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Northern California Pente players. Pente Championship
Posted:
Oct 23, 2007, 12:50 AM
Hi all,...I was wondering if any of you live in the Bay Area of Northern California. The reason I'm asking is I'm curious to see if there are other local players that have an interest to play live in person. Also on the back burner I have ambitions of getting a sponsor for starting a Northern California Live Pente Tournament involving cash prizes, medals, trophies, tv coverage, radio coverage, well something maybe on those lines. At the moment a Pipe dream, but you never know. I wonder how many people actually play pente in California.
~zoeyk
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Re: I'm in search of local Northern California Pente players.
Posted:
Oct 24, 2007, 12:41 AM
Heck yeah. I live in the bay area and would be thrilled if somebody took the lead on organizing a live tournament. I've thought about doing myself before but have lacked the time and/or motivation to overcome the lack of time. I would be more than happy to assist, though.
There are a handful of players I've run into online who don't live too far away. I'm sure that if you planned it far enough in advance and announced it on all the game sites you'd get some people (I play on bk and iyt). It would also help a lot if you got one or two big names to attend.
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Re: I'm in search of local Northern California Pente players.
Posted:
Oct 24, 2007, 8:05 PM
Ok the juices are flowing in my head now about this. many steps to take in regards to this matter. My step father has a huge following of friends that play pente that can be involved. How ever even though they have been playing for several years, they have always played by the variant rules of "boat pente". But I'm sure they can relearn the classic rules for the sake of a championship.
I agree with what you said about big names showing up attracting more of a turn out for an event like this. The Masters we would want to come probably live far away. and may not be willing to drop the money on plane tickets. I feel that obtaining Sponsor'(s) for this is a needed thing for more than one reason. For one thing perhaps a sponsor could pay for a few plane tickets to bring in say...3 of the worlds top players for example.
Being that I work as a chef in a 4 star hotel I think I can swing a good deal on renting a ball room out for a day. The ball rooms are large enough to hold 5,000 people. and contacting radio stations would be a good idea too perhaps. See if one would host there for the day giving out promotional gifts and stuff. could draw allot of coverage.
What channel televises Chess and stuff? I've seen it before. Perhaps one of the ESPNs. And of course medals or trophies would be needed at that point.
Sounds to some like a pipe dream maybe, But stranger things have gotten coverage. If any don't believe me check out Cup Stacking on youtube.com. its looks silly but it got News coverage on tv. and many schools have adopted it as a P.E. class.lol
I'll Private message you and we can chat more on this subject.
~zoeyk
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Re: I'm in search of local Northern California Pente players.
Posted:
Oct 24, 2007, 8:42 PM
Well I tried to locate decipher Inc. to see if they might be supportive since they are the owners of pente and all. and this is what i found,...not too incouraging lol.
Is the game up at Decipher? Lawsuits are mounting and fans restless Warren L. Holland Rick Eddleman
Will the empire strike back and undo the brilliance behind a privately held company that has a shrinking presence on Granby Street? Sounds like the perfect plot for a new card game.
Unfortunately, the future is murky for Decipher Inc., a Norfolk-based game card company. It found huge success with its Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, Star Wars and How to Host a Murder games, but it has been plagued by personal and professional lawsuits during its tenure.
Even a group of disgruntled tournament winners, formerly loyal fans, is threatening to bring the house down.
Decipher, owned by Warren L. Holland Jr., has had three rounds of layoffs this year totaling at least 50 people, according to several former employees. They said the company’s health insurance has been canceled, too.
Holland sold his 10,000-square-foot building at 253 Granby St. about two weeks ago and is leasing office space next door. Dr. Sture Sigfred, a radiologist who owns about a half-dozen other buildings downtown, said he purchased the building.
There are pending cases brought by Decipher against its former chief financial officer, Rick Eddleman, that begin proceedings in January 2006, and a Kathy Eddleman, with a scheduled hearing for Aug. 26. Several other cases are listed in court records as well, including one in April that required Holland to pay Sentara Hospitals almost $2,700.
Despite repeated attempts, INSIDE BUSINESS was not able to reach Holland or any representatives of his company. The phone was not answered. One employee who was contacted changed her voice mail message one week later to say she no longer works for Decipher. Calls were referred to another employee, Becky Higgerson, who also did not return a phone call.
Randy Muir owns Wild Things, a Salem, Ore., store that sells Decipher’s card games. He said he has done some of the same conventions with Decipher for a decade.
“I have no real problems with them,” said Muir, even though Decipher owes him a reimbursement for products that he ordered and never received. “The product will not arrive. I will be reimbursed with a future product.”
Overall, he said the company isn’t as prompt or professional as it used to be.
“It’s not unexpected, given the layoffs,” Muir said. “A lot of this stuff is like writing on the wall. Other businesses like this have already gone down.”
Meanwhile, the fans are getting restless. John Hawkins, also from Salem, won $2,500 at a Las Vegas tournament in March, the Decipher Vegas Open, and has yet to be paid. The winnings of three other friends bring the amount to over $4,000.
“They are very evasive and don’t answer our phone calls,” Hawkins said. “They’ve treated us well in the past and poorly in the past. They seem to put profits ahead of customer concerns.”
Hawkins has assembled an even larger group, 16 players who are owed tournament money, to take legal action against Decipher. He said he has heard from friends and retailers who order Decipher’s products that the company has closed down two of its three Norfolk warehouses.
“They are shrinking their business to try to get down to a size that is manageable,” Hawkins said.
Chris DeNoma, also of Salem, said he and Hawkins have been playing Decipher games since they were teens.
“We’ve been playing card games since 1994,” DeNoma said. “It’s like a more complex game of chess.”
“We spent money flying down there and on hotel rooms,” he said, referring to the Las Vegas tournament. “It’s just odd that it’s being handled the way it is.”
Some of Decipher’s message boards are rife with fan complaints about unfulfilled orders and speculations on the company’s future. Players want to know if others are experiencing problems with fan dollars, which are credits awarded for purchases.
According to the Decipher Web site, it costs 99 cents a month to belong to the fan club. Others log on to the message boards with no complaints and simply to trade cards.
Decipher has also delayed the sell dates for some highly anticipated products, including Star Trek and Lord of the Rings games. A message posted on its Web site July 29 by “Dan Bojanowski, brand manager,” attributes the problems to production delays.
By Janet Dunphy Inside Business - Hampton Roads
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Re: I'm in search of local Northern California Pente players.
Posted:
Oct 24, 2007, 9:23 PM
Ok well i finally tracked down a number to decipher thats not disconected, and I tell you it was really hard to find.
(757)664-1111 Warren
Decipher Inc. Executives Warren L Holland [Chairman & CEO] Dean Irwin [Sales Director] Pamela Bowles [Director, HR] Chuck Kallenbach [Brand Manager] Dan Bojanowski [Brand Manager]
I've left a message and I'll keep you guys posted on what "the owner of pente" says to me.
~zoeyk
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Re: I'm in search of local Northern California Pente players.
Posted:
Oct 24, 2007, 9:52 PM
Decipher never was an "owner" of Pente. Currently a board game company called Winning Moves manufactures Pente, I think they have some agreement with Hasbro. I believe Hasbro still owns the official rights (whatever that means, I'm no expert on the legal stuff) to "Pente", .
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Good News!!!
Posted:
Oct 26, 2007, 4:30 AM
Good News!!! Heres Joe's response to my request. So as far as support, and sponsorship this is where we are currently at!
Hi Zoey:
Thanks for your email. Hasbro owns Pente and we license it from them. We make it, distribute it, market, sell, etc....Decipher has nothing to do with Pente anymore. It's just H and WM.
As for tournament support - sure. We run the Rubik's Tournaments and the Conquest of Pangea tournaments. They get fom 60 - 300 people and are pretty big events for us. I imagine something like Pente to be much smaller and much more cerebral. My guess is that based on the size we would only support with games as prizes. If it turns out to be something with 50+ players then we would do more like signage etc.
As your plans develop, please keep us in the loop. Thank you!
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