Score's handling with the Bleach TCG

[Justmcnew]

What do you guys think of Score's handling with the Bleach TCG? Some of my friends have doubts about the game that it might fail like Dragonball Z/GT when Re-Z came out.

IMO I think Score has learned from their mistakes of past TCG's they've made and are putting their best effort in this TCG. It's a pretty fun game but I think the Bleach TCG will get better when Soul Society comes out.

[Turonik]

The first set, while not the best way to judge a card game's lasting power. It is a good indication that there is room for growth. Score has made some mistakes, as I have said in other threads, but look to have corrected those for Bleach. I have yet to experience how Score handle's thier tournament support but for the most part I'll give Score a B on they've handled Bleach so far. I would like to see some way for players to interact with the people who work on the product and regular updates but other than that I am seeing a solid prefformance out of the gate.

There is room for improvement to be sure and some games have spiraled out of control in a power "arms race" with each new exspansion getting more and more out of wack. If Bleach can stop that from happening, keep a dilligent eye on the tournament scene to help keep problem cards from wrecking a promising tournament scene, and continue to support the game with advertisments and other promotions Score will have a product that will continue to thrive for quite a while.

Score kind of needs Bleach to keep alive in the first place. Inuyasha is ending and they have had some stumbles earlier. They are learning from those mistakes which is key. Score started with DBZ, let it get a little bit out of whack though and the Re-Z never got up to speed. This is sort of like going back to Basics for Score, signs are good. Let's just hope they keep it that way.

[Gordon Gekko]

I think Score is doing a decent job at handling this game. I know this is still the first expansion, but I am sort of disapointed at some aspects of the ways they are handling it. First off, the only store around here including Gaming Stores that has Bleach for sale is Walmart. Not that I am totally pressing the issue on it, but if Score wants to make more money they need to make it more known in other stores aside from the world's #1 retailer in Walmart. I would just like it to be more spread out between stores, maybe it will happen soon, who knows.

As far as sanctioned play is concerned, I am a little disapointed in the demand they put in order for Judge's to give out prize support. 8 People for a Score Sanctioned tournament, while it's not a lot for a lot of games seems like a bit much for a game that just started up. I guess they just want to make the big $$$, so people can get the cool prizes. I am not really happy about that aspect.

Another thing as in all card games that I am worried about would be the ever so famous power creep that arrises when new sets release. Throughout almost any series, the main character gets stronger and so does his enemies. I just hope they can keep it balanced, so that if someone wanted to use old Ichigo they can compared to the new one they release.

I like how boosters and stuff are cheaper in this game. I can buy boxes for $27 and packs at Walmart for just over $3. Naruto is a bit more expensive since that's the other game I play, but I like the fact that this is cheaper. And with the next set smaller than this set, it should be even cheaper to get the stuff you need.

I also hope that Message Board for Bleach goes up on the main site soon. I am sure once that happens, there will be more people playing.

Overall, I love the card game, it's balanced in the first set having many viable options for decks. It has good pricing and a great anime show to fall back on. However, distribution to stores, the high expectations of Sanctioned Play( At least for now) cause some worry to me. Also, there is always the sense of power creep following in the next expansions. As long as this game keeps improving itself, I have a feeling that it can be pretty big, but not as big as Yugioh or Magic.

[Joshman]

Thanks! Good stuff is coming in set 2!

And power creep is a bit more manageable in this game, since it has a cost curve.

[Gordon Gekko]

That's good to hear Joshman. I like the cost curve as well. I am looking forward to set 2 as well. :)

[Ichigo-Zanpakuto]

Cost curve will definately be an upside, now I just need a store near here that carries it.

[Turonik]

I'm not crying if Bleach isn't carried in mass markets. I know it's the only place some people can get Bleach at but Idealy Score needs to work on it getting into card shops and get tournaments going rather than worry about if Walmart or Target stock it.

[Joshman]

I'd love to get Bleach in more hobby stores than the mass market, and most of the time you guys have a better chance at convincing your local store owner to carry Bleach than I do.

Let them know that you want to buy Bleach and you have players looking for a place to play. Tournament kits are free to retailers and you can give them this web address to get a free retailer demo kit: http://www.scoreent.com/signup/signup_form.cfm?eventid=1

[Turonik]

That's what I've done and it's what I tell people to do but not every store will listen to one person. Some places just don't want to take the chance on a new game.

[Sharingan92]

That's what I've done and it's what I tell people to do but not every store will listen to one person. Some places just don't want to take the chance on a new game.

Yep. Its exactly like that at Graham Crackers (its a hobby/comic book store) near my house. I remember asking them if they would consider holding ZB (this was like a year ago) tournaments and they said they only hold Magic and YGO tournaments, most likely because they're popular. I bet if ZB had become huge they would've reconsidered.

Its just business to a lot of owners. I've been to only a few places who really just want to see people have fun instead of buying tons of stuff.

[ironskintribe]

I convinced one store to cary it and another one will decide once the second set is released (want to see if it stays balanced). Otherwise I say it is mostly our job to support the hooby so that we can convince the stores to carry it and hold tournaments.

[Gordon Gekko]

Most of my stores probably wouldn't listen to me. There might be one store that would be willing to host tournaments as long as we got enough people, but most stores would just refuse because there's a store by called Gamer's Paradise and they marked down Naruto boosters to $2.79 instead of $3.99. So I have no idea what would happen. Oh well this is just the first set after all.

[Justmcnew]

I'm having difficulty getting my area to run Bleach TCG Tournaments, but so far a friend of mine whose also a Meijin for the Naruto CCG Tournies tried to pass the Judge Test for the Bleach TCG but failed, same thing happened with another friend of mine as well.

Also the fact that you need 8 people to have a Bleach Tournament is gonna be hard compared to Naruto where you need at least 4 people to have a Tournament.

[Lokey]

8 people = better tourny.. i dunno if it was covered. but DBZ ran for a while before Re-Z came out... I enjoyed DBZ, i enjoy Bleach, its just no one carries it here yet... i've found a few places, and i orded online, But i mean, with no product, you can't really get the word out. its the first set... i never attneded tournys for DBZ till the 2nd or 3rd set. (can't remember)... so this game has room to grow as far as player base goes. But overall game play is fun...

[WondaWice]

Here in San Diego, Bleach Players are in some Numerous amounts we have about 9 or 10 people going weekly for Bleach, excluding me, I still can't fit time in my schedule, but the game started here fairly quick.

[Justmcnew]

So far there's 9 people including myself that play the Bleach TCG, I just recently got one of my friends into the game by building him a Hollow deck. Once I get more Bleach cards I'm gonna build a Student Deck with Chad or Orihime in it for another friend of mine as well.

One friend of mine runs a Kon deck, 2 play Menos Grande Hollow Swarm, I play an Ichigo Soul Reaper Deck, among others as well.

There's a few other friends of mine who are too afraid to play the Bleach TCG by Score Entertainment being the fact that their past TCG's failed miserably except for Dragonball Z/GT, another reason being that they can't afford to get into a new TCG, or the fact that the Bleach TCG plays almost like Inuyasha.

[JohnnyT]

Eazy 12 here for bleach in san diego. but it ticks me off not everyone registered for sevenID so I have to take down their birthday, zip code, address, email, and blablabla....

We pulled up bleach singles at our store which is the same size as yugioh, cheap too....except ultras,realities,and don challenge.


I like this system for bleach but I'm hoping there is a sideboard. some of these card in the set is made for certian deck type...useless to use if you dont know who to go against...

Wishing..wishing for that 10 card sideboard.

[soviet prince]

yeah score is doing great so far, they just need to get that board up, it's been 3 weeks since Bleach came out.