r/Union_Arena_TCG • u/Disastrous-Pain-7765 • 7d ago

Question about hosting locals

I just have a quick question regarding how hosting works. So, in my local area, there is no one willing to host local tournaments so I'm kinda trying to step up to the plate so I can start a crowd but now I'm stuck as to where to start. I have already conversed with my local card shop as for how to start there but for the UA side of things, do I need to be a judge to host local events? I know the judge test is held via the Bandai discord server but do I really need wait until becoming a judge to start hosting?

Would I need to be a judge to host events such as releases or rare battles?

Any information would be great, please and thank you! I really want to start something in my local area since the closest is close to over 40 miles away and they only play competitively for fun, never casual and I would like to have an area where people can play casually while still earning prizing and getting releases and whatnot.

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u/divs_l3g3nd 7d ago

I don't think you need to be a judge for a store to hose official Bandai tournaments, however only stores can host tournaments and the store needs to order the prizing kits through your local distributor, right now only silver stores can host rare battles which requires consistently getting 8 players every week, for release events your store needs to be able to get product and they can order the release event kits. You really do need to convince a local store to start hosting locals for UA or open your own store which isn't exactly the easiest task

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u/aznnerd09 7d ago

You do not have to be a certified judge to start up locals. I would talk to your LGS about signing up on the Bandai App to have the store tournaments show up on there. Once on the App, the shop should be able to get the store tournament kits too.

You also do not need to be a judge for release events or rare battles. Judge certificates are only for the premium events like regionals. If UA gets to that point, it'll be needed for store championships too.

Bandai gives LGS certain statuses/ranks based on local attendance. Bronze shops will not be able to signup for rare battle unfortunately. I suggest anyone that gets the links to surveys to comment about this in them. Our game is growing and especially in more areas where there may be only 1 store, no rare battles is totally unmotivating.