OWA Contest - $1000 Worth of Video Games?!?

[oNeWiNgEdAnGeL]

I didn't know whether to post this here or in the Contest forum since the Contest forum is only about contest run from CAG or other sites, not the uses of CAG. But anyway, I have a lot of stuff I want to get rid of. My main problem is time. I need money as soon as possible, so I'm thinking about running a contest.

I won't list all my stuff until I know there is enough interest to run a contest. The highlights of my collection are: complete Super Nintendo, complete Chrono Trigger complete Final Fantasy 3, N64 system, DC system, a bunch of sealed PS2/Xbox games, a few rare PSX games such as Suikoden and D, complete/sealed GBA games and a ton of other stuff.

So, I want to run a contest. Does anyone have any good ideas for one? I was thinking of a riddle game or something. Any ideas? Also, the pricing. I'm either going to have a lot of people and make the entry fee loe, such as 50 people with an entry fee of $15 or something, or have a few spots and have a very high entry fee, since everything I have is around $1000. Any suggestings with that? Any help would be much appreciated.

[Bleedingblackthornedrose]

Make the entry fee low, trust me.. that way more people will want to join the contest.

Also.. here's an idea a friend of mine had.

He held a contest for just one of his items (maybe since you have so much, you could do yours in bundles or just one set)

He charged an entry fee of $1.50 per person for a complete Gitaroo Man (back when it was still rare before the reprints).

He then held a drawing.

I'd suggest maybe a drawing for the lot.. or yes you could do a riddle, but someone else here had a contest where the person had asked what he should do when he went to Japan. That might be nice too.

Really.. the creativity should be all you. The more you put into the contest, the more exciting and interesting it will be to other CAG members.


Maybe a story.. or perhaps making a sketch/graphic design, song, story.. lyrics to a song, best sig? It's really all up to you. Maybe.. you could even ask what the best video game you've ever played is? And the first to guess it would win? Contests have a lot of freedom.

Either way, I wish you the best of luck.

[worx]

I don't think you're going to be able to do this since it would be considered a lottery. Plus theres no way to insure fairness/security. No offense, just saying.

[Chrono72090]

I'm very much interested in taking part in this, especially because I really want chrono trigger, yet I don't have enough money.

Maybe set the fee for around 20.00 and have a drawing?

Not sure how well a riddle would work...

Or, you could combine games seperately, by system, and charge per slot, depending on the rarities that you have for each console.

Good luck!

[oNeWiNgEdAnGeL]

I don't think I'll do a drawing.

How does a 64 man tournament sound? It'll span over 2 weeks. There will be a bracket and 2 people will face off in a kind of competition. Loser obviously is eliminated and winner advances. You'd have to beat 5 people to win. That seems fairly easy. Thoughts?

[buterbals]

I would say to set a fee of $10-15 (well depending on the ammount of people who participate) and just have a raffle or lottery. YOu could also divide it into 3 sets of prizes 1st-3rd with 3rd having a smaller prize.

[Chrono72090]

I don't think I'll do a drawing.

How does a 64 man tournament sound? It'll span over 2 weeks. There will be a bracket and 2 people will face off in a kind of competition. Loser obviously is eliminated and winner advances. You'd have to beat 5 people to win. That seems fairly easy. Thoughts?

I would think it'd be hard to find a game 64 people have, and having to track all that, with everyone being honest or you watching every game, that'd take you at least 8+ hours if each game is 15 minutes.

[buterbals]

I would think it'd be hard to find a game 64 people have, and having to track all that, with everyone being honest or you watching every game, that'd take you at least 8+ hours if each game is 15 minutes.


Yeah I agree. Also You could have brackets and break down the matches between 2 people per match up. Which could consist of just drawing either name, and whoever gets picked advances on. So at least the "tournament" could last a while and not just have a sudden winner.

[Chrono72090]

Well, if you did decide to do some sort of tournament, the best game would probably be CS or CS:source...

[oNeWiNgEdAnGeL]

I didn't mean a video game, I meant like a riddle game or picture game. Like every day I'll post a riddle or something, and whoever gets it first between those 2 people advances.

[mykevermin]

I think this cat's full of shit and looking to pull a fast one on y'all.

[Chrono72090]

Oh, well, that sounds kind of unfair... Not so sure too many people would be willing to enter, but who knows.

[Visc]

I'd recommend talking to Danimal about this - he recently did a contest something a little similar to this on the contest and free stuff forum. It was pretty successful from what I gathered, though it was to help a girl raise money for a breast cancer walkathon.

[Danro]

A forum contest of the type you are thinking of OWA is going to be complicated no matter how you do it. Try to keep it as simple as possible, because if there are to be refunds involved if there turns out to be not as much interest as you originally though, it might come back and haunt ya.

If you do go through with it, why not just collect one entry per person and download one of those lottery number picking programs and issue everyone a number, and if their number comes up they get a prize. But its going to come down to trust.

[oNeWiNgEdAnGeL]

I think this cat's full of shit and looking to pull a fast one on y'all.

Um, how so?

Oh, well, that sounds kind of unfair... Not so sure too many people would be willing to enter, but who knows.

How is it unfair? Wouldn't it be more unfair to just do a drawing since that's all luck? At least this way, you're in control.

[Chrono72090]

How is it unfair? Wouldn't it be more unfair to just do a drawing since that's all luck? At least this way, you're in control.

Well, with 64 people, you've have tons of people trying to give you answers, some people might not be able to get to a comp when you update, idk, but I'd be pissed if I missed the update and someone got it ahead of me. Seems more fair when everyone has an even chance in a drawing.

[eshbums]

An online contest/lottery that's not going to charity or government would be a bitch to pull off. You might want to check into the legality of running one.

It's a great idea, but could turn into a nightmare.

Quick example, entrant A lives in Nebraska. According to his state law, all contests have to be "no purchase necessary". So you tell him that he can enter without paying the entry fee. But...he's a jackass, and posts on CAG that he got in for free because of his state law. Suddenly, everyone wants a refund AND an entry into the contest.

[ZForce915]

I'd say that a low entry fee would be great. But if the contest required people to have to be online and answer before someone else that is no good.

Here is an idea, make the bracket idea...but divide it into smaller 16 people brackets. Take a game like Day of Reckoning 2 and have a tournament giving people wrestler names and pit them against one another.

Get the idea? That could be fun.

[oNeWiNgEdAnGeL]

An online contest/lottery that's not going to charity or government would be a bitch to pull off. You might want to check into the legality of running one.

It's a great idea, but could turn into a nightmare.

Quick example, entrant A lives in Nebraska. According to his state law, all contests have to be "no purchase necessary". So you tell him that he can enter without paying the entry fee. But...he's a jackass, and posts on CAG that he got in for free because of his state law. Suddenly, everyone wants a refund AND an entry into the contest.

I've seen contests run before on other sites without any problems.

I'd say that a low entry fee would be great. But if the contest required people to have to be online and answer before someone else that is no good.

Here is an idea, make the bracket idea...but divide it into smaller 16 people brackets. Take a game like Day of Reckoning 2 and have a tournament giving people wrestler names and pit them against one another.

Get the idea? That could be fun.

The problem with that is, how many wrestling fans are there? Also, 16 people with a low entry fee? Say the entry fee is $10, that's only $160, which is what Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy III alone are worth.

Any other ideas?

[Visc]

Why not introduce prize brackets - enter using such and such price will get you this many games of your choice, wheras if pay more you win more. This way, depending on how many people enter and how much they pay, you may be able to have more than one winner.

[takingchase]

dude just sell your stuff here at reasonable prices. If you have good prices on things here in the forum they will sell fast. I can see this thing being way too complicated and not having many people enter. I think you will make more money and make it faster here in the trade forum selling your stuff.

[retail sucks]

I think this cat's full of shit and looking to pull a fast one on y'all.


not saying this is the case but I could understand why someone might think this.

For example: I had a friend who had a raffle on an item at work once. Everyone paid a certain amount of monet to enter and "by chance" a cousin of his won the item, and the contest winner get paid.

Who's to say someone can't make a side offer. I'll give you 20% of the collection money to say I drew your name. Deal!

The contest holder keeps his items & makes free money. With nobody able to say anything otherwise.

For it to be close to trouble free, or worth it for contestants, you would need 200 contestants to pay $5, a nuetral person CAG such as Cheapy D, and a fair drawing system with atleast 5 bundle drawings, a $1 per chance / give away, a thread where everyones number visible, and a good way to pick each number.

Say for example let Cheapy D pick a number for each drawing, say 1 to 5000 or hell 1 to 100,000, have a thread where all contestants submit a number each contest, and do the prices right showcase showdown thing, the contestant closer to the actual number without going over wins. One fee, everyone has the same number of chances to win, and the same odds, plus it's up to them to choose what number they pick.

[oNeWiNgEdAnGeL]

Why not introduce prize brackets - enter using such and such price will get you this many games of your choice, wheras if pay more you win more. This way, depending on how many people enter and how much they pay, you may be able to have more than one winner.

Ok, I'm thinking of doing 3 different brackets. Bracket A will be 20 people with a $30 entry fee and it will include the better majority of my collection. Bracket B will be 20 people with a $20 entry fee with a some good stuff, but not as much as bracket A. Bracket C will be 20 people with a $10 fee with some it being the least appealing for obvious reasons. How does that sound?

not saying this is the case but I could understand why someone might think this.

For example: I had a friend who had a raffle on an item at work once. Everyone paid a certain amount of monet to enter and "by chance" a cousin of his won the item, and the contest winner get paid.

Who's to say someone can't make a side offer. I'll give you 20% of the collection money to say I drew your name. Deal!

The contest holder keeps his items & makes free money. With nobody able to say anything otherwise.

For it to be close to trouble free, or worth it for contestants, you would need 200 contestants to pay $5, a nuetral person CAG such as Cheapy D, and a fair drawing system with atleast 5 bundle drawings, a $1 per chance / give away, a thread where everyones number visible, and a good way to pick each number.

Say for example let Cheapy D pick a number for each drawing, say 1 to 5000 or hell 1 to 100,000, have a thread where all contestants submit a number each contest, and do the prices right showcase showdown thing, the contestant closer to the actual number without going over wins. One fee, everyone has the same number of chances to win, and the same odds, plus it's up to them to choose what number they pick.

I've PMed CheapyD already to see if he can help with the contest already. I'll see what he says and I'll go from there, but I like your idea.

[retail sucks]

Oh, and a prize list wouldn't hurt.

[oNeWiNgEdAnGeL]

Oh, and a prize list wouldn't hurt.

Well that's a given, but I'll make that once I know I'm doing a contest for sure.

I'm thinking between 200-300 contestants with an entry fee of $5-$15.

Here are a few methods I'm thinking of doing:

- 200-300 contestants; 5 packages; CheapyD does the drawing; entry fee of $5-$15
- 200-300 contestants; 5 packages; CheapyD doe the drawing; $5 entry fee per package, so you can select how many packages you want to be in
- 200-300 contestants; 1 package; CheapyD does the drawing; entry fee of $5-$15

[Beana Blasta]

your going to make quick cash for stuff that doesnt seem worth its price. I mean come on, 5$ entry fee with 300+ entries = quick 1500 bucks

[oNeWiNgEdAnGeL]

your going to make quick cash for stuff that doesnt seem worth its price. I mean come on, 5$ entry fee with 300+ entries = quick 1500 bucks

Oh yeah, you're right, I kind of got ahead of myself. Well, all the stuff I'm giving away is equal to $1,000, so I think the 200 contestants with a $5 entry fee is the best idea, but it wouldn't hurt to make some extra money. Hmmm...

[shrike4242]

Lotteries aren't allowed on CAG, or anything like you're proposing, unless Cheapy runs it.

Go talk with CheapyD and see if he wants to run it. If he says no, then it's a no go.

Either way, we're done here pending Cheapy's input.