[jillybean]

Apart from convention card holders and free plays, what sort of clever, effective freebie have you seen given out in a newcomers package, or any type of player package?

[mycroft]

For many, stickers are the #2 reason to go to regionals and NABCs. Might be #1a.

Expensive (so could only be worked in at exclusive tournaments) are things like coffee cups, but I still use the one I got at CNTC Winnipeg, 5 years ago (well, the writing's rubbed off, but I know where it came from), and I still see two or three others' being carried around.

One nice thing that might be a unique door prize is "tonight, if you'd like, you're playing in the side game with <expert>, and your partner is playing with <other expert>." Maybe it's a winner prize instead. Don't have to be real experts; do have to be good to partners and able to speak to "newcomers".

[Phil]

Seattle set the record for free stuff. Some of it was nice, some of it elicited a "huh"?

[CSGibson]

This may be far afield, but the best section-top award I have seen were the glasses handed out the last time an NABC was in Vegas. I collected a set of 4, would have been better with 6 or 8, but 4 is ok too; I still use them in my regular rotation.

[jillybean]

I wasn't too thrilled in my selection of the sticky pad folders for section tops in Florida (thanks Ben) but I am still using them, find them
very useful and they serve as nice reminder of my first NABC

What I'm really looking for though is some useful stuff to put in newcomer packages.

[Quantumcat]

Is it a normal thing to get freebies at tournaments in the US? That sounds really cool! Here we get 'showbags' at the beginning of a tournament but all they have (apart from scorebooks and crappy pen with tournament logo), is brochures and advertisements from the sponsors.

[lalldonn]

I rarely collect my section top awards, but the best one I ever got was the maple syrup at the Toronto NABC.

At the Vegas tournaments they give away bottles of cheap wine, I wait until I have 6 and make a big pot of sangria.

I usually don't register at the NABCs, but one time it was raining so I registered and got an umbrella in the package

[glen]

I liked this one:

http://www.mapleleaf...om/BigGrip.html
(no knowledge of this company, and others make same type of rubber jar opener)

Quote

* Makes opening jars and bottles effortless: it triples your strength.
* Ideal for seniors

[jillybean]

 Quantumcat, on 2012-August-15, 18:39, said:

Is it a normal thing to get freebies at tournaments in the US? That sounds really cool! Here we get 'showbags' at the beginning of a tournament but all they have (apart from scorebooks and crappy pen with tournament logo), is brochures and advertisements from the sponsors.

Yes! At the NABC's you get a gift for simply signing in when you arrive at the playing site, you get a choice of gifts for section tops and all sorts of small freebies for just playing during the week. Unclaimed and surplus section top gifts are given away on the last day.
It's fun to get a section top pen early in the week and intimidate your opponents with it
The most popular freebie seems to be an emblem of the playing location made into fuzzy stickers which people stick to their convention card holders, sometimes so many collected over the years that it is impossible to read the top left hand corner of their CC.

[Quantumcat]

I wonder if I can get that sort of thing going here! :-) How much are your entry fees typically? Do you get Victory Dinners over there as well?

[ggwhiz]

Sponsorship is big if you can do the legwork. ie coupons for nice savings wherever instead of just laying them on a table but do that too.

I once saw a telescoping fork with the logo of a chinese restaurant that would reach 3 or 4 feet. Ideal for those between session dinners for 12.

[barmar]

I think one of the welcome packages a few years ago gave out electronic organizers. That was before almost everyone had smartphones (although I suspect smartphone penetration is not as high in the NABC attendee population as in the general public).

One of the best section top awards I recall was the Boston NABC in the 90's, when they gave out telephone calling cards, which you could use for 10 minutes of long distance calling. But these days, most people have calling plans that would make these useless.