Now that the dust has settled on Mulligan’s Open 2024 it is time to share with you my analysis of the community feedback and discuss any changes that will be made for next year. First off, I would once again like to thank each and every one of you who joined us for the weekend. It was fantastic to see you all, I can’t believe we managed to get 84 coaches together in Scotland for a weekend of Blood Bowl! Thank you all so much for supporting us.
So on to the feedback… Coaches were asked to rate Mulligan’s Open on a scale of 0 to 5 on 4 different indicators (overall experience, venue, food and rules). Each coach was also asked to leave a comment at the end so that we could gain some quality feedback on the event and find out exactly where we could improve in the future. In the end we had 45 respondents (13 of which from out with Scotland) which covers 54% of the field. So all in all a pretty substantial group in order to make our analysis.
Starting with the overall experience of Mulligan’s Open, respondents marked us on average as a 4.6 out of 5. This can be further broken down as 4.7 from respondents in Scotland and 4.2 from those out with Scotland. Overall I am very happy with this as a rating. I am extremely humbled that overall the vast majority of respondents enjoyed their weekend. Looking at the comments in this regard our respondents thought that the event was ran really well, had a great atmosphere, breaks/lunches were a good length and the participation gifts/prizes were good quality. It was also mentioned however that some of the respondents missed the spot prizes we normally hand out at Mulligan’s Open and some issues with the venue and rules pack lowered the score for some (but more on these two topics very soon). On the subject of spot prizes… These will be making a comeback in 2025, I am sure you will all be happy to hear. This was an oversight on my part this year and spot prizes were planned (later added into the raffle), however these fell by the wayside after I ended up having to play the first 2 games. Action point for next year… find another spare person so that I can always be on hand. It was also pointed out that the raffle, although fun, sort of overran and that this could be pre drawn to speed up the process. This is something I will 100% take forward on to next year. There were some comments regarding tables, in particular where people had to play over two tables connecting. I am happy to announce that in 2025 we will be hiring 4ft by 2.5ft tables instead of 6ft tables. This will allow each game to be played on their own table so should cut down on this issue.
Moving swiftly on to venue feedback next, respondents marked us on average as a 3.3 out of 5 for Venue. This could be further broken down as 3.5 from respondents in Scotland and 2.9 from those out with Scotland. Comments surrounding the venue was very varied (hence the average score) with respondents pointing out the pro’s of the excess space (lots of room to wander around and between tables), the lighting (lots of natural light) and the location. On the flip side, as well all know, the venue was very cold day 1 (day 2 was much improved with windows shut and heaters on for us coming in (this was pointed out by many respondents)) and the toilet facilities being too small (only 3 cubicles). I had taken this feedback to the venue and they were willing to work with us to improve the venue experience for next session. They have offered us the down stairs space which is slightly larger than the upstairs from this year. The downstairs space windows are also sealed shut and shuttered which should help to improve the heat due to lack of draft. The venue has also assured me that the heating will be on before we arrive to ensure that this is at an acceptable level. With the downstairs space comes improved toilet facilities also. The venue said we could turn the female toilets into male for the weekend with the disabled toilets made into a female/gender neutral toilet. This would increase the toilet facilities to 2 female/gender neutral and 8 stalls/4 urinals for males. This dramatically increases the facilities available and should solve the issue of accessibility. We would of course lose the natural lighting of upstairs but overall the venue should be warmer and have better facilities for all. There is also a larger bar downstairs which offers a larger selection of drinks, this should also improve the overall experience. The larger space will also allow us to extend attendance to 110 participants for 2025.
Up next is food, respondents scored us on average 3.7 out of 5 for lunch. This could be broken down to 3.6 from Scottish respondents and 3.8 from those out with Scotland. The majority of respondents were happy with the food offering with the exception of the quantity on day 1 being a bit stingy. I also was very surprised at the size of the pizza that came out on day 1 and I agree this was definitely on the small side. As for the rolls… Some people loved them and some people weren’t that keen. Taking this into consideration we have decided to double the food budget for 2025. This will ensure that we can offer better options as well as there being larger quantities. This will however increase the ticket price to £50 for 2025. This should ensure that the food offering is better in future.
Lastly we look at the feedback on the rules pack. Respondents on average rated the rules as 3.7 out of 5. This is broken down to 4 out of 5 from those within Scotland and 3 out of 5 for those out with Scotland. Overall the majority of people had fun with the rule set, although it was pointed out that those who played against star players (especially Megastars) didn’t have as much of an enjoyable experience. I also agree with the comments that Underworld were too low tiered and that some races could also be re-tiered. As a result, I have already started looking at the Mulligan’s ruleset for 2025 and the initial draft of this has been sent out for feedback with within and out with Scotland. In order to improve the rules pack for next year Megastars will be removed, star players will be costed higher and there is some re-tiering of races that should help to make them a lot more viable overall. This should help to alleviate some of the issues with the rules and help to create a more competitive ruleset for next year.
All in all, 93% of respondents said that they would be looking to attend Mulligan’s Open again next year with an additional 4% mentioning they would attend again should the rules pack improve and star players be less viable.
A huge thank you to everyone who gave us feedback. It is very much appreciated and important to ensure that we improve in future years. We look forward to welcoming you all again next year for what we hope will be even bigger and better than this year.
ChrisRaff88
Mulligan’s Open TO
