Bemani club activities for beginners

[Suko]

I started a Bemani Club at my college last year, but my time here is drawing to a close. I will be leaving within a month or two for a job and I will be leaving this club in the hands of some other people. Before I leave I would like to try and do something for the more n00b players. Currently we have an event about once every other month or so called Bemani Night, where we bring 4-5 TVs and consoles and hook all kinds of rhythm games up to them. This is really popular, but I was hoping that some of you on this site could offer me up some more ideas of ways to get n00bs more active with our club.

Anyways, any ideas would be welcome.
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"Arcades have gone away but the culture is not gone."

DDRecall | Groovestats | Beatspace | UI Bemani Club | Suko's Shirt Shack

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[Kakumei77]

Mini-tournaments with decent prizes usually works. Since you're wanting to spend time with newer players, the risk of it turning into a show-off competition is minimal and they're likely to be less inhibited when amongst peers of the same skill level. It's a way to bring people together for simple fun and socialization.

Taking down e-mail addresses and giving them to the people who will take over the club is a plus. Starting a "newsletter" (even one that simply notifies people of upcoming meetings and play dates) would be fun. Encouraging people to write and discuss how they're doing (achievements, troubleshooting songs, etc.) increases the social aspect and keeps interest going while not physically meeting.

Just a couple thoughts. Good luck with the new job!

[pleasedon'thurtme]

Would it be a good idea to conduct more events? I would love to visit this club, or any other similar club. I don't really know anyone interested in Bemani games as much as I am, and I am new to Bemani.
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[yukihime]

I think the idea of having a special night geared toward beginners, whether it's people who've never played or people who are on beginner through light/basic is fantastic!

The whole event sounds like it needs a title or name, something catchy to put on flyers, newsletters, email headers. Gotta get their attention!

Seems every event, competition or tourney is geared toward all the deserving, yes, very talented, strong, high level players. That can be intimidating and discouraging for the rest of us who aren't there and may never be there (or want to be).

Some sort of setup where you could have a "tutorial" session for the absolute "I've never even seen a DDR pad" people, just to get them going using the easiest of easy Beginner songs, then let the beginners and light players just play for awhile, give each other tips and encouragement and basically, let everyone mingle, relax and chat.

Then have some sort of competition. Wouldn't have to be anything fancy or expensive. Like everyone who enters gets, idk ... a specially made button or T-shirt (depending on your budget) with a graphic of your college logo and something DDR'ish. If you could do T's, you could put something like "I survived (name of event and date) on the back of the shirt. For the winners (1st, 2nd, 3rd maybe?) you can buy inexpensive little trophies or if you know someone artsy/crafty, have them make something up ... like a DDR up arrow on a black base and paint the arrows bronze, silver and gold. And on the base put the name of the event, the date and that it's first place, etc. You could probably do something similar for the other games you're planning on having. Or is that just too lame?
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[stuffmonger]

How can you honestly have a tournament for mediocre players? A "good" player will inevitably enter stating they're not that good, and win it hands down.

I think any "tournament" that isn't trying to distinguish the best of the best is not a tournament, but a meet instead.

[BAGGER VANCE]

[yukihime]

[ChilliumBromide]

Waterbottles + logo = guilt trip/curiosity; they'll come because they drink out of the water bottle, and hopefully like it.
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I used to be active here lol

[Suko]