes

What do others do? I’m trying to get to a point where I have a “grab and go” bag for weekly evening events, and more robust options for larger all-day or multi-day events.

magnetic telescopic pick up tool

3 Likes

Do people use those? that’s a great idea

If I only bring one thing to TD an event it’s a telescoping magnet. Keep it in your back pocket.

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Same here, I bring it with me when I’m not the TD too. It’s just safer and more reliable even if you think you don’t need it

1 Like

I think a portable printer is a pretty good addition to the large kit (laptop too).

I have a laptop bag I take to all my tournaments I run. It has in it:

A laptop (with charger as it’s that old it has no battery life)
Printouts of scoresheets
Printouts of rules
A LOT of pens

I also have a spare wallet so I can keep all monies separate from mine if need be, but I usually consolidate it all anyway and work out how much I have to pay-out based on actual numbers registered
That’s it.
Larger tournaments
I’ll take my toolbox which has long-nose curved artery forceps (ideal for reaching round orbits, or picking up smaller items which have become lodged somewhere they shouldn’t) and a magnetic stick, but there’s usually plenty of others to actually work on machines if things need fixing.

Following up on this to share what I’ve put together across the past few weeks. Thanks to those who replied with some additions to make. I got a cheap backpack with a handful of pockets, plus some storage items to assist in organization.

Paper / Flat Things - Using an zippable accordion file - Amazon.com

  • Name Tags
  • Envelopes
  • Scorecard Printouts
  • Rules Documents
  • The nifty two-page helper PDF for rulings
  • Paper Brackets
  • Machines Settings Checklist
  • Machine Signage (i.e. “Play Extra Balls”, “Plunge Extra Balls”, Machine Setting Notes, etc.)

Smaller Things - https://www.harborfreight.com/medium-water-resistant-storage-container-56577.html - This had a lot of configuration flexibility for the compartment sizes.

  • Magnetic Telescoping Stick
  • Dice (for tiebreaking scenarios)
  • Good Pens
  • Markers
  • Small Prizes (Keychains, Stern Army Dog Tags, Broken Pinball Parts, Pins)

Other Things For The Backpack

  • Cheap Laptop for MatchPlay.events logging
  • HDMI Cord
  • Wireless Mouse
  • Bag of Pens that you don’t mind people stealing
  • Clipboard
  • Money Bank Bag (w/Envelopes)

Larger Things - I’m still working on storage for the “Larger Things” category but this will be at-home storage with the ability to grab-and-go what I need for larger events.

  • T-Shirts
  • Translites
  • Trophies
  • Gaffer’s Tape
  • Large Prizes
  • Tape
  • Stapler

2 Likes

Maybe I’m the odd one out but I would prefer some sort of playoff for a tiebreaker, even if it’s one ball instead of a full game. I prefer to keep much skill in a tournament as possible and it would not sit well with me as a player to lose a pinball tournament literally “on a roll of dice”.

In my opinion 1 ball is a dice throw. Either play a full game or do random.org or dice.

1 Like

Okay, a full game playoff. The only reason I mentioned a one ball playoff is because of possible time constraints.

If you use Match Play I can recommend the new-and-improved randomizer built right in to the software. It can flip coins, pick numbers and arenas. See it in action:

4 Likes

For me, I try to lay out within the rules document the conditions for actual tiebreakers vs automatic tiebreakers.

Full day event? More likely to be a proper tiebreaker.
Four-round two-hour weeknight event? More likely to be automatic.

I have found that often the dice get used for seeding among tied playoff qualifiers for weeknight events. If seed 6 and 7 have the same record and no other way to differentiate, then the dice come out.

I have most often been using the dice for random prize giveaways. We’ve been giving away Stern Army swag and restaurant gift cards that way to non-Finals qualifiers.

Used this over the weekend!

I noticed that I have to redo the process after it gives me a random arena. Can you leave the button active so I can keep producing more random arenas if I want? Sometimes I need to do it again if a game is being used or if it doesn’t produce the game type I want.

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Think you’ve now reduced random.org s revenue by half :stuck_out_tongue:

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@chuckwurt I added an “Again!” button but because computers are hard it was easiest for me to make it go back to the previous step. So you still have to click twice, but better than having to close the dialog completely.

randomizer

6 Likes

You da man!

2 Likes