ARA Meeting 4/28/2025

ARA Meeting Agenda

April 28, 2025

Working Group Updates

• 2028 WRC Cycle Format

• Tech

• Communications

• Community Engagement

• USA Ranking System

• Education and Resources

• Professional Organizations

• ARML

• Rules and Judging

ARA Meeting 3/24/2025

ARA Meeting Agenda

March 24, 2025

Working Group Updates

• 2028 WRC Cycle Format

• Tech

• Communications

• Community Engagement

• USA Ranking System

• Education and Resources

• Professional Organizations

• ARML

• Rules and Judging

ARA Meeting 2/24/2025

ARA Meeting Agenda

February 24, 2025

Board members in attendance: Laura, Harrison C, Steve A, Luke, Tamas E, Kyuu, Edwin D, Nathanael K, Max S, Claire P

Executive Board News

• Results of special election for vacant seat: Welcome Tamas E. to the ARA Board!

• Our regular annual meeting and elections are in May. Closed meeting will begin discussion on who is going up for re-election.

Working Group Updates

• 2028 WRC Cycle Format

  • https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1LFvOgl9ZmFLHLaogT7tNg_yI5ouqlFswtnJrry5WDO4/edit?usp=sharing

  • Action items: up/down for whether to utilize the tournament results from 2025.

• Tech

  • Making admins more visible, Seeking feedback and feature ideas. Please join the working group!

• Outreach

  • Splitting into communication and community outreach / socials

    Claire and Harrison to head communication and Laura and Nathanael to head community / socials

• USA Ranking System

  • Just started and branched off the 2028 cycle meeting two weeks ago. Kathy H is managing the WG. If you’re interested, please join the wg.

• Education and Resources

  • Looking for someone to write up cost analysis for running a club and running tournaments

  • Looking for feedback on future education projects. Potential ideas:

    • How to play in a japanese mahjong parlor?

    • Term glossary? And other basic information around riichi

    • Tournament types

    • Conversion from other types of mahjong to riichi

• Professional Organizations

  • Saikouisen pro org

    • Pro ama, online lectures, pro test June 14th & 15th at LAPOM

    • DM Luke for pricing

• ARML

  • 11 Confirmed.

• Rules and Judging

  • ARA Code of Conduct Ratified!
    

Closed Meeting

• Discussion about WRC2028 proposals and the foundations. 8 assembly members did not vote - how can we increase their engagement?

• Question on how to make conversations more productive and focused. Should we have stricter time limits?

• Proposal for elections based on length of time on the board.

  • Dave, Kyuu, Luke, Edwin - up for election in 2025

  • Bichen, Claire, Steve, Max - up for election in 2026

  • Laura, Harrison, Nate, Tamas - up for election in 2027

• Gauging interest in national championships?

• Every wg should have a public counterpart for big updates for club contacts and the public to see.

Next Meeting March 24th 6PT/9ET

ARA Meeting 1/27/2025

ARA Meeting Agenda

January 27, 2025

Board members in attendance: Dave B, Edwin Dizon (ARML), Laura King, Steve A (MI/MA), Harrison Corp, Luke, Max Suddendorf, Nathanael Kozinski, Kyuu (CAM)

Open Session

Executive Board News

• Presentations of the candidates for the open board seats

• Whale: Prioritizing getting ARA organized into an entity

  Tamas: Rating system and goals. US Citizen but representing Hungary but also going to live in Japan for 6 months.

  Brendan (halorien): Founded the Yakumen from Chicago. Ran last time. Serving as an ambassador for the game.

  Jenn: Been playing mahjong professionally in Japan for 18 years. English content creation. Important for the US to have autonomous body. Would like to be in a central position to provide an advisory role. Visited Comic con twice and would like to expand such activities. Published a book this last year.

2028 WRC Cycle Format

• Motion to create a system for the entire US that’s separate from WRC.

• DC would like feedback on ARA approval

2025 Invitational

• No observer report yet. Other next steps unknown at the moment.

Working Group Updates

Tech

• arariichi.org all tournament results are in except invitational. Club details are not filled out. Now is a good time to look at it. Thanks to Laura, Tamas, Nathaniel and others who got the database online.

• 251 unique profiles but 81 not accepted

Outreach

Rules and Judging

• Unsure when modified ruleset is going live. 

• All of the changes are getting put in. Mods document is going away. WRC ruleset is turning into WRC and WRC-R. Lower penalties is going straight into the ruleset as an option.

Education and Resources

• Skeleton of creating your own club. Away 3 of the 4 weeks. Will be back soon. Will be ready to go by next meeting. Looking for helpers and still writing a bunch of copy, etc.

• Tournament in a box is good to go

• Pairings software is also good to go.

Professional Organizations

• WRC pro: 3/1 & 3/2 in 3 locations - sign up today!

• Luke - Saikouisen Fest two weeks ago. Plan on it every year. Next test is coming up next June in LA. Pro ama league which gives seeded spot into ryuousen USA.

ARML

• First couple rounds went well of this season

Closed Session

Feedback on ARA Invitational:

• ¼ of players mathematically eliminated day 3

• People like the term swiss

• People would be more okay having duplicate pairings

• Enjoyed set play in general

• What other way do we have to get feedback about this format?

• We should send a tournament feedback form.

Next meeting 2/24 6 pm Pacific 9 pm Eastern

ARA Meeting 12/16/2024

ARA Meeting Agenda

December 16, 2024

Meeting Minutes

ARA General Meeting 16Dec2024

Board Members in Attendance: Dave, Steve, Harrison, Laura, Nathanael, Aldwin, Claire, Edwin, Bichen, Luke

Open Session

Executive Board News

• Special Election Results: Welcome new board members Harrison, Laura, and Nathanael

• Nima has resigned from the board, thank you for your service

• We will have another special election to fill the vacancy

• Nominations remain on the table until the January meeting in which the candidates may introduce themselves and give a short pitch

• If you want to rerun, please use the form again and just put “See prior comments”

2028 Cycle Format

• Question about having NAO every year

• Discussion about regional invitationals

• In person focus group meeting possibly to be held on Saturday night at the invitational, specifics TBD

ARA Dues Presentation by William

• The presentation broke down the costs to travel versus the cost of tournament entry

• Charging a few dollars, 5-10 more, for an ARA sanctioned event will not meaningfully change the cost as the bulk is due to travel and lodging

• Over the course of a year this would give ARA a few thousand dollars to work with to do something, provided the open tournament schedule is maintained and all clubs opt in

• Do we need a finance working group? Right now ARA is not set up to handle money.

2025 Invitational

• Hotel block at venue

• 4/3/1/0 Scramble Sets

• Tentative Schedule is up

Working Group Updates

Tech

• The database is in sandbox mode and can be used at staging.arariichi.org

• Demonstration on setting up users, admin pages, club updates and events

• Uploading events has to be done by superadmins

• Can be as many admins per club as necessary to maintain the database

• Call for volunteers to test

Outreach

• Club outreach survey has 76 responses

• Social media posting is increasing

• Follow the ARA instagram!

Rules and Judging

• No further comments on lower penalties mod

• Steve and Tamas participated in the EMA referee seminar at ERMC, some lessons learned to apply to ARA

• Need to develop an appeals process for when someone doesn’t agree with a ruling at an ARA event

Education and Resources

• Tourney-in-a-box is submitted to be placed on the ARA website

• Document on how to start/maintain a club is in the works.

Other Business

Professional Organizations

• Saikouisen pros announced, congrats to all the new pros

• WRC pro system to be announced shortly

• WRC pro league details coming soon as well, in Marc

ARML

• Formerly the IORMC WG

• A1 has been getting stale with nothing to play for other than the win or avoiding relegation

• A lot of new players from around the country, 152 players right now with around 20 on hiatus

Closed Session

• Claire updated the website with new board members and assembly info

• Discussion on tournament timing

• 60+0? 65+0

• Pace of play and calling clock on slow players

• How enforceable is calling slow play?

• Additional meeting for invitational minutiae scheduled for 12/23

Next General Meeting January 27, 2025

ARA Meeting 11/18/24

ARA Meeting Agenda

November 18, 2024

Meeting Minutes

• ARA General Meeting 18NOV2024

  Board Members in Attendance: Dave, Steve, Bichen, Luke, Claire, Edwin, Nima, Max
  

  Open Session

  Board Special Elections begin with a short introduction from each of the candidates:

  • Harrison

  • William

  • Laura

  • Phil

  • Brendan

  • Stephanie

  • Nathanael

  2025 Invitational

  • Put together a plan and submit to WRC

  • Autotables, discussion on 5 or 6 hanchan per day

  • Google form to submit commentary and format design

  • Voting begins

  Working Group Updates

  Outreach

  • Many things in progress, nothing major to report

  • Shoutout to Laura for work with the ARA socials

  Rules and Judging

  • Steve had an online meeting with Gemma and Sylvain to iron out final draft of lower penalties mod

  • No changes to accidentally revealing tiles, being reviewed and revised higher up

  • ARA and WG free to begin implementing strike system based on new draft

  Tech

  • Update from Nathanael as Tamas is away

  • Trello board made with major action items

  • Import data looks good, see additional updates from Tamas on discord

  IORMC

  • Tournament has concluded

  • USA made a valiant effort, but variance was not on our side

  Education

  • Tourney-in-a-box is ready to share

  • Luke requests more input for the event hosting document on different types of paid event spaces

  • Club-in-a-box is a new resource being worked on

  Charity

  • Nothing to report at this time for the WG

  • $4k raised for the Extra Life Open

  2028 Cycle

  • Presentation about the plan for the 2028 qualification cycle

  • Discussion ongoing

  Open Floor

  • Request for something in the Bylaws about discrimination – already in the works, the Code of Conduct was removed from the Bylaws to make it more agile in editing and will need ratification by the Assembly

  • Reminder to register and pay for the ARA Invitational

  • There is a vote in the assembly to approve a new club

  Closed Session

  • The new Saikouisen pros are technically double dipping on WRC qualification, but this is a Saikouisen issue, and they need to finalize a solution (e.g. get a letter from Saikouisen to have relinquished their ability to qualify for WRC 2025 via the pro org)

  • Autotable in repair for the invitational

  Next Meeting December 16th, 2024

ARA Meeting 10/22/2024

ARA Meeting Agenda

October 22, 2024

ARA Monthly Meeting

October 22, 2024

Board Attendance: Claire, Aldwin, Edwin, Steve, Max, Bichen, Dave

Open Session

• 2028 election form/survey being sent out

• Suggestion for a list of working groups available publicly so the community can identify what categories of work are being done and join if desired

Working group updates

Tech

• Close but not quite finished

• Current name “ARA Community Portal”

• Demo including player spotlight and other features

• Tournament placement form

Outreach

• Content featuring players in the invitational, including player profiles

• End of year surveys for tournament preferences

• Harrison is currently just pinging/DMing each club contact, could add a club liaison ping or a club chat channel

• More work is needed on socials, Laura volunteers to work on them

Rules/Judging

• Meetings mainly between Steve, Gemma, and Sylvain

• Lower penalties adjusted to needs of US opens, plan to go live Jan. 1, 2025.

• An empty call is now a dead hand, which solves the community complaint about bad calls being warnings and wasting time

• Warning/Strike system can be developed now that it is clear what infractions are warnings

• Work on changing the mentality on dead hands in the US - a judge doesn’t need to call it

Resources

• Tournament in a box is ready

• Used at GLRO with customization and it was useful

• The spreadsheet could use entry by table with a table checksum

IORMC

• Coming up on 11/2. All players have confirmed they can play.

Other business

Board Elections

• 3 vacancies. The new bylaws increase the size from 10 to 12

• Zac (Oklahoma Mahjong) is stepping down from the board. Thank you Zac for your service!

• Nomination form to be sent out, currently can only self nominate because of required questions.

Pro Orgs - no additional news

Open Floor

• Email advertising the working group for the 2028 cycle

• This meeting was the first some assembly members had heard of specific working groups. Suggested making a public facing informal list of WGs

Closed Session

• Discussion on nominating new board members

• Audit of 2025 numbers, and registration process for the invitational

• Creation of a temporary working group for the invitational - discuss what work needs to be done and create timeline.

Next meeting November 18, 2024, 9pm ET / 6pm PT

ARA Meeting 9/30/24

ARA Meeting Agenda

September 30, 2024

Agenda Items

• Welcoming our First ARA General Assembly Members!

  • Process moving forward for Assembly to approve future Assembly Members

  • Recruitment of Assembly Members for Various Working Groups

• Bylaws Updates and Feedback

• EMA Recognition and Partnership

• 2025 WRC Cycle Planning

• Moving time of meetings later for West Coast attendees

• Working Group Updates

  • Tech Working Group:

  • Outreach Working Group:

  • Rules and Judging Working Group:

  • Education and Resources Working Group:

  • Professional Organizations:

  • IORMC:

ARA Meeting 8/19/24

ARA Meeting Minutes

August 19th, 2024

Open Session

Board Members in Attendance: Luke, Bichen, Dave, Nima, Edwin, Claire, Max, Steve, Aldwin

Working Groups Updates

Tech Working Group:

• Tamas just got back from Europe. Nothing to report at this time but the WG hopes to have another demo ready for the next meeting.

Outreach Working Group:

• Lots of outreach initiatives going on but nothing specific to report.

Rules and Judging Working Group:

• Still waiting for WRC to approve the lower penalties draft. Lots of additional WRC initiatives are slowing down the process.

• Tamas passed the WRC ref exam while in Europe (congrats!) and shared some information about it. WRC is hoping to be able to provide this exam in the US and it has 3 sections:

• General reffing questions

• Scoring hands

• Chinitsu hands

• The WG has had some discussion on certain outlying cases and is working with WRC to get answers.

• Some discussion on active vs. passive ref for events.

Education and Resources Working Group:

• Luke has a google doc style guide for the tournament-in-a-box that follows a basic checklist for running a tournament including pairing using a Good Enough Golfers style system so others can run their events using it.

• Request for additional information added from board members and community members about venues and hotels as part of the overall package (Claire and Dave offered to help edit)

Other Business

Professional Organizations

• WRC pro test announcement soon and looking for an option for an online test thereafter

• Nothing new from Saikouisen

IORMC

• 2nd qualifying round has been completed

• Next two sessions aren’t until mid-September due to competing events

• A rules clarification is needed from IORMC about kiriage mangan

Community conversation about positive tournament experience - summary of points

• Unnecessary actions at the table may worsen the experience, like revealing someone’s waits at ryuukyoku

• Players often do not know how to challenge a ruling or appeal to the head judge

• Assurance that time will be given back for judge calls should be clearly announced

• How do we address chronic slow play?

• Some people when having issues, will not call a judge, nor will they give feedback to the observer or TO, but they will tell their friends and then gossiping starts

• Actively judging behavior, introducing a table strike tables that are too loud, giving a strike to noticeable bad behavior which will include individuals acting out and tables that might happen to be too familiar with each other that banter too much

• Suggestion for an open and reserve division as the tournament scene grows

• When your game is done, go to the waiting area and do not linger and make conversation in the play area!

Bylaws Proposal

• A two-tiered structure consisting of:

• A council with a single voting representative from every eligible club that serves to ratify measures from the board.

• An executive board that leads working groups and other projects. These board members do not get votes on the council unless they are also serving as club representative.

• Yearly elections are held with 4 seats up for reelection each year. A term is 3 years in length.

Questions from the community about bylaws:

• What constitutes a club? Some guidelines are being discussed:

• At least 12 people affiliated with the club inside the ARA database

• Meetings at least once per month in a public location

• Some sort of public facing available information such as a website

• Can two people in the same club be members of the board?

• Yes, the executive board has no voting power, but they get to direct the organization through the closed session and working groups.

• The board may internally decide on initiatives and how to carry them out, but all final proposals are ratified by the club council.

• Accelerated election cycle to allow people to get on the board?

• A special election is planned for seats as we expand the board

• Our WRC qualification cycle has worked well this year and too much turnover may hurt that continuity

• 4 seats/year should be sufficient

• Votes of no confidence?

• Suggestion that a 75% vote of no confidence can remove a board member

Closed Session

Sparrows Nest tournament on Oct. 26-27 approved. Needs to be announced soon or it will not count for qualification. Registration will open at a time that is not overlapping with NAO or travel periods surrounding it.

Etiquette data to be sent to the rules & judging WG for recording and adding to the pertinent sections of the tourney-in-a-box documents.

Establishing the Club Council and developing a system for asynchronous voting:

• Need club info: discord information, club name, number of people, location, frequency of public meetups

• Outreach WG responsible for initial list of clubs, to be registered by the Tech WG when the application goes live

• When the council is formed, they can be responsible for approving additional clubs

• Google forms will work for voting, especially for ranked-choice

Next Meetings Sept. 16 (bylaws special meeting), Sept. 30 (general meeting)

Possibly no meeting held in October because there is a tournament every weekend, if so the general meeting will be held as early in November as possible.

ARA Meeting 7/29/24

ARA Meeting Minutes

July 29th, 2024

Open Session

Board Members in Attendance: Luke, Bichen, Dave, Nima, Edwin, Claire, Max, Steve, Aldwin

Working Groups Updates

Tech Working Group:

• Demo of the player interface

• Questions about audit trail and admin/superadmin status

• Question about club leaders having to enter their own members, or if members may sign up and affiliate themselves

Outreach Working Group:

• Socials are live!

• Next outreach meeting August 12th 9 pm EDT / 6 pm PDT

• The outreach group is discussing balancing fun vs. informative for its social posts

• Discussion of the badge system for the club map, clubs earn badges for having e.g. regular meetups, educational classes, presence at a local convention, a ranked league, etc.

Rules and Judging Working Group:

• The proposed WRC Lower Penalties Mod changes are drafted and in review, but at the whims of the WRC schedule, which is very busy with the new WRC pro system, online league, and other league initiatives

• There was a European refereeing seminar that the WG will share when the video goes up

• There are plans for an additional WRC hosted seminar for refereeing targeted at North American time zones and will be shared when the information is available

• WG to work on guidebook and strike system in the meantime

Education and Resources Working Group:

• Currently writing up documents on running tournaments, including tournament software and pairing systems

Other Business

Professional Organizations

• No updates from Saikouisen nor WRC

• Suggested to have information available for ARA to share for both of these to better direct players

• Currently must be in the relevant discord servers to be able to access information, can we partner with Saikouisen USA and WRC to make basic information accessible outside of these discord channels?

IORMC

• Organization handed off to Max

• Roughly the same format as prior years, qualifiers on Sundays now as to not compete with WRC Online Team League

• Signups posted ASAP

NAO Announcement: August 9th cutoff date, hotels will also go up in price if you do not book the block by then

Closed Session

Michigan Open Tournament Proposal and Top Cut Discussion

• Option 1 – Top cut 4, everyone plays all hanchan, if ARA points go to 8th place with over 50 people, it makes the final 2 hanchan meaningful for all competitors

• Option 2 – Lock the top 8 as 1 – 4 and 5 – 8 and have them play in their brackets

• Option 3 – Lock the top 8 and seed them as 1458 and 2367 and have a two-game final

Board approved the tournament proposal and decided that SEMI may choose between any of the three cut options as they are all acceptable ways of doing a cut.

Other events: Last day to announce is September 1. Any remaining events would need to be the first or last weekends in October.

Special Bylaws Meeting scheduled for August 12th 5 pm PT / 8 pm ET

Next ARA Board Meeting scheduled for August 19th 5 pm PT / 8 pm ET

ARA Meeting 6/17/24

ARA Meeting Minutes - June 17, 2024 8PM ET/5PM PT

Attendance – 16 in open session. Board members in attendance: Edwin, Claire, Luke, Dave, Max, Steve, Nima, Bichen

Open Session

Working Groups Updates

Tech

• Tamas has had a lot of personal stuff going on this month so there has not been significant progress. Possibility of a presentation by next board meeting.

Outreach

• Club survey distributed for top 3 desirables for ARA initiatives, awaiting responses.

• Badge system for clubs where milestones such as membership, events, etc. are shown.

• Fixed Kansas City club location on the club map.

Rules and Judging

• Final draft of the lower penalties in review.

• With the announcement of the WRC pro system and the online team league, Gemma is very busy and it may take some time to get responses.

Education and Resources

• Luke identified that a lot of the documents from NARMA are gone, but the outline of tournament-in-a-box survived.

• Recreation of these resources to be done later.

Other Business

Professional Organizations

•  Interest gathering phase for the WRC Pro org.

• Kenji is the main point of contact for the Saikouisen USA and there is a confirmed October exam

PML Open Venue format: Split venue should be okay if needed.

Bylaws meeting has been rescheduled.

IORMC

• Desire to get IORMC quals set up between now and NAO due to the break in the event schedule.

• Saturday mornings no longer work for quals due to the WRC team league.

• Plan to discuss keeping the current qualification system or making changes.

Invitational Tournament Structure

• 12-hanchan scramble then 6 hanchan playoffs in set play of 2 hanchan sets.

• Everyone plays all 18 games.

• The event will be all autotables!

Closed Session

No pressing business. Short discussion about encouraging clubs to utilize local universities and collegiate clubs to access cheaper event space, however this varies greatly from location to location. Helping club leaders recognize all the options available to them makes events easier to host.

Next meeting: July 29th, 8pm ET / 5pm PT

ARA Meeting 5/20/24

ARA Board Meeting Minutes - May 20, 2024

Board Members in Attendance: Claire, Dave, Bichen, Steve, Nima, Max, Edwin, Luke, Zac

Open Session

ARA Invitational community vote

• Jan 18 – 20, 2025 won out of the provided options

• The invitational will be all autotables with scoring

• Since we do not have the WRC seat quota, everyone will need a precise placement

• 12 hanchan scramble into 6 hanchan set play

Working Group Updates

• Tech

• Looking at a bulk import feature to import clubs and people

• Web app has some time before it is ready, NAO is a potential release timeframe

• Outreach

• Discussion on club affiliation and getting a list of all clubs

• How big does a club need to be for ARA recognition? Discussion about club tiers based on size and accessibility of meetups

• Logo discussion: 2 options, the circle one is currently more favored. There is an opening for more submissions by the next meeting

• Rules/Judging

• The US has been given leeway to build the lower penalties to suit open tournament culture here as we are the main ones using it

• Based on community and working group discussion, we have suggested all empty calls to be dead hands

• Due to use of red fives and commensurate uma, the WG has suggested to decouple the chombo of -20 from lower penalties so it can be adjusted

• The draft lower penalties are complete and will be sent to WRC pending final review

• After the WRC rules mods get updated with WG suggestions, work will begin on the strike system for warnings and a judging pamphlet

Riichi Nomi Open Pairing Format

• Presentation of modified swiss system by Mike (Good Enough Jongers)

• A few options proposed for how to deal with final rounds

Bylaws and Structure

• Board is working on a draft bylaws to determine structure, how votes are held, who can vote, and classes of clubs and members

Closed Session

Proposal of PML Open 2024

• Potential for split venue with some specifics on how the dual bucket system must be carried out to follow the WRC guidelines. More details to follow when venue is determined

RNO Pairing

• As there are no issues with any of the proposed methods to deal with the final rounds or the system itself, the board leaves it to RNO staff to pick their preferred method

Pro Group Certification

• MJStars is working with Saikouisen to bring the pro test to the US

• WRC has partnered with JPML and NPM to do the same

• The board and ARA will not align with one or the other, and all players are free to choose if interested

International Online Riichi Mahjong Championship (IORMC)

• In the past, IORMC qualifiers were brought under the ARML umbrella and Edwin managed the setup

• Edwin does not currently have the bandwidth for this, so IORMC is becoming an ARA initiative with a new working group. Edwin will continue to provide support as able, Max volunteered to assist

Education Working Group

• Channel was created for this working group, members and initiatives TBD

Next Board Meeting: June 17, 2024 8PM ET / 5PM PT

NARMA Meeting Minutes 4/15/2024

Open Session (38 in attendance)

Board Members in Attendance: Dave, Steve, Max, Claire, Luke, Edwin, Bichen, Zac, Nima, Aldwin (100% board attendance)

Rebranding: There will be a public ranked choice vote, including a feedback section so respondents can make the board aware if a name (or the associated acronym) is unintentionally offensive

List of proposed names:

·         ARA (American Riichi Association)

·         USRA (United States Riichi Association)

·         NARMA (National American Riichi Mahjong Association)

·         FARM (Federation of American Riichi Mahjong)

·         USRMF (United States Riichi Mahjong Federation)

·         USRMO (United States Riichi Mahjong Organization)

·         RMA (Riichi Mahjong America)

Minimum Activity Levels and Board Turnover

The discussion included transparency about how one can work to be on the board and that board members should be more than just voting only. This can include being a public face and doing organizational work, or backend documentation or supporting of working groups. If a board member is doing neither of these, then they need some project that is for the greater good of the community, such as Edwin running ARML. No limits are yet in place.

Board members to review bios yearly and update as appropriate. Every board member without a picture should submit one for the website.

Mission and Vision Statement, Bylaws

There is currently a NARMA mission and vision statement. The board will have a special meeting to discuss any changes to the mission and vision statement that are out of sync with community goals and needs, and to work on drafting bylaws.

Working Group Updates:

Outreach – Harrison

Looking for a social media manager and other volunteers. The outreach group seeks to be the link between club leaders and the board and has projects such as a newsletter and social media in the works.

Tech – Tamas

The work is continuing with a goal of an end of June launch. The goal is an integrated system with NARMA point standings, club names and a backend where updates can be made. Only for reporting results for events, not event registration. The biggest need right now is volunteers for design work.

Rules and Judging – Steve

This is a new group looking for volunteers. The goals of the group are to close rules ambiguities in the WRC rules as a collaboration with Gemma and WRC, as well as to update the mods and reduced penalties in such a way that they are friendlier to US opens with a variety of skill levels while also maintaining competitive integrity. Long term goals include the creation of a US judging guidebook which may include a strike system for things that remain warnings only in reduced penalties, and the creation of judging seminars or workshops to improve the knowledge base of those interested in judging for club hosted opens.

Adoption of WRC Lower Penalties as the Standard for Opens

TOs may make their own choice on whether to use the competition rules or the lower penalties mod. There should be an update to the lower penalties to decouple a few items and make things a bit more a la carte for the TO. The primary request being a separation of the chombo amount from the penalty level so it can be adjusted for other factors such as uma and aka dora.

Observers at NARMA Events

There can be multiple observers, but there must be at least one that is not from the club hosting and must be publicly announced. Any discrepancies between multiple observer reports will be subject to an investigation by the board.

Making the Observer Reports Public

Observer reports can be made public with the names of the judges and staff present, but any participant names redacted. NARMA will provide a comment period for the TO and staff to respond to any items in the observer report that they think need clarification and both the Observer Report and Staff Response will be published simultaneously.

Invitational Format

This needs to be decided by the board, sooner rather than later and the information published on the discord and the website. Might need to be a special meeting.

Additional Public Discussion Items

·         Mahjong convention

·         What NARMA would like from club leaders

o   Showing up to public meetings

o   Outreach to their club members to be involved

·         What club leaders would like from NARMA

o   Basics on how to set up and grow clubs

o   How to build a social media presence

o   How to teach completely new players

o   Tournament in a box (A wonderful resource provided by Luke)

o   A general player ranking system

Closed Session

Making working groups public?

Board decision: each working group can decide. If a working group does not make their contents public, a progress report should be made public on a regular interval.

Tiebreaks for entry into invitational

Board decision: best placement at NAO is the tiebreak. In the case that 2 players tied both did not attend NAO, the top score from each event is compared. Example: the best placement for player A is 8th in a 68 person tournament for 20.6 points and the best placement for player B is 5th in a 65 person tournament, also for 20.6 points. In this case the 2nd best result is compared and player A got 100th in a 200 person tournament for 1.0 points, and player B got 80th in a 100 person tournament for 0.2 points. Player A wins the tiebreaker.

Lower Penalties:

Board decision: TOs may run their events at the penalty level they deem appropriate.

Chicago Open approved by the board. Announcement of event and signups to follow.

NARMA Meeting Minutes 3/18/2024

Board Attendance: Dave, Edwin, Claire, Max, Steve, Aldwin, Nima, Luke, Bichen

Open Session Minutes

Scoring Applications

Public discussion on scoring applications, continued from the previous open session. The general decision is that scoring applications WILL NOT be used for NAO or any other national events without additional discussion. For regional, club hosted opens the use of a scoring application is left to the discretion of the tournament organizer, however to be considered as a NARMA qualifier, the usage of the application must be all or nothing to ensure consistent competitive experience per the WRC rules. A table may not opt out.

Canadian Events

The current structure was unclear. Some players assumed that Canadian events would be counted based on the current organization name, as they are North American events. Others assumed they would not be counted because the application process says that US organizations may apply. However, it does not say that Canadian events may not. There is an east/west divide where many players in the east consider inclusion of Canadian tournaments as a nice to have, where the west coast player base sees this as further increasing the geographical imbalance of open tournaments for qualification purposes.

WRC Rules Ambiguities

The documents are up for board interaction, and shared with Gemma. A suggestion is being made to make the lower penalties the default and make the current harsher penalties something like a championship level. There was public opinion that some items, such as an empty call only being a dead hand in the harsher rules, should be a dead hand throughout. There’s some desire to mix and match a few of the elements and we can further discuss this with Gemma. Gemma has requested a meeting with the board to discuss.

Tournament Observers

At least one dedicated NARMA observer must be present, but any number of people may be an observer if they choose. There was a suggestion to modify the feedback form for electronic entry, and to add the opportunity for anonymous feedback to the website.

Prize Structure for Events

Legality varies from state to state, and TOs are strongly encouraged to review the local laws and/or receive legal advice to protect themselves. Regarding the prizes themselves, it is encouraged to provide an entry fee breakdown to show where the money is going and how much of it is covering operational costs versus going into the prize pool. For example, the $1500 prize pool may seem large for RNO 2024, but at 180 people, which is the cap and the number required to trigger that prize tier, it amounts to less than 10 dollars per person from the total entry fee being used for the cash prizes.

Closed Session Minutes

Due to the length of the open session, many points of discussion were tabled until the next board meeting:

• Rebranding and name suggestions

• Minimum activity, attendance and service requirements for NARMA board members

• Additional discussion and a written guidance for cash prizes in events

Application for Eligibility

• A player originally filled out the form as ineligible due to attempting to qualify in another country.

• That player is living in the US and has re-entered the information and intends to qualify here.

• The board has no determined no reason to reject this request. Points from placement in qualifiers were reinstated.

Scoring Applications

• Usage allowed at TO discretion.

• “Opt out” is not allowed. All tables must use it in order to maintain a consistent competitive environment.

• If using a personal device it should be placed flat on the table, in do not disturb mode, so the whole table can see it.

• The board has suggested a sandbox mode or demo version be created so players may familiarize themselves with the interface prior to the event.

Canadian Events

• For this cycle they will not be allowed as qualifiers.

• For the next cycle we will revisit.

• Additional discussion surrounding the lack of events in some West Coast areas and how to grow the tournament scene there to provide a better geographic balance.

NAO Announcement

• To be announced ASAP.

• Using Discord and various club social media outlets to advertise.

• Dave to work on additional graphics and logo.

Penalty Levels

• At TOs discretion.

• Currently the mods and rules as written do not allow a mix-and-match approach to rules levels.

• Additional discussion needed with WRC around the rules and documents drafted, meeting to be scheduled with Gemma.

Action Items:

• Board meeting decision summary to discord - Max

• Announcement of NAO to discord and socials - General, board members to share with their own clubs, discord spaces and social media outlets

• Graphic Design for NAO - Dave

• Update of Observer Form for Entry - Unassigned

• Schedule meeting with WRC for penalty and other rules discussion - Steve

Next Meeting Scheduled for April 15, 8PM ET/5PM PT

NARMA Meeting Minutes 2/28/2024

Attendance: Dave, Luke, Claire, Max, Edwin, Bichen, Aldwin, Steve

Minutes

Public Session

Meeting opened with welcome to new board members.

Introduction of working groups and their volunteer leadership:

• Tech Working Group, led by Tamas

• Outreach Working Group, led by Harrison

Tech working group is organizing a way to database and register players and clubs, to track qualification points for the WRC Qualification Invitational.

Public comment: WRC rules are ambiguous in places and the documents aren't immediately updated with clarifications received. Given that TOs need information on clarification and rulings quicker than the core WRC rules update schedule. Dave suggested the creation of a rules interpretation document. FAQs for judging and tricky rulings should be recorded. This can be shared with WRC to incorporate findings from the NARMA tournament circuit.

We need to reconcile the NARMA tournament guidelines with the WRC rules.

Lengthy discussion about scoring apps and foreign objects at the table.

Private Session

Scoring apps:

• The scoring app cannot require use of a personal device to meet WRC requirements.

• The guidelines provided by WRC for use of a scoring app set a very high bar, but any club wanting to use an app should be given an opportunity to meet said bar.

• Board decision: App will not be used as part of NAO but the next meeting will have an open session where public community members are encouraged to join a discussion on the merits and demerits of scoring apps for events.

Rebranding

• Rename to better show that this is a US organization. We no longer represent Canada or the rest of North America.

• Replace the logo which has trypophobia concerns and doesn’t represent the organization.

• Board decision: allow the community to submit name and logo ideas, make it clear that any graphic design is done pro bono.

Outreach WG Goals

• Get clubs and leaders that are not aware of NARMA involved in some way.

• Build a mailing list for communication outside of discord.

• Build a social media presence.

Tournament Participation Number Tiers (the 100-entrant problem)

• Board decision: The number of players who begin hanchan 1 is when the total number of players in the tournament are decided.

• If player drops lower the number of players below a qualification point tier and are not backfilled back to that level either from a waiting list or with subs, the tournament will operate at the lower tier of qualification points distributed.

Nationality and Eligibility for WRC

• Board decision: Participants living in the US full time, regardless of citizenship status may qualify for WRC provided they are trying to qualify exclusively as a US representative and not also through another country’s organization.

Action Items:

• Dave – ask WRC about foreign objects such as notebooks to track scores at the table

• Dave – set up website access for board members that need it

• Steve – Draft WRC ruleset errata document

• Claire – Set up suggestion box for NARMA rebranding ideas

• Max – Make announcements to discord about board decisions

• Steve – Draft document cataloging board decisions

• General – Draft minutes for public and post to website

Next meeting proposed: March 18, 2024 6pm PST / 9pm EST

NARMA Meeting Minutes 1/29/2023

Open Meeting

Kyle (DC Riichi Mahjong): A few questions arose. DC has a top 16 cut. What happens if we disqualify a top 16 person after the cut. How should we handle this? Before and after the cut?

Dave: This is a question for WRC. If you have something happen before the cut, then it should be fine to get 17th in. If it’s after a few rounds have been played, it probably should just be a substitute. I don’t want there to be a situation where someone could benefit from this. “A substitute plays instead” is most definitely fine. I can bring that up the chain to see if that’s okay.

Kyle: One additional thing is to differentiate between honorably discharged and dishonorably discharged. For example family emergency and cheating.

Dave: If there is an emergency out of their control (appendix exploded), they can just be put on the bottom of that tier (like top 16).

Kyle: Bad actors and cheaters: Should we be allowing spectating in the top 16 or top 4? We will not be able to provide a streaming setup. If people want to spectate, they would be within the room itself.

Dave: I feel fairly confident that as long that there are fairly fine as long as there’s reasonable precautions. Refs there to make sure there’s no comms and the audience can keep quiet. I actually had a relevant experience. The first time I was at the European Championships, I was tenpai for daisuushi and I had someone stand with their mouth open so you could tell that it was a big hand (though I guess not that unobvious with 3 calls), but it was annoying.

Aldwin: As someone who was in a finals last year, it was actually a joy to have people watching. And all having a good time around everyone. The whole reaction thing: don’t signal anything. We don’t want you to do anything. Ideally, we’re just playing against each other.

Edwin: We had people spectating ours (but had cameras so a little different). Oh, and make sure the judges are also not doing that either. They shouldn't be hovering over a table for too long.

Dave: Cameras are also stressful. Either way, it’s probably fine to have spectators.

Kyle: Thanks!

Phil (ARC): Sounds like there’s an important element of making sure that your judges know to ref the crowd and the table. If someone is not maintaining a poker face, they should move back.

Dave: Your job as the judge that you keep the environment as conducive to the tournament.

Adam: What happens in poker?

Edwin: The main table has a good amount of space between the audience. Anything on video is on a delay. As for the main playing areas I'm not sure, but I know if you are eliminated everyone leaves the room.

Adam: The stakes are much higher. Would look more legitimate if there are no spectators.

Dave: Valid approach. When it’s still a round robin, having people who finished their games wander the halls is not ideal. If the finals are happening, letting them have that is nice. It’s a balancing act between letting them spectate.

Edwin: Do not that even if they’re in a separate room, you might be able to still hear shouting. That’s why it should be all on a delay.

Phil: Only time there was a problem was during semifinals. When the whole room wasn’t taken up by the games and part of the room was chatting.

Dave: When it’s a single final table, it’s not so bad.

Kyle: If staff members can play as substitutes as needed?

Dave: This gets into exciting eurodrama! First question: context? Spotting 1 round? Or if 79 show up to a 80 expected tournament. If it’s the beginning of the event, then having a staff member turn into a regular attendee, then that’s fine. That staff member is a player and now are just a regular player. If you need a staff member to sub, then that’s exactly what staff is for. Staff doesn’t get any credit. Player gets a flat -30 for the hanchan.

Edwin: That's correct. We had a person in the Seattle tournament that had to dash out for lunch, and was trying to rush back but ended up coming back 9 minutes late, and therefore had a 9 point penalty. After 10 minutes, they would have just gotten -30. Oh, and as reference to everyone else here as it sorta came up for us, how should a substitute play? If I understand correctly, standard practice is have them play normally. Asking them to play them a different way could make their play worse.

Dave: Any time you have any restrictions, it makes it exploitable. You should just play as normal for that game.

Bichen: So you get a flat -30 for not showing up, right? Not the sub’s score minus 30 points?

Everyone: Yeah, it’s a flat -30. You don’t get positive points for having the sub get a million points and then take off 30. You just get -30 for the hanchan.

Jason: When will you decide about the location? Our quotes are going to expire soon.

Dave: Like to get an answer by mid february. We’ve got quite a few options in the last few weeks. If we can get it resolved by feb 15th?

Jason: Our space can hold more, but we would need more staff and equipment.

Dave: If all else is okay, then we can help out with staff and equipment.

Phil: Tournament organization how to get tables?

Aldwin: Don’t buy your own tables!!!

Edwin: Sakura con ended up buying a bunch of tables. Unique solution… I carried most of the 24 tables to the event - well joking a bit there. Only other thing I can think of is a party rental place.

Dave: I bought 60 of them and donated them at the end of the event

Phil: Invest in the tables and hope to run enough events for it to be worth it.

Dave: Part of running the event is just having a large stock of tables. Venues just don’t have square tables. They just have giant large tables and long banquet tables.

Edwin: Those make sense since events mostly use those kind of tables. It is very hard…

Dave: Crate of hand shuffle tables. Would it actually be worth it to ship it anyway? Found some folding aluminum tables. Unfortunately you have to find a way to get the tables. Happy to help out with equipment. Venues don’t usually supply that kind of stuff.

Aldwin: Last time was the only time I had to get a venue. Only time I had to do venue shopping. When a venue has the right tables, that’s a sale. It makes it a lot easier!

Dave: Folding tables from japan. They have the undercarriage and you can take off the nuts.https://www.walmart.com/ip/PEXMOR-35-Folding-Mahjong-Table-Portable-Poker-Domino-Card-Game-Table-4-Player-w-Cup-Holders-Chip-Grooves-Foldable-Square-Blackjack-Texas-Hold-em-Jig/2956835108 Tables are good to stack. Folds up nice. Good table. And it’s one less junk mat you have to get.

Edwin: Played on one of those. It’s a bit awkward.

Phil: Corners are not exactly square and the tiles can fly off.

Dave: Can get an ATA case for a slim auto table. Having something like that to ship tables around would be super useful.

Phil: A lot of us might have more questions after a venue is selected.

Dave: Probably what will happen is working directly with the team is something that will happen. Gonna be an exciting time. If folks feel pretty good about things, we can close this public session and –oh wait we can go over the agenda. Committing to get a decision by feb 15th!

Closed Meeting

In attendance: Aldwin, Bichen, Dave, Edwin, Nima

New qualifier requests

Dave: Qualifier requests. RNO 2024 and UC Berkeley. 10 hanchan cumulative no cut. How can we approve this? If you’re doing a 10 hanchan round robin, then that’s fine. You are approved for a round robin, but we could ask for a specific way how the swiss system works and then could separately approve that.

Edwin: With 128 players could only get 8 rounds in before having issues. More random rounds or entire fields as one round for 3 rounds. This won’t work unless you get really large numbers. The issue is that chess in swiss you eliminate one person while in mahjong you eliminate 3...

Dave: Don’t want to dive too much into the details about swiss, need to focus on the rest of the proposal. I would say that this is approved for normal round robin. As for the swiss, when the system is defined, we would need to see that before approving that for use.

Edwin: I know the swiss is stil theoretical and I have done some simulations, but at the same time you don't know until you actually run it.

Dave: I don’t see why there wouldn’t be a swiss system. Just that we need to see it and then approve it. Players have to understand how that works and it has to be reasonably fair. Ok, the other one is UC Berkeley. Oh, a doc! Everything seems pretty standard. The only thing I find weird is that a head judge ‘can’ award the time.

Bichen: That should say ‘should’

Dave: Ah ok, otherwise I don’t see anything objectionable about this.

Edwin and Aldwin: No objections

Dave: How do people feel about this penalty structure?

Aldwin: What does the WRC document say about this?

Dave: This seems to be like an insurance policy. Some amount of discretion if I feel like they’re behaving badly. Fine with the lower penalty mod. And some guidelines around repeated offenses. Sounds pretty reasonable. Bad Behavior - don’t be awful. Don’t be bad. This sounds fine overall. Approve both tournaments. Swiss requires more info.

Inclusivity for preferred names

Dave: Broadly speaking, we’re all in agreement that it is good to use their preferred names. The challenge is allowing people who want to use preferred names versus using some joke name. Do we even care if people do submit under joke names? How do we allow players to submit using their preferred names.

Aldwin: We don’t have a requirement to check.

Dave: We can even make a form. At the core, we are fine with this, so we need to provide the tools to make that happen. If we are keeping records keyed by name, we need some system to make it happen.

Edwin: The way ARML approaches this is as long as you use the same name repeatedly when registering for other events, it’s fine.

Dave: I don’t want to say what names are good or bad. It’s rare to see a bad name like a slur. Do I care if someone wants to be Glutius Maximus? It gets us out of the business of telling people what’s right or wrong? Does we start assigning player numbers?

Edwin: When it comes to verification of residency for the invitational, I agree with Bichen that we can deal with that later as the process concludes. But, in the case of using say Glutius Maximus, how are we supposed to know this is the same person?

Dave: It is theoretically possible that people could share the same name/IDs. Unless we start locking down personal identification with like a photo ID, we can’t really solve this problem.

Edwin: It seems interesting that a while back you were under the opinion that we should have actual names because of online issues and now the stance is like this. Like for instance in the FGC you have players known by their handles, like Tokido, but when they have to register I would imagine they'd still have to use some form of official name - though I can't recall Tokido's is for example.

Aldwin: FGCs pretty much just use screen names as display all over the place.

Dave: Well that was then, and back then one of the things I want to avoid is screen names. Now we have multiple levels of challenges. I don’t want to make a tournament filled with discord handles.

Edwin: Again I think as long as you use it regularly, then it’s fine.

Dave: 1. Sign up to events with the name you want to use. It doesn’t have to be the one on your driver’s license, but it shouldn’t be a screen name. 2. If you for some reason and want to change your name, tell NARMA I used to be known as A and now I want to be known as B. And we have no reason to ever say no unless it’s a slur or something offensive.

Aldwin: How should tournament organizers submit results?

Edwin: Well, in order to convert from preferred names you’d have to do is have their actual name connected. We would know it but nobody else would.

Dave: Let’s say Edwin you ran a tournament and they both were named Adam Smith. I run a tournament and both Adam Smith joins, how do we differentiate between the two?

Edwin: Well, we had a case in ARML where we had two players with not only the same name, but from the same state. We had to differentiate them by club affiliation in the end.

Aldwin: We might be real late on assigning player numbers.

Edwin: Are we really late? We’ve only had one tournament so far.

Aldwin: To keep names on a spreadsheet, they’re assigned IDs anyway.

Dave: It is a better way. We need a way to communicate this number. Email is a good one. A clear key. We are cool with people signing up with whatever they want. At some point we need to see a document proving you are a US resident, but at no point we require you to use that name.

Edwin: Yeah, I guess when you leave things to interpretation, things can get mucky pretty easily.

Dave: We are not going to be the name police and reject any name unless it’s actually offensive. No easy answer, but let’s be as inclusive as possible. You are not bound to use the name on your ID and can show it to us privately.

Invitational tournament details and format

Aldwin: Document! Simplest tournament is the WRC emulation. 2-day plan, 3 day plan. Is what it would look like either way. If we should X out 2-day plan, then we just decided on that. This document is just options.

Bichen: I believe Luke wanted a cut-only tournament with no scramble

Aldwin: There is also the idea of an elimination tournament, but like if you lose the first game you're just out and you travelled all that way to get eliminated quickly.

Edwin: Ah, well I had a system where you have repechages and such such that people would keep playing, but when I was originally working on it it got a bit wonky.

Dave: Part of me is like ‘yeah you got eliminated’ and part of me is like ‘well they put in a lot of time and money in this event…’ Doing this like the WRC does make the most sense. Both approaches have some merit. Next question is location and dates.

Aldwin: Dates are november.

Bichen: Do we have until end of Jan or is end of the year maximum?

Dave: WRC Wants us to have the names by Jan 1st, so before then.

Aldwin: All autotables?

Dave: Can do autotables past 32. Past any cut, it is possible. I don’t think it matters if it’s autotable or not.

Aldwin: Games can go much faster with autotables

Edwin: So I managed to work out the numbers, and with 64 people by Round 10 you had your final table. The problem is that the next group down in the scenario has 20 people, so how do we determine who gets what place?

Bichen: Then all four top place people need to play for 5-8th and then all the next place players need to play for 9-12th, etc.

Edwin: Oh, so what you're saying is that there needs to be extra rounds then to determine those tables.

Bichen: Yeah.

Edwin: Well, I guess if we were going to have extra space we could have a 4-round final table as well...

Aldwin: Do we know how many seats are going to be allocated to the event?

Dave: It’s going to get all the quota. Alright, need to wrap this up, what else have we figured out? Veteran’s Day. Who wants to run this?

Bichen: Should just let Dave run this.

Dave: Gonna be in NY on veteran’s day.

Bichen: It should be 3 days.

Edwin: We should try to make sure that it ends early enough on Monday to get most everybody home that night.

Dave: Nov 9th - 11th. Fly to new york then. See if I can get some cool special guests. Luke probably has some input on this, so the format can be discussed later.

NAO proposals

Dave: Really 3 events. PML, Mid-Atlantic, and Atlanta. I'm looking through the proposals and Atlanta is the one I'm most concerned about. They haven't run a major tournament and some of the things here are a bit concerning.

Aldwin: Maybe we should have them run an open first before trying to run a major tournament like the NAO.

Edwin: Yeah, there is something to be said for having experience running a tournament.

Dave: Otherwise all the proposals have the player cost as 100-130 so nothing too crazy.

Bichen: Philly convention center is very cheap and has a lot of hotels. Wait 20,000 sq ft? 16k catering budget?????

Dave: Food. Atlanta sounds like they’re in a world of pain with that food budget. I respect their ambition, but my fear is encouraging them to do it but then they go off the deep end financially. That would be rough. I can talk to them and ask them if they really know what they're going through.

Edwin: Well, you can say to them that there are some here who have experience planning for a tournament and that the proposals are raising red flags, and then ask them about if they know.

Dave: I really appreciate their attitude, but there are a lot of red flags everywhere. Because of that, you don’t know. They can do a medium-sized event first before jumping into something this big. I worry for them out of genuine concern. I can reach out to Atlanta.

Aldwin: What’s the NAO format?

Bichen: Probably just scramble plus cuts.

Dave: All right, looking between Bichen's and the combined East Coast proposals, they look pretty much the same. Atlanta again might be biting off more than they chew.

Edwin: Well, we could have it on the West Coast because of all the tournaments on the East Coast.

Bichen: But there's Berkeley and our open. How many does the East Coast have?

Edwin/Dave/Bichen: There's Philly, DC, New York and Riichi Nomi.

Bichen: That's only 4.

Edwin: Does Columbus count?

Aldwin: No, they're closer to me in Chicago.

Edwin: But they're in the same time zone!

Aldwin: Still no.

Edwin: That's still 3 tournaments on the West Coast. We could have the NAO even out the tournaments.

Bichen: But what has been the biggest tournament on the West Coast? The largest we've ever had is like 100? We're going to lose a lot of people coming to the West Coast. And look at Riichi Nomi, they sold out 100 in like, what an hour?

Aldwin: Well, the previous one was on the east coast...

Dave: That’s not a make or break for me. It is easy for the east coast, but a bunch of east coast tournaments happen anyway.

Aldwin: What about international, are we going to get people coming in to snipe from say Europe?

Dave: Sure, but at the same time you could have the Japanese trying to snipe if we had it on the West Coast.

Edwin: Would the Japanese really come to the US to snipe a spot?

Dave: You'd at least get people from that side to come.

Edwin: Well, I guess looking at it we're going to lose some people unable to travel to the West Coast, and there would likely be a greater US player base to attend if it were on the East Coast, but as I've said before it's rough for us on the West Coast to continue travelling over there.

Dave: It can’t be the only place the events happen.

Edwin: I guess another argument is, ah well maybe not for everyone, but that the Invitational is going to happen in NY now, right? So we could have the NAO on the West Coast to balance it out.

Dave: Well, we still need to get feedback from the others.

Bichen: Well how soon will we know? I have one of the locations really getting on my case.

Aldwin: Which one?

Bichen: The San Francisco one, as they told me they have another event looking at those dates. I would prefer it in San Jose as is a lot better for me logistcally, but transit is not so great there, while in SF it would be right at the airport. It would be really tough to get to San Jose from San Franciso airport.

Dave: Like what would it take?

Bichen: You'd have to take a train down to San Jose, and then up to the location.

Edwin: What about flying into San Jose, is it somewhat accessible compared to San Francisco?

Bichen: Well, you can at least get there if you transfer from say Chicago or Texas, but you wouldn't be able to get there from like Nashville or something like that.

Dave: Either way, I'll get in touch with Atlanta, and we'll get input from the others soon. We need to figure this out by February 15th.

NAO Format

Dave: We should pick the group and then have them write the format. Luke will have some thoughts. We should make it like WRC.

Edwin: I'll get something put up for the repechages and such for everyone.

Post-Meeting NAO Vote

The vote for NAO location was performed outside the meeting as some members were unable to attend the meeting itself. Results are presented here.

Total votes were [5 for PML] [1 for Philly] [0 for Atlanta]

Bichen: Abstains due to personal interest

Luke: [PML]. PML beats out Philly on the tiebreak with geographic distance from previous NAO, large event experience, and relative inexpensiveness for travel

David: [PML] PML for national balance, IMO Philly is a solid choice but I’d rather have events spread out a bit more. Atlanta, as mentioned - love their spirit, would love to support them running events, a little worried they don’t have the infra to do this

Nima: [PML] Agree with having the NAO hosted by PML for the sake of spreading the qualifying events across the country

Aldwin: [PML & Philly] PML by virtue of the “West Coast” problem regarding limited events in the region. However, Philly does have a strong bid with support from Riichi Nomi, where the event would be very large. [editor’s note - this vote was not a ranked/multiple choice vote]

Edwin: [PML] I’m still going to vote for PML, but appreciate Bichen for biting the bullet to run it since Seattle cannot. If we had another viable option on the West Coast I’d choose that mainly because of the discussion in this channel yesterday. But barring that, and trying to give the West Coast equal footing, it will for this iteration need to be PML.

NARMA Meeting Minutes 10/25/2023

NARMA Oct 25 2023, Minutes

Members PRESENT

• David

• Edwin

• Bichen

• Nima

• Luke

Members MISSING

• Aldwin (Joined Late, noted in minutes)

• Zac

Agenda Listing

• Update on current open projects

• Selection of new dates for NAO

• ARML representation WRC

• Management thoughts for open meeting

Update on current open projects

The qualifer document, Map stuffs, Volunteer stuffs, and meeting cadence.

Qualifier Document

David: We talked about it: we approved it: did we release the qualifier doc?

Bichen: We gotta talk ARML first to see if it is a part of it.

David: OK, we have that talk and then we release.

Luke: Confirm who releases it? confirm where?

David: For the where, I (David) put a copy on website for download

Luke: So who's announcing it?

David: It should be the authors, it's their work.

Bichen: Both of the authors aren't here.

David: It was Bichen and Aldwin. Those two should do it.

Crosstalk: Bichen and Aldwin will release it ASAP, David will help get it on the site, they will post it on the Narma discord as well

Club Map Updates

David: Need to get info from Aldwin, no response back, gotta hear from him

(Post meeting note: This info was released at the open meeting. All clubs that have requested have been added, Jellicode list is on there with express Jellicode permission)

Board Expansion via Volunteers

David: Doc looks good, should we release?

Luke: We have things for them to do, right? yeah

Bichen: Should we vote?

Luke: For things where you think no one will have a problem, do a voice vote. "This is what we are going with. Does anyone have a problem or want to abstain or anything?" If no one speaks up it's unanimous for all attending, if someone is like "no" or "well.." then we open debate and then go person by person.

- Unanimous Vote to approve -

Meeting Cadence

David: We have all that handled, our cadence is good, let's keep going with monthly Closed then Open.

- Unanimous Vote to approve -

Luke: Any incoming questions, discord, email, that we need to bring up?

David: No it is all covered in this meeting

Selection of new dates for NAO

David: April? we talked about this?

Edwin: It was a murky discussion, Bichen and I were assuming MLK Weekend (Jan-13-15 2024), that was our submission, if its not then tour submissions are out the window. Can't be Easter b/c Sakura con?

David: I think people said Jan/Feb/Mar are too soon, so April?

Crosstalk: That's real soon

Edwin: Its too close for a seat on MLK. When is good enough notice, that WRC/Gemma would approve?

David: Three months after notice. So back in September, MLK was ok. Now it's not. (international people travel lead time, etc etc) We can't do a non-quota seat. Do we want to do a quota seat?

Sidebar: Aldwin joins

Aldwin: Thought it was 8 central not 8 Eastern

Luke: You want a catchup?

Aldwin: Later

David: Various sentiment is that, with interpersonal convos he's had, that NAO seat giveaway is not good. What do you think?

Luke: Since this is info from your private convos, can you elaborate?

David: Its a non-quota seat. Doesn't come from us comes from WRC

Luke: Oh, a straight seat all the way in for one tourney, not just an invite to nationals?

David: Correct.

Crosstalk: that is a lot, but hey its WRC's seat and they are in charge, how clear was this if we had to confirm with David

Aldwin: They (people David is talking to) just don't understand

Edwin: It's WRC's seat and choice not ours, so where is the problem

David: Should we take the people I'm talking to into consideration?

Edwin: You need to clearly communicate the prize and the quota situation

Luke: When they voiced concern, did you then clarify all that with them then? then what did they say?

David: They still didnt like it

Luke: so this was one person talking to you?

David: One made the argument, others feel that it is not fair

Edwin: I spoke with a/an (redacted to "non-american" to protect identity) non-American player that travels here, is this a serious competition? or a networking jubilee?

Luke: The WRC? starts like an open in the US, but with a much larger top cut and way better paredown format

Edwin: They are looking at it like a super serious competition

Aldwin: I wouldn't go that far

Crosstalk: How serious is WRC, is that even a discussion we need to have, WRC format is great balance between game count and top end player ranking

David: So is their concerns an uncomfortable topic for anyone so do we let this through

Crosstalk: the "math" of WRC scramble and topcut, country quotas vs just the best players

David: Let's stay on topic.

Edwin: What's their issue? What kind of thing is WRC super seious or just for fun?

Luke: We dont get to pick what WRC is. WRC is WRC. It's great. Why are we talking about this?

David: To see if NAO giving a straight seat is terrible

Crosstalk: Does anyone see an issue? No, dont see an issue, moving on

Crosstalk: What are the dates for NAO

David: Labor day? Also we can't overlap ERMC.

Luke: do we need to be specific to the public as to what days are good?

David: 3 day weekends etc for easist travel

Luke: OK what days can it be, and when is the app due for it

David: ERMC is in summer. Labor Day works?

Crosstalk: what big things happen on Labor Day that could pull people, Pax West and some smaller anime cons

Luke: To confirm, what we are saying is NARMA picks possible weekend or weekends for proposals because they are 3 day weekends. Proposals are due by X for one of those weekends?

David: Yes

Crosstalk

David: We should confirm that its not too close to ERMC with ERMC, but Labor Day, any objections?

Edwin: Also when we announce this, it is way later than MLK since now MLK is too soon, so people's plans for that are unusable. Need to be specific as to why so people who have already submitted don't feel too bad about having to rework

Crosstalk: Agreement

Luke: Any other days than Labor Day that people can pick? So proposals have a choice?

Aldwin: Memorial Day?

Crosstalk: Its sooner, Combo Breaker is during it, it's fine

Luke: Are we fair on dates, are they equal for submission criteria?

David: I'll check on both with ERMC. one might be made

Luke: Is there a preference otherwise?

Bichen: Memorial Day is a big PML thing: Fanime

Luke: That is a major part of the community. Is leaving them out by allowing Memorial Day picks okay?

Crosstalk: No

Luke: Memorial day off the list?

Dave: Yes, unless Labor Day is not possible due to ERMC.

Crosstalk: It's Labor Day unles ERMC says no, then Memorial Day is on the list

Bichen: Juneteenth is a non Memorial possibility. Looking up things near it, it is kinda close to RNO though

Crosstalk: Yeah, they are a big community too, can't put it near that

Bichen: Veteran's Day?

Edwin: Veteran's day has a club event announced, Columbus too, and so on, so it's Labor Day unless you are okay with random 2-day weekends

Bichen: What about Indigineous People's Day (IPD, formally Columbus Day for clarity)

Edwin: PML does IPD event (oct 8th)

Bichen: We'd move our event

Luke: Thats october though, pretty late in the year

Crosstalk

Luke: If Labor Day is probably fine, then check labor day with ERMC. if not, we have an emergency meeting to come back to this.

- Unanimous agreement -

Luke: Next, when are submissions due

Dave: Dec 31?

Crosstalk: Good day, but if somoene gets a venue quote and NARMA takes too long to decide it might lapse, 1 month is standard

Dave: OK we need to select one of the submissions by X date so places know that

Edwin: So it has to be deicded by end of January

Crosstalk on how long venue quotes are held, various amounts based on part of country, but Dec 31 to Jan 31 is fine

Luke: So, then, assuming Labor Day is okay with ERMC: bids for Labor Day 2024, are due Dec 31, and we are selecting before Feb 1st. Right?

Dave: Yes

-Unanimous agreement-

ARML representation in WRC seating quota

Edwin: ARML members have been asking forever, can we get seats, i said I will push for seats on their behalf. How to get that done? Here is my proposal.

Edwin: Explains how it works:

1. Open Scramble (4 games), then top cut (2 games) where top quarter moves on and bottom quarter is out, then second chance topcut (2 games) for the middle remainder where top half moves on and bottom half is out.

2. Clear scores, add in B2&B3 players at this point, repeat 1

3. Clear scores, add in B1&A2 players at this point, repeat 1

4. Clear scores, add in A1 players at this point, repeat 1

5. Similar Top Cut style with all players until down to 4, and then finals

Luke: How many games are A1 skipping?

Edwin: 4 + 2 game playoffs minimum per tier, so 18

Luke: The 2 game in-or-out playoffs specifically, how many to open players have to survive before they get to A1 level?

Edwin: 6, minimum.

Luke: Too much of an advantage for those already in.

Luke: In addition, ARML is increasingly unfair to new entrants for a number of reasons.

Crosstalk: Explain

Sidebar

Luke: i've got a lot of talking on this point, Bichen can you handle notetaking / minutes for this section

Bichen: taking notes whole time, all good

Luke: This is not a personal attack. I played in it, enjoyed it, promote it, help as a substitute all the time. The people that put this together should get WRC community seats, That discussion will come much later when we talk about if/how many community seats are available. I think ARML is a good thing. This is based on local players and their experiences with the league, and others I have talked to within League. These players are available to you to talk to if you'd like. This isn't "what is wrong with ARML". These are "reasons ARML does not currently meet fairness/equity standards to be granted seats."

Luke: Two things, first thing is player difficulties.

• Based on where you are in the rankings, even playing can be a huge hassle. It is just the player attitude and scheduling of ARML itself. The league has no burden of entry but huge responsibility. You don't see problems at medium-high ranks. Bottom is different story. If you do not have a very open schedule, it's just not possible to find overlap times with others.

• Player responsibilities: the people who most want to play spend more time cajoling/ reminding / pleading with stubborn or non communicative players to set up games. It wears you out since you often have to be the one to set things up and you leave. Then the players are down a motivated player before that player could become invested in it.

• Player competition differences: When subs needed they are often covering for weaker players. Subs are the most dedicated members. Subs most often cover for poorly-playing or less-caring players in lower league levels. Subs win way more points than they lose, some subs win enough points subbing to promote if they were in the league they subbed int. This is siginificantly unfair for players who have to play the sub not the original player, since all players are jostling for promotion slots.

• Divergent player aims: Some people are playing for excellence and some are playing for funzies. Whether you play funzies people packed all onto one table or all spread out is random and can affect your overall outcome. If you get a good farm table at the end, you can promote up from that alone, pushing someone out.

Aldwin: That's mahjong

Luke: No it isn't, it's losing promotion because a -140 player turned into a +120 sub when they play you at the end, and now you miss promotion behind the person who played the -140 person. that's not fair for anyone.

Luke: Next thing is historical advantage.

• - first season wasnt one league that became two like the rest of the seasons normal players have to go through, it made four leagues right away. You could be a year ahead based on one season. New leagues are added at the bottom without expanding current ones, making the bottom of the ladder longer and insulating the top. Beginning was just too much of an advantage to give players up top an 18+ game advantage at an event.

David: He is saying the structure of ARML is not good for WRC seat selection. We could start another WRC league to send people to WRC.

Luke: ARML admins are amazing. Exact people to run such a league.

Crosstalk: Two leagues at once?

Dave: I recognize the challenges that you describe. Gonna be nightmarish scheduling.

Luke: Nightmarish?

Dave: Either make a gated WRC league or an open WRC league and then many join and cant play both and hiatuses in ARML. some percentage just burn out. Bottom league becomes a hot mess and a disaster.

Dave: How do we conclude this? Should we make a WRC league?

Luke: Question: Does anyone think a WRC league is a good idea? And that the people who run ARML are good candidates to run it?

Nima: For a future WRC league, it can't be completely open. There has to be some barrier to entry.

Luke: Given some robust enough structure as a magical thing that happens, is that a good idea?

Nima: Yes

Luke: Edwin you have a lot of players in a lot of leagues. If the decision was made to make a WRC league, does that fulfill your want to give out a WRC seat. Knowing that it's way easier to use what we have.

Edwin: ARML is a fairly big commitment. If we are going to announce that, WRC would cannibalize it.

Luke: Position could be frozen?

Dave: Well you'd fracture the league. Imagine if half A1 pauses to do WRC league. You don't have a league anymore.

Crosstalk: Two leagues is too much for many people to do, dont want to hurt ARML with another league

Edwin: Only way to keep integrity of ARML plus try a way for other way to compete was through this type of proposal. It doesn't mean the proposal works.

Crosstalk Edwin/Luke: Early A1 people have too much advantage even if they drop down / leagues are supposed to churn a lot / but they dont

Luke: The low barrier of entry brings in players with lots of different reasons for playing / staying power throughout a season, which can make bottom-league promotion a crapshoot

Edwin: There could have been a higher barrier to entry by charging an entry fee/annual dues, but there has been discussions about it in the Discord where many appreciate the fact that there is no fee and may not have participated otherwise.

Luke: Even like a dollar? What does that say about their level of desire to play in the League?

Edwin: Even if nominal. It always becomes an issue.

Luke: It's good that it's free because everyone can play in it no matter what. But moving forward, if someone has a problem with an entry fee. Are they going to be able to afford to / want to go to the WRC? If they aren't going to go, is basing a WRC seat on that fair?

Dave: People won't pay $5 even though it's only $5. But perfectly fine finding the money to go to WRC or (crosstalk: lists of other hobbies) here. One of the things about events at GENCON is that they are ticketed, so even if they're just a dollar, you are invested.

Edwin: Eventually, could end up that way, but initial entry was supposed to be open.

Crosstalk: This isn't one of the main issues / ARML is legitimate but money makes things complicated

Aldwin: Let's get a conclusion

Luke: If both sides want to talk and have more info, let them talk, no one should be cut off

Dave: We have touched a lot of issues. Look back at initial proposal. Tired tournament. Maybe answer is community vote? Either players spent a lot of time in the league and we put a vote out and it's okay. Or we can figure out a structure for this time around. We would have to launch a new structure. Then we run into some effort or player base splitting.

Edwin: Either that or ARML shifts in that direction and we deal with the fallout from that.

Luke: Is that something you want? If there was a magic wand where you turn ARML to the finder of the best online player in America, losing the players who aren't into that?

Edwin: We cannot afford to have two separate leagues. I don't think we're in a position to do that. By splitting it up, it also can hinder development of those who can't be in the other league.

Dave: We don't feel we have enough online structure to split the league.

Luke: No objection here, you can take "two leagues" is off the table.

Dave: Moving on: are we okay accepting (WRC seat for ARML)?

Edwin: Proposal is to just make it potentially possible to get ARML get a WRC seat

Dave: Despite these arguments, is that okay?

Edwin: Imperfect. Best thing I can think of this at this time. Best way I can currently think of at the time. But can understand that there are enough tradeoffs.

Luke: It is okay to promote your league as getting WRC seat, just because I disagree doesn't mean I'm right, "despite its flaws it should get it" is a valid position to take

Aldwin: Process to change it for just one slot. Looking for some online system to qualify one person.

Dave: We haven't talked about how many seats.

Luke: Regardless of count, should ARML be able to give out seats or not?

Aldwin: I withhold my decision

Luke: Can't you pick yes no or no opinion now? you can change your mind later if something new comes up. We all want to know where we all stand.

Aldwin: I will say yes based on the players on the top end. They're up there because they earned their way up there.

Crosstalk

Bichen: I see the problem with scheduling, if I wasn't in A1, if I started now, I'd never get games in becuase people aren't willing to work with it. Separate from ARML, I would prefer a one/two day online tournament.

Nima: Could strike a balance between a one/two day tournament and a longer league.

Dave: Challenges include identify verification and collusion. Especially with something of value on the line. What are our options?

Luke: Pretty difficult to prove cheating if they've been doing it for years, that's a good point for a league seat

Dave: Everyone's been good about this. The conclusion seems like it's pretty split. If we're split, then it makes it difficult to proceed with this.

Aldwin: Table this for later? It's online after all.

Luke: We have to settle this for at least this WRC, we're running out of time on options if its a "no but fixes make it yes"

Edwin: We do have some time, but I can't just tell them that in May and whatever league you are in Q1/Q2 2024 is your starting point, then they didn't have any heads up to change their rank. If I can't give them the first 2 seasons of next year, then I don't think it's fair necessarily. Can't really drop it in front of people.

Luke: Again, Imagine if ARML becomes the selection process for outputting the best online players for the next cycle. Is that something you want to see in ARML?

Edwin: It wasn't that people wanted ARML seats, they just had other issues with the selection process, and ARML is another option. The prior methods for 2022, people were not happy with.

Dave: We can just release our current circuit idea?

Edwin: People were not happy with the selection process for 2022. Nobody understood the rules were and why and people were frustrated with that. Hey, look, we now have a league. Why can't we just use it to award a seat. Compared to what we had in the past.

Luke: Is that something you want to work on for the next WRC?

Edwin: Certainly, for the next one, we should.

Dave: The challenge for this one is time. Even if there's a way to do it, there just isn't enough time.

Luke: There isn't enough time to start a new one without tons of games. It would just take players out of contention who can't devote that time. WRC is not a grinding tournament. 10 scramble hanchan -> 8 hanchan with 2 hanchan splits.

Crosstalk: It's too close to WRC

Dave: We could do something with ARML for 2028. We're not in a place now where the existing structure is good enough.

Dave: So then, Action item is what an online event would look like. What would a WRC online selection event need.

Luke: I don't have a specific problem with an online event. How much your ARML rating matters is another matter, but we have to see if we even can have an online event.

Crosstalk: Dave will ask WRC what they consider requirements for online seat giveaway

Dave: Does anyone disagree? No. So at this point, we conclude the agenda item on file.

Overall conclusion is that there will NOT be an ARML seat for WRC seat selection in 2025

Crosstalk: Any other business, no, okay move to open meeting

Dave: Closed Meeting adjourned.

NARMA Meeting Minutes 9/13/2023

MEETING MINUTES 6:14PM Eastern Sep 13 2023

Members PRESENT:

• David

• Luke

• Aldwin

• Edwin

• Bichen

• Nima

• Zac

Members MISSING:

• Ryan

PREMEETING ANNOUNCEMENT

David: Ryan has informed David that Ryan has resigned from the board.

David: before agenda, wants feedback from the: NAO event withdrawing / community talk / community petition

PRE-AGENDA 1: Feedback on Recent Events

David feels he has been speaking unilaterally, and wants input on that

Luke requests to split convo into pieces for ease of minutes

PRE-AGENDA 1-1: Event withdrawal / Community talk:

Luke: who withdrew event?

David: Ryan said he is no longer comfortable hosting event. David and Ryan prior to event, around sep 2022: "this should be fine". We (David and Ryan) should have done a larger survey. They decided to go forward.

Aldwin: Luke, when did you hear about it

Luke: I heard about it first at last narma meeting

Others: Agree

Luke: Aldwin, you promoted the event. can you give details?

Aldwin: Ryan gave me info to spread this.

David: Ryan and David were already rolling out messaging

SIDEBAR:

Zac: Requests other method for notification due to lack of discord presence.

David tells him he will be notified on anything that requires his input until he is comfortable with Discord.

RETURN TO PRE-AGENDA 1-1:

Luke: David posted a number of messages to the community with the word "we" (we decided, we looked at, etc). It was never clarified to people that in this case "we" means "David and Ryan", not "the board of NARMA". Regarding that, messages received by myself and others in person / online / etc included a lot of negative personal feedback, as people assumed I/others was part of the decision to have the event in Florida, when we are completely against it. Please clarify this in a statement to the public, and be clearer in the future.

David: understood.

David: As soon as i realized the negative siutation on the ground, David and Ryan canceled the event.

Zac: This was a surprise to me, did not know about contemporary florida politics, didnt realize any of this until NAO was announced, this is an unfortunate situation.

David: No one is happy with the situation. Cancelling was the best option.

PRE-AGENDA 1-2: Petition

David lists petition singers that are also on the board:

• Edwin

• Kyuu (Aldwin)

• Zac

David: This is a two part petition. First is saying that the NAO location is a wrong decision. Second is that narma is not functioning properly. Someone who signs means first, second, or both.

For people on board who signed, why did you sign?

Edwin: I will start. Others spoke to me wanting NARMA transparency. Edwin feels NARMA has issues. He talked with Aldwin about it, and with david, and feels that original structure was perhaps too much. He told others that he felt he would push to make it better.

Aldwin: Talking with people, nobody knows what is going on in there. For example, NAO is a David/Ryan project. the board was surprised at the NAO annoiuncement. I dont like surprises. In regards to the climate, Aldwin thought "I hope it works". First thing he thought was "what is the cancellation fee". So you have sympathy in that department. We voted out the bylaws, and went from inertia from there.

Edwin: I dont remember how that went. Maybe since that structure didnt work, why not pick another one.

David: I agree, lack of structure has hurt us.

Luke: Disagreed, lack of effort has hurt us. the bylaws weren't removed. We just have not used "Roberts Rules" since then since no person has made any motion to do anything by the book, it has all been passive consent - until "NAO Florida" was dropped on us. We still have bylaws we just dont use the "table motion etc etc" step by step rules because we didnt need to as there were no conflicts - until NAO.

Zac: Signed to agree that we shouldnt be exclusionary, and NARMA has a lot of issues. He feels that it is a push to improve. Lets do that. What are official clubs? What can we offer community? I want us to offer things to the commnuity that are wanted. There is a lot of political issue regarding Florida, and soon to be Oklahoma. while I may have past issues with others personally (Crosstalk - David says he is slow to reply and apologies, Zac apologizes), that does not matter, I want things to move forward and want to help it happen, within the limits of our effort and ability. We need deadlines, oversight.

David asks Luke to talk on not signing petition

Luke: Not signing doesnt mean not agreeing. I agree that we absolutely cannot condone an event in Florida at this time, and that NARMA needs to get its act together on transparency. But, as being part of the target of the petition, I felt my part was in receiving said petition and then acting on it. Had I signed, would I be unable to be impartial voting on making these changes happen as a NARMA board member? Someone could have made that case. Didn't want to chance it, left it to the local clubs to choose on their own to sign or no

Zac: Agree on the "should I sign I’m ON NARMA" reason

Bichen: Did not sign because while he agreed with it, it did not have a call to action. I can’t get behind the method. Regarding the tournament, Florida having tournaments is fine. National commodities being given is not.

David: Lets look at the agenda and work on doing things to make this better.

AGENDA 1: Updating club map

David: Its been held back. not updated. We need to get this working. Edwin is the only one with access. He needs to update it

Edwin: Discovered I was using Google My Maps, which didn't appear to be shareable to edit. Would probably be better off starting over with a new map.

Aldwin: I have access to jellicode.

Luke: Do you have permission to use their info? Attribution? You’d need that to just take their info.

Zac: Why not collect it ourselves?

David: We need to update it regardless. We need a way to let people put themselves on. Check on old clubs as well.

Aldwin: I can do it.

Luke: Deadlines and oversight on this? David and Aldwin please work it out:

David: OK. Four parts to this work:

1. Check to see if you have access to other information lists

2. Do a refresh check in of clubs we have see if they are still around

3. Put a club signup on the website and dump it to a place all board can see

4. Broadcast this service exists now

David: I will put club signup on website and dump to board-available list (3), will do so within a week. Aldwin what can you do?

Aldwin: I can contact clubs from a list

Luke: Okay Aldwin, how long do you want?

Aldwin: End of the year

David: That’s a long time

Crosstalk on Aldwin giving a specific answer

Aldwin: We have permission from jellicode. (just received a response to an inquiry sent during the meeting)

Crosstalk: Approximately 60 clubs to contact

David: Aldwin, can you send a contact to all these clubs in a week, and file information received in a board doc?

Aldwin: Yes

David: Are we all in agreement to start this?

Luke: What is listed? Requested on form?

David: Name, fixed address if possible, social media link (for social media, web, discord ) city, state

Luke/David: crosstalk on form specifics

Crosstalk: Agreed, everyone get to work

AGENDA 2: Regular meeting cadence

David: We need regular meetings. Once per month? Find the time once a month? closed meeting / open meeting?

Aldwin: Stream it?

Zac: Some people have issues with streaming in their work location

Aldwin: Set meeting time at end of previous meeting?

David/Edwin/Luke: that's hard because of work responsibilities

Edwin: Setting a basic schedule helps

Luke: Can you clarify the two types of meetings? Closed v Open?

David: Yes, closed is board only, with minutes released after. Open is board discussion with listeners and point where listeners can give voice input/ feedback.

Edwin: So as an example, closed we make an RFP (request for proposal) thing, open we ask for questions on it when its done?

David: Yeah. First half of month closed, second half open?

Luke: Once a month? Can we handle twice a month? Also what kind of things would be redacted in a closed meeting?

David: Things public doesn’t hear for important reasons

Luke: Like talking about others personal information? phone, address, names of people who want to bring anonymous concerns?

David: Yeah. What do people think?

Edwin: We do need times with people not listening because of personal info

Bichen: How about closed part open part all one meeting

David: Thats a long meeting, are people cool with it?

Crosstalk: Lets try it

David: Okay. Still want to do a second open meeting this month to address the current events

Crosstalk: Yes. Will determine meeting time for later this month ASAP after meeting.

AGENDA 3: NAO RFP Process

David: Lots of people want to do NAO, but board needs to see these requests and agree on one. So what specifics are required.

Luke: Clarify specifics?

David: If you are an org and want to run NAO, this is how you tell us that and this is what the event would look like

Crosstalk: Creating list of things to ask for on form:

• Club name

• Person name

• Person contact info (email/social/ohone/etc)

• Venue location

• Break even budget based on given player count (tentative: 100), including player entry fee

• Available lodging options

• Event material availability (do you have sets mats: make note that NARMA can offer examples of places to get all items)

• Available list of senior staff (referees, etc)

• List of previously run events / tournaments

• Tentative schedule (min 2 days, min 5 hanchan per day)

• Food plan (is lunch provided? or, information of food availability nearby, including locations and distance)

• Any other info they want to provide

Edwin/David: Staff minimums?

David: Good, should be x staff per Y tables

Luke: Lets hash that out now

David: OK

Crosstalk: Creating list of minimums (names of staff can change in future but need to know you have it now):

• Head referee

• Floor referees (1 per 8 tables)

• Head and floor referees must know: all rules (given available rule handbook, scoring calculation without need of reference)

• 3 substitutes

• Equipment in good working order (not cracked or otherwise marked)

• Equal tournament equipment for all at each stage: for example, half on auto tables half not on auto tables is not allowed, but "all games in top cut are on auto tables" is

David: Also, we need an incident report publically available

Luke: Website should have feedback/incident report communication ability listed at all times regardless

David: Needs a narma observer there

Luke: thats on us to provide

David: OK, we now have an application form. Now we need a good way to receive them. I can make a form that submits to place board can see. I will have it on website by end of week

David: Regarding timing, want to try to get info in by end of Sept, for event in January. If we cannot do that then we will have to move the dates back.

AGENDA 4: Increasing Board membership

David: How should we determine membership? Terms? Etc?

Luke: Historically, the original idea was "there is a board in good-faith that does its best to self regulate and let people on to make things as good as possible". They add people as needed, like if someone wants to be on and it would be a good thing they were. They remove people as needed. If this board sucks, then it sucks, and if the board doesnt fix it, then that means NARMA sucks, and people can disregard NARMA. It self-regulates.

David: Regardless of mechanics, we need to get community people on now. With diverse ideas and representative of the community of today's players. Then with all those opinions we can move forward.

SIDEBAR:

Zac: What does narma offer?

David: At the most core level, david was chosen by JPML to be their liason to the US. David is also on the board of WRC, and "goes to bat" for North America.

Luke: In the past we had attempted to do more, and failed because of bureaucracy and lack of effort. In the wake of it, people built their own things for the community. Hopefully we can get back to making things again.

Crosstalk of future ideas: Leagues? (ARML filled that need) Ranking? (RO, etc) This can come later, this meeting is housecleaning

BACK TO AGENDA 4

Luke: Ok, how should we get people on

David: Some people asked me. But how do we choose Person A vs Person B vs Person C? Should we just ask the community? How? Ask for applications? x spots? Everything has drawbacks.

Luke: Do you advocate for an open popular vote? Gamesmanship issues can occur. How do you assure people are applying in good faith? How do you assure we currently are acting in good faith? Should you on either end?

David: The issue is not that we dont have the best interests at heart. its that the community has grown so much we dont have representatives of this new community.

Crosstalk: Do we look for people from groups? from clubs? specifically new folks?

Bichen: Just ask publically who wants to be on the board and go from there

David: People need to know what they are getting into. Requirements: You need to make monthly / bi monthly board meetings. Do work on behalf of the board

Bichen: They should show a leadership position, not necessarliy a club, but within the community

Luke: Should we reach out to specific people as narma and ask them to apply because we think they would be a good fit, or should they reach out themselves? I don't want nepotism, just because we know someone doesnt mean they should get in

Crosstalk discussion of above

David: We as individuals, not as NARMA, can feel free to suggest to people that they should apply, but they have to reach out on their own, and they don't get any advantage from someone on board liking them

Luke: Regardless of methodology, for transparency, post all applications publically (minus contact/personal info) so that people see all the applications.

Luke: Does the board still exist as individual people? or do you want "club seats"? For example, a board seat could be held by Club X, and whoever they want in it is in it.

Dave: This is about people. they may be people in or running large clubs, but its the people that want to help the community

Crosstalk: Agreeing with above

David: How about all submissions will be made public with contact info redacted. We will review them with the community and select people. Put up notice, "We are looking to add multiple enthusiastic people to better represent the community"

Crosstalk: Agreement

SIDEBAR:

David: Announcements need to be written for discord and website for all this

• Calender update

• RFP process (David can do this)

• Board recruitment

Bichen: WRC national qualifier, proposal given, we need to get this worked on

Crosstalk: who is the point person

Luke: Aldwin wanted to do it so with board approval I handed off to Aldwin with the guidelines agreed to last meeting so i could work on other matters. Will send the currently done work on nationals format info already in the discord for Aldwin to use going forward. We already have a regional qualifier format from historical WRC, sending that as well.

AGENDA COMPLETE

OTHER MATTERS

David: None

Luke: Update bios on site everyone, by the weekend, four are blank

Crosstalk: Agreed, send to David

Zac: There should be an apology statement for the NAO situation

David: I will write an apology, will bring to board by Monday

Crosstalk, next meeting: shooting for end of month, must be at least 5-7 days from meeting time choice to meeting so people can make time

MEETING ENDED 9:13 Eastern