What types of side events are best enjoyed by Vintage players?

[Iron_Chef]

I'm always on the lookout for side events that people want to participate in.  Here are a number of side event formats/costs that are an option.  As a reply, just post which 1 or 2 you'd like to play in, or all, or none (please provide a suggestion in that case).
1: Vintage Side Event (swiss)

Entry Fee: ~$10
Prize: usually an Italian Drain to first, something cool to 2nd.

Pros: It's Vintage, a format that everyone at the store should want to play (they are there to play vintage, amirite?)
Cons: Swiss takes a while, unless it's 8 people.  It must be started before the swiss portion of my event ends, and that stops people from playing who might still be in contention for top 8 or prize.

2: Single-Elimination Vintage 8-man

Entry Fee: ~$10
Prize: 1st gets an Italian Drain

Pros: Single Elim is fast!  I can start this after the swiss rounds at a tournament, and it ends before the top 8 is done playing.
Cons: My experience is that there are more then 8 people interested, but less then 16.  If i put a strict 8-man cap on it, then there will be people left out.

3: Booster Draft!

Entry Fee: $15
Prizes: Booster Pack Prizes (1.5 packs per person)

Pros: Booster Draft is fun?  It also gets more money in from entry fees, assuming you have boxes laying around.
Cons: It takes time, and not everyone wants to draft after a long day of Vintage.

4: EDH/Commander

Entry Fee: $5 (to keep it more casual)
Prizes: Either packs or appropriate credit

Pros: EDH is fun.
Cons: Getting interested players event after event has been tough

5: Something unique

I have the ability to run things like a CE Rotisserie Draft (lay out all of the CE (aka Beta) set, and have 8 players draft decks).  I can make this cost whatever I want it to, since at the end of the day I keep the CE Set.  I've charged $20 a bunch of times and people usually have a lot of fun with this.  These events are best done once in a while, to preserve the special feeling of it.

Something else I can do is a Zendikar Rotisserie Draft.  Here's the fun part.  I have a playset of Zendikar, and if I charged $40 per person, people could keep what they drafted (or re-draft at the end, whatever I decide).  Minimum 60 card construction, but you can play with playsets of everything!

There's also generic constructed formats (aka T2, Extended, Legacy, etc)

Thoughts?

[Demonic Attorney]

I liked the idea of EDH side events, and tried to incorporate them into the tournaments I had a hand in organizing.  The reasons were pretty straightforward.  Side events are populated by the people who lost in the main event and dropped.  The more "casual" players in Vintage are more likely to have lost and dropped.  EDH seems to have a lot of appeal to the casual player crowd.  So it seems like a good fit for the players you're most likely going to be offering your side event to.

The flip side some of the more serious players don't always do well in every main event.  EDH for them is fine but a side event that presents another chance play at a competitive level for a real prize is probably what they'd be most interested in.  So a single-elim 8-man for a Drain should cover them.  I'd start that single-elim event a bit later on, since "serious" Vintage players are likely to stay in the main event longer.

The way I'd do it, assuming a 6-round tournament, would be to start an EDH side event at round 3 or 4, to catch the casual player crowd before they left.  I'd make the entrance fee pretty minuscule ($5 sounds about right, but maybe even less) and make the prizes like last man standing gets his entrance fee refunded, and first player to kill 2 others gets half their entrance fee refunded.  At the start of the Swiss rounds, I'd start the single-elim tourney for a Drain.

/unsolicited feedback

[GrandpaBelcher]

Sometimes I would be interested in non-Magic side events.  But still for Magic cards (or packs) as prizes.

[Yare]

In order of preference, with the first most preferred: 2, 1, 3.

I originally was going to say 1, 2, 3, but I realized that with swiss rounds, you potentially have the tournament being prolonged unnecessarily with irrelevant matches when its already late in the day and getting the tournament over with in a relatively fast fashion is more important than more rounds. Swiss would still be ok, though. I prefer a draft to the other choices after that. I wouldn't play in EDH because I have no EDH deck and barely have time to devote to Vintage as it is, let alone EDH.

[mikekilljoy]

Single elim events are great Nick. I think the main problem is how late they need to start anyway and the fcat that kost people who 0-3 drop or something are normally too bummed out to try again.

[KingSquee]

Generally I enjoy side events that are any format other than Vintage. This is because if I am out of contention in the main event, and thus eligible to play in a side event, I'm probably bummed out because my deck sucked and I really don't feel like playing it again. This may change now that I have a decent testing gauntlet thrown together. I can just play something else.

Formats I'd play in side events include, in no particular order:

Proxy Vintage
EDH / peasant EDH
Draft
Legacy
Rotisserie Draft
Magic trivia
Tichu!
Catch Phrase!
Ascension!

[Smmenen]

Double elimination Vintage.   

[Prospero]

I have been a fan of eight man pods of single elimination Vintage.  Double elimination is cool, but it can take an ungodly amount of time to finish the event, depending on the number of entrants.

[Diakonov]

8-man Booster Draft.

[2nd_lawl]

Magic Trivia

[Smmenen]

I have been a fan of eight man pods of single elimination Vintage.  Double elimination is cool, but it can take an ungodly amount of time to finish the event, depending on the number of entrants.

Double elimin only adds one match to the time, so I'm not sure why you say that.   Mostly, it gives the people who have lost a reason to stay in it, and makes it more fun overall.   

Also, I would let players play different decks than they ran in the main event, and even encourage more proxies than permitted in the main event so people can audible.

I'm not a fan of non-Vintage side events at vintage tournaments.