Stairway to 1 Million, aka “Steps” is just over 2 months old now.
After 64 days there have been 394 Step 4 SnG awarding a 1 million chip tournament ticket. Well played to all the winners
One of the ideas behind this format is to offer a way to use the Streak Tickets.
Another is to give low stake and new players a shot at a big value tournament ticket.
Step 4 is pitched so that each Step 4 game generates a 1 million chip ticket for a total buy-in of 600,000 chips by the players.
However, Step 4 is notoriously the longest to fill, even though 100K streak tickets are available, as well as the extra value in the Step 4 prize pool.
While the Stairway to 1 million games have found a certain level, it would be interesting to find ways to increase interest in them.
Does anyone have any suggestions on what might make them more playable or interesting?
HI Chasetheriver,
I think the steps promo is pretty well thought out, and I am not sure there is any way to increase participation other than to lower the barrier to entry (already very low) and/or make it easier to progress. I am not sure either of those options are compatible with what I understand to be the spirit of the game and the challenge of the progression through the steps. Anyone can get a weekly entry to step 4 with a streak ticket, all one has to do is take the very difficult step of logging in every day.
The only suggestion I can offer at this time is to add a second place prize to step 4 (perhaps a step 4 ticket???)… I am sure that a second place prize for step 4 was rejected for some reason during the planning and development of this promo but perhaps the idea could be revisited. It really sucks to make it all the way to step 4, get second place, and walk away with nothing (yes, experience talking ). I do want to say, I really enjoy the steps games, the level of play is high and I have made a few friends playing them. Great concept!
I believe the promotion was very well developed and implemented. I think there is a great interest in the step series platform. However players want to join any game as soon as possible without waiting for 15-30 minutes and have a chance at a prize.
Two suggestions, that I think will increase interest would be the following;)
Step 4 payout
1st place, Million ticket
2cd place, 100 K tourney ticket
3rd place, step 1 ticket
Make it easier for the players to get together in the step 4 games. Everyone that has that step 4 ticket wants to play the game, but cant get together at the same time to fill the seating.
Set a specific time for step 4 to be played every 3 or 4 hours, daily with early registering as in MTT’s. I believe it would also increase the interest in all steps to know what time the game will play at each table.
I am probably wording the idea wrong but somehow, if possible have set times to start the table sng so folks know when to join other players, without waiting a long time.
Perhaps to keep the sit-and-go flavor we could make it a widely-known secret that players looking for a game should show up at 0000, 0600, 1200 or 1800 hours. Something like that.
The longer the steps are available the more players will begin using them. Highlighting in red let’s them stand out. I registered for a step 4 tournament the wait was long so I registered in a lower waged sng came out of it and could get to my step 4 game that has just started . Maybe having
These are all good considerations. I think frankly the scenario @Chasetheriver describes is just kind of baked into the paradigm.
There is already a generous overlay by the time players reach Step 4, as noted. So I don’t think “financial” incentive can be the problem.
More likely these are simply game types that attract players who don’t, on average, spend as much time on Replay. Add to that the simple math of exponential growth/decay and you’re gonna end up with a lot of waiting around at Step 4.
I think the waiting is the price one pays for the overlay! “It is what it is,” perhaps.
I find the steps ladder a bit annoying to play because of having to wait for tables to fill up and only being about get into upper levels with tickets instead of just buying in. Guess if you could buy in with chips though, it wouldn’t be a step format. Anyway I have been able to use 100K streak tickets to buy into step 4 the last couple of weeks. But that limits me to playing only once a week. I would suggest instead of the step format, do satellite MTTs for 500K and 1M tickets, like you do for 250K and other buyins. I would be more interested in playing those.
I am pretty sure everyone is right, it is the wait time especially at levels 3 and 4.
It is true that Sit & Go tournaments generally are more popular with people who have a limited time to play and cannot spend the time it takes to play a MTT and these people find it easier just to go to the first table that only has one player needed to start the game.
It give me an opportunity to share some (maybe) interesting data. There were 304 Step 4 SnG during the most recent Step Ticket Hunt from June 10-16. Each week since there have been 150 or more. Each Step promotion seems to attract a few more regulars to Stairway to 1 million.
The overlay in the Stairway tiers (and MTTs, I might add) doesn’t seem to have the effect of attracting new players, as would be the case for real cash, so we have to look to other ways to make them grow. Shortening the wait time by cutting down the table size and adding a ticket for 2nd place has certainly helped.
The next Steps promotion will be mid August and the current plan is a Ticket Hunt again.
To @_snowman’s point, why not just let people buy in at any “Step” for some proportional amount? It doesn’t hurt the people laddering up in any way, and provides more opportunities for participation.
). I do want to say, I really enjoy the steps games, the level of play is high and I have made a few friends playing them. Great concept!
