We get a lot of people asking about beyblade tournaments in their area, but the unfortunate reality is there are very few beyblade tournaments in Australia. Only 5 cities have regular tournaments, and even cities like the Gold Coast and Hobart don't have regular tournaments (yet!).
So when it comes down to it, for a lot of people the only way to get tournaments in your area is to put them on yourself. This is a pretty daunting prospect, especially if you've never been to a tournament before, so this guide will break it down to the bare bones of what you need and how to get it.
1. Supplies
All you really need is at least 3 stadiums (you could even get by with just 2, especially if you're just starting out). Unfortunately there's no good way to get cheap stadiums, I'd recommend looking at Amazon or ToyCraze where you can get them for around $90 each.
Alternatively, if you can find a couple bladers in the area who have stadiums of their own, you can pool your resources instead of having to buy everything yourself.
It also helps to have shrouds to stop beys from flying across the room. The Skubb from Ikea (smaller size) is an easy portable option we used for a while. But you can also make them out of cardboard boxes, or use my design for a collapsible stand if you want to get a bit fancier.
Having a few spare beys and launchers to loan out is always handy, but not a necessity.
2. A Venue
This step is probably one of the most daunting, but you may be surprised by how willing a lot of places will be to help you put on events.
The most common venues are game stores, a place that is already hosting card game tournaments is well equipped to host your beyblade tournament. You can find them by searching "game store" on google maps, or you can use the wizards locator to find WotC affiliated stores. Then just send them email or go talk to them in person to ask about putting on events.
The fighting game community hold regular events all around the country, where they put on a bunch of tournaments at once. You can try reaching out to your local FGC about working with them to add beyblade to the roster at their next event. There is a list of FGCs in the about section of the Australian FGC Facebook group, or on the CCH FGC website.
Venue hire is an option that's almost always going to be available, the main issue being the cost, which while it can be covered by charging an entrance fee, there's some risk that not enough people will attend to cover the cost.
And of course you can always just hold your tournaments in a park. No fuss, no fee, no A/C.
3. A Ruleset and Tournament Format
In beyblade, there are as many different ways to play as there are tournaments. So when it comes to putting on your own tournament, it's not as simple as just following the official ruleset.
The official ruleset is an option, but it's better designed for the large-scale tournaments that take place in Asia.
The WBO ruleset is designed by tournament organisers for the purpose of having a unified but flexible ruleset and ranking system across international communities. It's a solid option and is what I use at my events. (Their organiser's guide has some good tips for holding tournaments if you're looking for more resources)
The BBAN ruleset is the most widely used ruleset in Australia. It takes the official ruleset and adds some additional rules for flavour.
You also need to decide what tournament format you are going to use, a simple single elimination tournament like you see on TV is not your only option (and far from the best). Most tournaments here use a two stage format, starting with a group round robin or swiss stage to ensure that everyone gets to play a number of matches instead of being knocked out in the first round, then the top players move to a double or single elimination bracket to determine the victors.
This article from Start.gg covers different types of tournament formats so you can decide what is best for you, it also covers other aspects of running tournaments that may be useful to you, such as seeding.
4. Technology
Challonge is the most widely used tournament management platform and it provides a lot of flexibility for how you want to run your tournament.
5. People
Now for the most nerve-wracking step, getting people to actually come.
It may be a good idea for your first event to be a freeplay event, instead of a tournament, so you can gauge interest and meet other local bladers in a casual setting. It also allows you to get more comfortable with putting on events before diving right into the deep end.
You don't need a whole lot of people to have a tournament, we've held tournaments with as few as 7 people, and using a round robin format there was more than enough blading to go around. But I wouldn't be too worried about that, beyblade is exploding in popularity right now, and it is one of the best times in recent history to hold events.
For online promotion, we can help out with promoting your event through this website, and if you're holding it at a game store they will likely have a bunch of local followers they can promote your event to.
You can also join the BBAN discord server, its mostly made up of people from existing communities, but we've got people from all over the place so it's worth a check. It's also a good platform for staying in touch with your growing community, and getting support from other bladers around the country.
And lastly, you can't hold a tournament on your own! You'll need to recruit some judges. Find some people who are willing beforehand, a casual event is a good opportunity for this, or if necessary you can run people through some quick practice matches before a tournament starts. Don't put too much pressure on yourself for your first few tournaments, give everyone a chance to make mistakes and learn.
So that's it! Everything you need to put on a tournament of your very own, if you're interested at all or you've got any questions, feel free to send me an email and I'll do my best to help you get started.