Well, this is a post I was trying to hold off on typing up for as long as possible, but unfortunately the time has come. TL;DR: The house fee for tournaments at TLP will be moving from $10 to $15, starting with The Distance. If you’re interested in the why, read on.
Since we opened TLP 2.5 years back, our house fee was $10. We always wanted to run tournaments a little differently… I wanted snacks out for everyone. I wanted to throw sodas, beers, all that in the fridge. I wanted cool trophies and the like. I wanted the games hard, fair, but mostly working perfectly. Many of the great places we play at do many of those things and do them well. I wanted to do them all well. And I think all and all we’ve done a great job of that — the fact you all keep joining us means we’re doing something right, and I’m grateful that we have the crew of regulars and new friends we do.
I don’t have to tell everyone that things have got more expensive lately, but it’s all the little things that are pushing us to make this move, and to do it now. The House Fee is to help us offset the cost of running tournaments at TLP. I won’t name who, but someone asked if we’re making good bank off the house fees, and well… no. Not quite. Most tournaments are breaking even all in all, but some (like WPPRMania) are run at a loss. Yes, even with that tournament’s $30 house fee.
House fee goes to:
- Parts, repairs, and maintenance. As you know, I’m pretty anal retentive about the games and trying to keep them tip-top for you all.
- Snacks and drinks, which have gone up in an insane manner in the last few months along.
- “Game play”/”Coin Drop”
- Electricity offset
- IFPA Fees
- Trophies (we usually don’t take trophy cost out of the prize pool, very rarely in fact).
- Cool giveaways (scratchers, stupid giveaways, funding stallball at some events)
- Indirectly, funding IIP series (both locations are reserving $1 per player per tournament for prizes).
While we’re happy to volunteer our time, labor, and home for the tournaments, we frankly just need to close the delta to not make every tournament a loss after all of the above.
I hope you’ll continue to join us at TLP. I still think, at $15 a tournament, we’re providing a ton of value to our players, some of the best tournaments around, and I hope you feel the same.
-Derek