Game Night Coordinator's Guide

From Cogswell Game Dev Club

First Draft By: Brody Brooks

Initial Planning

Picking a Date

Game Nights are typically born out of a Game Club Meeting with club officers present (at the very least the President and the chosen Game Night Coordinator) with all weekends listed from 3-4 weeks ahead until the end of the term listed out on the whiteboard. Dates are narrowed down until one weekend is agreed upon. Always do Game Nights on weekends, and it's recommended (but not required) that it be on a Saturday.

Time Duration

Decide what time the event starts (usually 6pm) and when it ends. Normally we have standard Game Nights (6 until 3-4am) and All-Nighters (6pm to 9am). This is important, as when you get the event request form filled out, the person in charge of security (Andre Fedin) will need to know the times to set the security system for.

PC or Console?

Each term there are typically two Game Nights: one is a Console Game Night, the other a PC Game Night. This dichotomy was set because PC gamers would complain that people would always gravitate towards consoles, so PCs were systematically phased out quickly. So choose if the event will be designated a PC Game Night (computer games only) or Console Game Night (consoles and handhelds only) and factor it into your advertising.

How Much Is The Budget?

Budget is usually allotted from ASB funds for Game Night by the Game Club Advisor (Rachael Reisdorf) or Student Life Coordinator (Rob Chaitin). How much they allot you is how much the school will reimburse you for expenses incurred from buying food and supplies for Game Night. As soon as possible, find out how much this budget will be. Always aim for spending little more than the budgeted amount, as Game Club will be forking over what the school won't pay you for.

Paperwork

Reserve Dragon's Den

Once a date is set, immediately reserve the Dragon's Den for that date. The last thing you want is to wait until the last minute and find that the Acting class has taken over and don't want you setting up for Game Night.

Fill Out Event Request Form

Right in the doorway of the Student Life Office are a magazine rack of forms. Take an Event Request Form and fill it out. Know you'll have to go on a signature hunt. In the date field, also list what time the event starts and and hour after it ends. Andre will take these times and put them into the security system (you'll want an hour leeway to cleanup and get out of the building).

Reserve All TVs and Projectors From A/V Lab

If you're doing a Console Game Night, go to the A/V Lab two weeks in advance and ask to reserve all of their TVs, as well as as many projects as they have screens for. You'll have to fill out a form for this. Ask how many TVs they have total so you can take it into account when planning where everything will be laid out.

Raffle

The purpose of Game Night is not simply get people to the school for a night of fun. It's underlying purpose is to raise money for the Game Development Club, which is always done through a prize raffle. Every Game Night should have a raffle. Ticket sales are normally handled by the Game Night Coordinator or someone s/he appoints. Ticket prices have always been $1 per ticket or $10 for 12 tickets. Most people tend to go for the twelve-for-ten deal during the event. While it's encouraged to sell tickets prior, most people tend to buy tickets during the event.

Pick The Raffle Prizes

Raffle prizes are usually recently released games and game consoles. Pick prizes that you believe people will really want if you hope to turn a good profit from ticket sales. As point of reference, the highest grossing Game Night brought in $450 worth of ticket sales, and the prizes people were buying tickets for were a presale of the full Rock Band Bundle, Mass Effect, Super Mario Galaxy, The Simpsons Game, and Hannah Montana Music Jam. It also helped that the big seller (Rock Band) was available pre-release for people to play through the night via an insider at EA.

Stay Within Budget

You're buying both the food for the event AND the prizes more or less within the allotted budget, so don't go overkill.You'll usually want more than $100 for food, so make sure you have that much left when planning what prizes to buy. If your budget isn't very high and you don't feel you can get many decent prizes for your buck, consider going over-budget for the sake of turning a higher profit.

Plan When The Raffle Will Be Held

Midnight is usually a good time to hold the raffle. It typically gives the tournaments enough time to wrap up and people enough time to decide if they deem it worth gambling for your lottery, while not being way too late.

Planning

How Many People Should You Expect?

The number of people to expect during the event depends on which term it's in and when in the term you plan it. Typically, Summer has low attendance as a lot of people skip out on doing Summer classes. Fall usually has the highest attendance. If the set date is close to or during finals, that will also lower your numbers. To be clearer, a typical Summer event sees approximately 20 people, while a Fall event sees about 60

Work Up Food Costs

Start up a spreadsheet in Google Documents or Excel (GDocs preferred for sharing) and list out all the food you should get for the event and what you think the prices on them will be. Typically, you'll want to get a dinner food (hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza), a selection of snack foods (chips 'n' dip, trail mix, muffins, candies), and drinks (soda and water), as well as ice for the beverages.

This part is probably the most you'll have to go out of your way for Game Night. Go to Costco (if you're not a card carrier, bring someone who is) with a notepad and pen, and find all the things on your list and write down their prices and quantities. If you find anything you think would be good to get that you didn't think of, write those down, too. Leave and go back to your spreadsheet, and write down all the real prices. When determining what you can buy with your budget, it's recommended that what you do buy, you get enough of to keep people satisfied for most of the night. Don't forget to buy plates, napkins, and cups if the Game Club's Party Drawer lacks them. This all should be done with no less than a week in advance.

Secure Raffle Prizes

Buy the raffle prizes as soon as you can, as a store's stock of video games fluctuate more than a store's stock of food. If any of the prizes you're getting are not yet released and will be highly sought after, go to a game retailer like GameStop and pre-order it. If the game won't be out in time for Game Night, you must be able to guarantee the raffle winner a copy of the game at or around the release date.

Draw Up A Plan Of How The Dragon's Den Will Be Laid Out

Get a piece of paper, and work out where the TVs, tables, couches, so forth will be placed and arranged. This isn't expressly needed, but for big events, it takes off a load of stress/confusion.

Find A School Employee Who Is Willing To Supervise

A school employee will need to be around during the entire event, so find one that's into games. Not very difficult.

Get Trained On The Dragon's Den Equipment

If you're running Game Night, you'll need to be able and allowed to operate the A/V system in the Dragon's Den. Email or talk to Evan Peebles about getting certified.

Tournaments

If you choose to have any tournaments happen during Game Night, it's advised not to have more than two happen during the event. Plan what tournament(s) you will hold and set in stone what times they will start at two weeks in advance or more and put sign-up sheets outside the Game Club door. When you put sign-up sheets out, announce it via the Cogswell email system (in the To: field, put 'All Students') and put the word out at the next ASB Meeting.

Tips:

The start of the first tournament should be no less than an hour after the start of the event.
Never have two tournaments going on at once. People in one tournament may want to play in the other tournament.
If doing a team-ladder-based tournament, start checking if signed-up teams are present an hour before the start of the tournament so you can work up a finalized ladder prior to the start.
Pick games that most people probably own or have played so more people are interested in participating.
Double-check if the tournament game works over your network setup before the start of the tournament.

Advertising

Start advertising around 3 weeks in advance so people know about the event.

Include in the advertising:

Date & Time of event
Games that will definitly be played
Raffle prizes up for grabs
What tournaments are happening

Consider getting an artist to do up a poster that will catch peoples' eyes. Put posters EVERYWHERE (within moral reason) around the school. Don't rely only on posters, though. Go to ASB and All-Student Meetings and talk about the event and what's in store and do a couple of mass emails on the Cogswell email system. There are other solutions but remember a three pronged approach is will get you the best results for time spent.

Setting Up

A few days before the event, make sure all the food is purchased, all raffle prizes are on hand, and check out all the TVs and keep them in Game Club. The A/V Lab is closed on Fridays and Weekends, so you typically have to have all reserved equipment checked out on the Thursday before the event.

Move all the TVs, projectors, screens, and couches into place.
Couches are usually brought in from all around the school. Three is usually the amount needed.
Fold out tables are behind the stage, as are fold out chairs and crappy swivel seats.
Game Club has power strips and surge protectors, as well as a large networking switch and network cables.
Get the big garage door open, as people typically park in the back and enter through there.
If this is a console night in Spring or Fall, make sure you have one or two extra tables set up near free power outlets for people to set up more consoles and TVs if it becomes necessary.
Set out food on a table that's a good distance from TVs and consoles, so crowding doesn't become an issue for people trying to get something to eat and so there's less of a chance that food or drink will damage equipment.
Setup a station where you or the person selling tickets can be most of the night for people to buy raffle tickets. Have a large sign that states prices and possibly what the prizes are.

Running The Event

During the event, try to refrain from playing a lot of games until all tournaments are over and the raffle has been done. Make sure people are having a good time, help people with technical issues, answer questions, and keep an eye on the food. If you start running out of food earlier than expected, be ready to make a special trip to the store.

Tips

Don't keep all of the snack food out on the table. Put a portion of it out, and the rest under the table. The food will last longer and people won't be as likely to take larger portions.

Post Mortems

Here are post mortems of previous Game Nights, which may offer insight on what has been done in the past.

Console Game Night - Spring '08
PC Game Night - Spring '08
Console Game Night - Summer '08
Console Game Night - Fall '08 PC Game Night - Fall '08