Calcutta?

[Theo McNair]

What do you all think of adding a Calcutta to the tournament stops this year? I personally don't know a lot about running them but, curious to see what people think. I have only been to a few tournaments that have ran them. Havent seen anyone do it here in Atlanta. What are the plus or the minus? Good idea or bad? Let me know.

Theo

[Jack Taylor]

I used to bowl in them all the time in Wilmington. If you run it right and honest like you do your scratch tournaments it will be a success. The plus is if you dont bowl good but buy someone who finishes in the money you get half the calcutta money. The bad side is you really dont know what the payout for first will be because of the bidding process and how many bowlers bowl in it. You have to be honest bout re rating averages and to be careful bout the handicap system. All the calcuttas i bowl in are 90% of 210. Also the formant that we used was bowl 6 games of qualifying, cut field to top 5 bowlers regardless of handicap, scratch, female or male, the we would have the top female score, scratch score, and senior score. This will be your top 8. The first match will be the female, scratch score, senior and 5th place bowler roll of on one pair. The winner of that will bowl the 4th place bowler and so on through step ladder finals, Calcutta payout is 1 out of every 10 entries and if you made the top 8 you got your money back at the minum payout. If you dont make the cut we had what you call buy a pin. So if you go to the tournament and dont make the roll off you will get one pin added onto your score at the next tournament. You will get pins taken away when you do make the finals. We did 7 pins if you win, 6 for second, 5 for third, 4 for fourth, 3 for third, 3 for high scratch, ladies and the senior. Alot of fun because it gives everybody a fair advantage to make money.

[Don Hemanes (Rhinoman)]

GREAT IDEA!!!!
I think if there is a Calcutta, it may actually bring me out of tournament retirement. I am originally from Houston and Dallas area. and there was hardly a scratch tournament that didnt have calcutta.
The problem that I face here in GA is the low turnout which creates higher entry fee to compensate. And face it, everyone is not going to win the tournament, but the calcutta creates another way of cashing when you dont bowl as well. Buy the right bowler.
I'm game.

[TIM MCNAIR]

Theo i am in the same boat you are in, the tournaments that i participated in that had calcuttas appeared to add a beneficial aspect to the event. The hardest thing maybe trying to sell the concept to bowlers that have never heard of it. I do think it is something we should look into because like Don said, it gives bowlers another avenue to make money in tournaments. Lets go for it!!

[JJ Anderson]

Speaking of which, you may want to define it for those of us who have no idea what it is.

[Joe Silver]

How about adding a Double Elimination tournament. (pure match play from start to finish) Winner of the loser bracket has to beat the winner of the winners bracket twice to win.

[Nick Smith]

Calcuttas are good for the fact of more avenues of the tourny to cash in, but only if you get a good crowd to do it. the idea of a double elimination is a great idea in my opinion. It makes for good bowling, and it always brings exciting matches.

[Gil Jimenez]

I've bowled probably 100 of them, most with that bum Jack Taylor :) and ran a couple in Myrtle Beach and tried here in Greenville a couple years ago. They were all handicap, the extra pin that Jack mentioned is what kept the bowlers coming back I feel, simple thought being they would get an extra pin and make it a better chance to win.
JJ, calcutta's are basically an auction where you can bid on other people and by chance if you happen to buy their rights and they cash in the tournament, you would get money off of their performance. If someone happens to lose their rights (someone wins their bid), that person has the option to buy half of that from you, and you would then split the prize if they cash.
A well run calcutta brings extra money in from people who bid and don't even bowl. A guy in Lumberton where I go to a calcutta occasionally will buy 8-10 people and he doesn't bowl at all, just shows up to buy people's bids trying to make money. You can push the prize fund by bidding on others even if you are sure they will try to buy themselves.
I think they are good to have if well run, and a good crowd shows up to bowl. Only drawback is with a good field (50+), the bidding will tend to take a while to complete.

[Jack Taylor]

Thats just cold Gil lol, you know if you man enough come down to atlanta and roll on the 7th.

[Angela Mattox]

Yes, please define Calcutta, but I'm all for making extra cash!!!

[Nick Smith]

Calcutta is just an auction basically. The money givin per bowler is totally seperate from the prize fund for the actual tournament. You can buy a bowler(s) if you choose and all the money that is put in for all bowlers is the calcutta prize fund. If your bowler wins the tourney you win the side, but a twist to it is the bowler that is bought has the option if they want to buy half of what is spent on them and they would split the calcutta earnings.

[TIM MCNAIR]

Nick, that is an excellent explanation of a calcutta....thanks i hope that helped those of you that didnt quite understand the concept. Hopefully we will figure out a way to integrate it into some of our future events.....its a lot of fun with the right participation.

[Nick Smith]

No problem. The only down fall to a calcutta tournament is if you don't get a good turn out than the calcutta will not be a success.
TIM MCNAIR said:

Nick, that is an excellent explanation of a calcutta....thanks i hope that helped those of you that didnt quite understand the concept. Hopefully we will figure out a way to integrate it into some of our future events.....its a lot of fun with the right participation.