So here's the deal. I have a fantastic tournament venue just down the street from my house that has 8 40" flat-panel plasma TVs with stadium seating and linked PS2s already provided pics. I can get most of a day's worth of time in this venue for about $100 bucks. What I would LIKE is to be able to get about 20-30 of you guys to show up and lay down $10-$15 bucks entry fee. $100 goes to the venue, the rest goes to the winners. I'm not really optimistic that I can get enough bodies to run this, but I figured I'd throw down a thread and see how many people are down with it.

Where is this?

oh, heh, that is important.
Eugene Oregon, about exactly halfway between Seattle and SanFran on I5.

Eugene, Oregon. I could make it to that event and I wouldn't mind paying $10-$15. I know I'm not going to win $100 but it'd be worth it to meet and play you guys. Eugene is only a 5 hour drive for me, I live in Richland, WA. What would the cost of hotels and such be? I could look it up but I thought maybe you already had something in mind.

By the way, that place looks great. I've actually designed stations for a store I had in mind that is very similar to this place. The major difference is that I was going to have a bar and restaurant in my place but I like what they've done.

Seattle's a little out of my range LOL

Yeah, I figured nobody from the East would be able to make it. I'm mostly curious how many NorCal guys might be induced to visit.

well if i had a private leer jet and owned a russian vodka distilery i could prolly make it but since i lack both I prolly cannot

I'd consider it. If a train runs from Sac to Eugene and Ben/someone will go with me, I'd definitely consider it.

Fellas?

I'll sweeten the pot too, I'll provide lodging at my place for the two people who come from furthest away

Edit : My wife reserves the right to refuse lodging to certain individuals. You know who you are. That is all =P

Iowa? I WIN!

Just kidding, it is too far.

If it's not too pricey to go I'd be willing to head in. Maybe we can set up some sort of RNNC road trip, it's no worse than the trips we've taken to LA.

That's pretty much what it'd take, I think. Maybe Hiruma and his folks could get down from portland, or the Seattle guys could show up. I'm sure that if I could get a tournament set UP I could attract the attention of at least a handful of locals. I mean... I'm not the ONLY person in Eugene who plays this game =P.
If I can get to a point where I can get 15 confirmed people, I'll get a date set and throw out information to all the other forums and such, and that should get things up to at least 25 or 30, which should get the winner a pretty good purse. If only 15 show up, that's still 50 bucks prize money, which I suppose doesn't even cover the travel cost for most of you, but hey, how often do you get to play AC on a forty inch screen? =P

Oooh, giant TVs and a chance for cheap, tax free video games. That might be worth a trip.
Especially if the prize money pays for it.

Ya know, i would really like to join ya, but there's one problem.....
I LIVE IN INDIANA! *grumble, grumble, grumble..........*

Damn. I cant make it, but If I could, I would deffenitly be from the furtherest... Pittsburgh Pa.. lol

Kobel's right, Sac to Eugene is basically the exact same distance as Sac to Oceanside. I'd sign on if I knew for sure I'd be abulatory at the time but I really haven't got a clue.

Count me in for certain. This very well could be my only chance to play in a tournament. I'm starting to think that I'm the only person in Washington who plays this game... What would we need to bring other than money for room, board and entry?

No problem... I can bring my copy of SL. I'm guessing this will be scheduled around a weekend? That would be preferable for me. I can use some vacation time and leave on a Friday morning and be there by Friday evening. Whenever the Cali guys can show up is good for me. A month notice would be nice but I'm pretty flexible. It's my wife getting time off that I'm worried about. Thanks Morris.

If this goes down, the only time that's good for me would be over spring break. I'm not even sure then, either. I honestly have problems driving for seven hours, much of which would probably be over twisting terrain.

It's actually a pretty nice drive on I-5, I drove all the way from LA to Eugene back two summers ago when Diva moved up. If you're coming from Sac or even San-Fran, it'd almost be easier to take the train. It doesn't take any longer than driving, generally, and the train station is very conveniently located to lodging and the AC venue. I really didn't expect any of the SoCal guys to be interested tho, it's a hella long way.

Don't worry about me, plan around everyone else and if I happen to be able to make it with some other NorCal guys so much the better. My situation is a little more complicated than a simple recoverying from a single incident.

So let me make some specifications regarding how I need to run this, assuming of course that all things come together optimally.

1 : In order to call the event "On", I need at least 15 confirmed entrants in order to make sure the trip is going to be worth it for the guys coming from California. Add me, and this makes the pot to the winners $150 dollars, absolute minimum.

2 : When the event is called "On" I will ask that all confirmed entrants pay the $15 entry fee in advance. The checks/money orders/whatever won't be cashed till the day of the event, but I want the envelopes on hand ahead of time. This is for the protection of me (so I don't get stuck being out the 100 bucks if it falls through) and for the protection of the guys making the trip (so if half the people cancel at the last minute, the winner still can walk out with his gas money in winnings). I don't feel that $15 is too much to ask on trust, especially since it's all going back to you guys anyway. This way everyone knowns before they leave home exactly what the stakes are, and we don't have to worry about a poor turnout messing things up for people financially. Once the money's on the table, no-shows just mean the rest of us get more time in front of the big-screens.

3 : Once the date is set and the minimum requirements have been met, I'll start advertising the heck out of the event over the net, and locally in Eugene. I am cautiously optimistic that if I can get at least the base 16 man bracket, I can pick up at least a handful of additional walk-ins to pad out the ranks. The more the merrier, and the more people show up, the more the winners get.

If I'm not a moron, it's something like 92 bucks round trip, fellas. A pinch more than I can afford, with all the other costs contributing to the sum.

are you sure? Anyone who comes from SoCal is almost assuredly going to get the 'furthest traveller free lodging on my futon' deal =)

Trains would be preferable to a car comfort wise but the trip could be made a lot cheaper with a carpool. I imagine gas prices in oregon would make it a cheaper trip than SoCal and lodging ought to be, if anything, a few bucks cheaper than Fresno, CA.

If I was in a little better situation, I'd put my name down just to support the nearly nonexistant scene and meet another forum member F2F. (Morris hasn't made an MoC has he?)

Morris: If you can't gather the support, don't right this off. Keep it on the back burner and see if any Oregon/Washington people stick there heads up on the forums.

I'm going to do whatever I can to get the minimum body count I need to pull it off, but you'll forgive me for believing that getting at least a small chunk of the bad-ass california Ravens up for the event would really improve things. =)

Well I mentioned the trip to Eugene to my wife last night and she's down as long as there's a mall near by. We could use the little vacation anyhow. Unfortunately I don't know any other AC players in Washington state other than Turel from ACO, I think he lives in Seattle.

I'm sure my wife could show yours where the shopping spots are. =)

OK, I spoke with Eric and we did a little research on Amtrak rates. It's 78.20 both ways for students (I think John's 90.00 estimate is correct for non-students).

If we can find a promotional code, it might be a lot less. I remember there being a deal similar to friends fly free for Amtrak... If so, we could probably get down there for half-price. $35.00 would be a GREAT deal.

Gas would cost us around $60.00, forward and back if we drove.

If we could get a 'friends fly free' or some other promotional deal to drop down my 90 bucks, I'll go Amtrak.

I'm currently having a hard time justifying the spending of that 90 bucks, though. Maybe if I don't have as many cash leeches stuck to my wallet when this happens.

The best bet if more than two of us want to go would just be to carpool. Gas should be less than $15 per person round trip if we get 4 d00ds. Even with lodging, entry fee and grub money that's a pretty cheap trip.

Joust, Kish, Kobel and me or Duneman would fill out a car. It's just a straight shot up I-5 and my sister's CRV has a CD player, it'd be nothin. Yeah?

Forgive me if I've missed this, but are you talking time-frame yet? Vacation planning is a FIEND in an accounting office. I've already started budgeting for a trip north to see the Boston Bros (and possibly 1337). If possible I may be able to squeeze a 4-day weekend... as long as it isn't near any ends of months. When's on the plate?

Dag, if Ky signs on for a trip to Oregon I gotta make it.

My schedule is open. I just need to make sure I keep myself outa the hospital for a good week or two before heading up. So it's really on everyone else to come up with a date.

Kishin with a deal like that I may come by and pick you up and leave the wife at home. Seriously though, Morris I figured Diva would actually be in the tournament. She seems to be a little bit more into the video games/anime scene than my wife is. That'd be great though, then my wife wouldn't feel like such an outcast.

I can't promise anything just yet, but spring break should give us ample time to plan. I'll bring my crew though, if at all possible. Just don't laugh too hard when Mark jumps around in his chair when he loses.

Looks like it's time to bring out the copies of SL again...

EDIT: Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that spring break is about the only time I can get down there. College is a pain in the @$$ on scheduling fun things to do...

Okay, looks like Spring break is definately looking good for the timeframe. I've started posting info to other forums to see if we can pull in Oregon, Washington, and NorCal AC players who (GASP) don't post at RavenHaven. I suppose if there's anybody in Idaho who plays AC, they can come too. =P

I welcome the chance to pit my skills against any AC playing potatoes who make a showing.

If it's Spring Break, I'm pretty sure I can make it, as long as at least two other guys come along for the trip. Otherwise, I'm going to look for a promotional offer with Amtrak.

Like I said (I think), I'm in if I can get a ride.

WoooooooooT. Lookin good. I sent out emails to about 30 Oregon, Washington, and Idaho ravens, so we'll see what kind of results we get. I also dropped an add at GameFAQs. I suppose I should register at the Agetec board and post there too.

Count this desert rat in, as I *should* be able to make it up there(coming from Phoenix).

The commitment that takes priority over this has very last minute and radical scheduling tendencies, but as far as I can see I'll be able to make this.

If someone want's to post here the actual spring break dates, it'd greatly help my cause.

Jesus God on a pogo stick, half the CA crew or better's coming. Aaaargh!!!

The actual Spring Break dates vary by school. I know that the University of Oregon's Spring break is the 20th of March through the 28th, so we'd be looking for either the weekend of 20-21 or 27-28, depending on which works best for people.

That looks pretty good. I'll be touring during the first half of that month for sure, the second half if the band gets lucky.

*pulls hair*

I'll have a much better idea of what's going on by mid-Feb. Hopefully that's not too late of a confirmation.