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Our local 40k players are hoping to get a tournament running at a local con, but no one wants to run it. We've all played in tournaments & know how to run them, but with all the new rules that have come out & rules lawyering, none of us wants to deal with the hard lifting. We just want to play as much 40k as possible and also want to find a way to attract enough players so that we can keep playing different people all weekend. So here's an idea that we're looking for constructive criticism of:

Everyone who plays a pickup game of 40k pays $5 per game to ensure the table space is being used. The winner of each game gets three raffle tickets, the loser two, and in case of tie, each player gets two. Organizer is only in charge of getting tables signed up for, communicating with larger Con organizers, and collecting tickets & money. Sunday morning games allowed to run til noon at which point winner is chosen from raffle tickets and wins the pot. Players in charge of their own rules' lawyering & if they can't sort stuff out on their own, then too bad. Would you attend this kind of 40k weekend event?

Advantages:
-players can play how many ever games they have time for. Allows for hangover recovery time.
-players can play whatever points limit their opponent for that particular game wants to play. New players can play smaller games, Veteran players can play whatever points they want to.
-Want to play partners games? Pool raffle tickets.
-Want to play friends? Sign up for tables with a friend.

Disadvantages:
-How many players would really show up?
-What if games run really long?

Been There, Done That. Only it was D&D. No one wanted to Dungeon Master. Someone has to be God though.



Problems I see with what you proposed:

a. You will need set times for rounds, otherwise folks will eat breakfast here, go to lunch then, and kibbitz and talk. Who knows when Round Three will start after the 4 O'clock beer.

A set schedule works for Western World persons, because we were raised Industrial Fashion with school bell schedules and such. Go with common sense and established times from previous tourneys. Round One 10 am to 12:15. Forty-five minutes for lunch and so on.


b. Rules disputes. Often, our TO is at another table or across the room, so we ask the guys next to us. For you I suggest if the players can't work out a call or LineOfSight, establish that the players *next* to them make the Final Call. Establish that as TheRule.

c. You are going to need one Boss to collect and tally and pull tickets and make announcements anyway. You could appoint *that* guy by lottery. Bring a d100 dice and have everyone dice off, lowest or highest has to do the Duty for the weekend.

d. That one dork who brought 4 Imp.Knights is going to be sitting alone for some time, until his Paper-Rock match up eye-balls him, laughs with all of his (melta-drop-pods, Screamers, 3 units of Fire Dragons, etc) and says, "No one will play you? I will." Set rounds and Swiss-style pairings (or any pairing system) guarantees everyone plays.
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Would I go? No, it sounds too loosey-goosey. I like the firm set times of a RTT or GT schedule. Now that 40k is in its 20+ years, a lot of players have families, It is easier to get your wife to sign-off if you've a firm time. But I'd chafe if drawing opponents was catch-as-catch-can.

I think you're going to have to appoint a judge. Maybe up the ticket price to get in and give a judge a stipend ($20? $50) to run the show.

Good luck.

Honestly, I wouldn't call it a tournament. It seems like a good idea for raffle tickets, but to me, a tournament implies the best players winning at the top. This arrangement is just a greater chance.

The biggest problem is like curran12 said, it's not really a tournament. Furthermore, unless you do some kind of pairings the players aren't guaranteed a game, unlike a traditional tournament.

Events don't need to be tournaments, they are just the least complex kind of event to organize.

This is an interesting case, because a major 40k event scheduled for this same weekend (after this con did), so it's simply not going to draw the competitive tournament crowd.
So I think the best bet is to create an event that caters to casual and narrative players. There are a lot of 40k players in a 2 hour drive of this Con, so as long as it's advertised
well it should draw people.

As a casual event; things like rules judging become less important. As for ensuring every player gets a game; that's more complicated, but maybe whoever
is "running" the event can act as a ringer. And fixed schedule is a must, as other have stated people need to be able to plan.