The continuation of our Candid Kendama series (read part one here) leads us to the realm of competitive kendama. While the heat of competition isn’t for everyone, there is no denying that interest in the scene has been rising, with grander prizes and more spectacular venues. Still, events are far from perfect, and so we invited our candid participants to answer the following question:

"What would you add to a competition to make it ‘better’ and what would you remove?"

•I would tell organizers that when making tricklists to keep in mind you are allowing people at that level to show who is the best at that level. Competition is to test who will be the best, not to try to level up the game to the point that beginners stop competing because the beginner list is actually intermediate, and so on. Yes the game evolves, but tricklists at competitions should reflect the current level of play for that level, not be a source of making a level harder. This would help eliminate sandbagging and actually spread the fields effectively and more accurately.

•During open, which is values concentration, focus, and precision, I think the music should reflect that. In my experience, the most excited I’ve been for an open match usually has non-“exciting” music. DJ’s spinning hype dubstep and techno draws away from my attention. When there are synth heavy focus music, I am fully in the movement.

•It seems weird that there are men and women divisions, like why can’t anyone just compete with anyone??

•I think that depends on what you're trying to get out of the competition. If you want strict rules and ways to compare players based on stats or a point system then the KWC format seems to be working well. However my favorite event to compete in is VanJam because it's a “skate” style trick selection. I think this freedom is nice for players who might not have time to learn and practice a trick list.

•I think that legitimacy in rankings or officially adding something to help make freestyles and players that are of pro caliber official would be better. I do think that maybe removing open for anyone below amateur would be best and instead we have speed ladders or more so mini games would be better. Open at lower rankings is too long. Plus, it would reduce smurfing or make it less frustrating.

•Bring back Kentei testing, approving kendamas before competing & evaluating judges. Lets remove ambiguity from the trick names.

•Removal of speedladder permanently from comps. Add KEN style, where you pick one of the comp tricks on your turn instead of random. Winning a point on a trick locks it

•Top 10 games where the best of th best compete in different ability style Kendama matches. An area designed to teach new tricks at different levels maybe?

•Finding freestyle formats that take away preference of style of play. But the issue is finding judges that are qualified. I would remove how we get the brackets, have a point system similar to tennis and you win through year you get higher rank that puts you in a high seed in a bracket.

•I would like to see more alternative formats of competition! LVKO is a good example of this, introducing random speed ladders. While Open and Freestyle are both staples and absolutely deserve to stay, it would be a nice change of pace to have other kinds of competitions whether it be through games of ken or pop or even a new untapped format.

•Add instant replay on the big screen, at least for the biggest events. Remove people that are not findable if its their turn to be in stage :D

•I would remove music completely. Music playing during a competition takes away from the moment and distracts the audience from the click and clack of the persons trick, which would feel 10x more intense and personal. I would add a much higher culture of respect and attentiveness to a competition setting. Not only are you competing to be the best player, but also the best spectator possible.

•I’d add catering, lol. Having no good food at events is probably the biggest struggle. The homies and I always end up spending way too much money ordering food or trying to find something decent nearby. If there was catering or just some solid food options at events, that would be a total game-changer. Other than that, events are already pretty amazing and unique in their own way. And for what I’d remove, plain and simple, Girls comp. I don’t think an explanation is even needed for that one. It’s a joke at this point.

•I would add a free time to talk with friends and meet new people and I would remove open for American events because where I live in Japan most of our competitions have their own unique rules which is very cool!

•I would always add double elimination opens. I would remove open format from every division besides amateur, and return to speed ladders. I would add seeding and make the seeding public so people strive to enter a competition as high as possible. I would want to add way more local sponsors, and try to get each event a title sponsor from their local area, that way money is more available. Last but certainly not least, u would pay out top 8 in an event, that way more people are incentivized in actually competing because it’s not just top 3 who win.

•add: normalize price money. Kendama needs money in the scene to grow, this will also further motivate players to win (however, price money has increased a lot during the past few years, I feel like we're moving to a good direction). Try to get more sponsors outside of kendama: (at least in europe) it's maily kendama brans sponsoring ab event. But often local brands (skate/drinks/food/clothing) would be interested in sponsoring but generally won't get asked. By connecting non-kendama brands to kendama it can grow to become a great synergy with companies increasing their support in the scene (maybe like aroundsquare) remove: speedladders: Beginner and intermediate comps are very often still in a speedladder format. I know that is very time saving, however no one actually enjoys it. People playing are under insane pressure and won't perform that well, people watching won't get the same hype as in a good open match, and everyone playing open I've talked to so far tells me they did not enjoy doing speedladders when they were beginner/intermediate. So why do we keep doing this concept??

•I think it would be cool for every event to have an additional prize pool of whatever the attendees can donate, and this would be an optional “donate what you can” feature available with online registration and at the door for players/spectators alike. At the end of the day that’s one of the more difficult things to afford once an event organizer pays for the venue and all other costs. Getting a huge amount of product and prizes from sponsors is awesome but asking them for money instead (or on top of that) just feels weird. Plus, the industry cannot thrive is we are only giving money to each other…

•Add a Yo-Yo style comp SINGLE ELIM HAS NO PLACE IN KENDAMA!!! If you are paying money to compete in a bracket that is single elimination and you get knocked out first round, that competitor is more than likely not happy. Which in turn makes them question if they even want to come back to the event the following year.

•Add more time for workshops and connecting with individuals. Less premieres of the next pro.

•More time on stage for everyone, it’s to hard to progress with just 3min on stage at each event.

•Add more freestyle events Remove excessive kendama prizes ( other prizes )

•Basically the same answer as my previous response , focus on freestyle, shorten open drastically it’s too much of a time sink for an event.

•Add camera judge on big events to slomo a trick. Points system for freestyle

•Again this is another question that brings multiple things to my mind. Music- it isn’t an issue to have edm for the event, but having loud in your face music from 10 AM to 7/8 PM takes a lot out of people who don’t intake that music very often. Not to mention the less advanced players who are not used to have the stage shaking from the music playing during their attempts. Music can be used as a tool to hold people’s attention. Keeping the music calm during the first rounds and building to it being louder towards the end. Venues- we don’t need multiple venues or a hotel. Kendama has grown a lot but we are still small enough to run one venue for multiple days if needed. While we are still this size we need to take advantage of cost of the smaller venues and not try to spread everything so thin that it doesn’t live up to the original idea of Kendama players player Kendama competitively live in front of Kendama players. The biggest thing with a hotel venues is the post competition atmosphere. The work MJR & Depot have done with D-Block has been such a great addition to BATB. Not every player is there to party/engage with the night life, but those who do don’t want to do it with children walking around.

•better: revamp the divisions and make levels match the division. (pro, and am needs to change as pro seems to have a power creep) remove: the friendliness, as in comps should feel pretty intense in my opinion.

•I think competition is fine where it’s at.

•Homie of the weekend or something, recognizing an individual that was always down or around during the event, could be by popular vote or something Remove? Ladder brackets are probably the worst thing in comp imo

•Speedladders for Pro and more Variety in Comp for high skilled players.

•I’d add in more competition formats, having a KEN tournament with limitations is super fun!!! As well as speed ladders for a competition is really fun as well, the main benefit of speed ladders is that it’s very high level and it goes quick so if there’s a one day tournament it can actually finish before 11-12

•Add speed ladders, are fun for entry players. I would remove girl categories, it should always be open

•I have a cool idea for a vid booth. You sign up for 5 min in front of a backdrop with a pro level camera. Super cheap fee to own 5 mins of footage in front of an event backdrop.

•Audience judges, allow the audience to have a vote in freestyle.

•More trick exhibition and less competitions.

•Freestyle finals and Open finals are the most entertaining to watch. However possible, more of that! High level 1 on 1 play, where the entire focus is on 1 or 2 highly skilled players at a time.

•“Prove it”, to game point in 1v1 like in games of Ken.

•Add proper seeding, remove excessive video premiers.

•I would add new formats like some of the smaller competitions do, and a KWC style format should be added to one of the American competitions like the ones in France and Australia and China do.

•It‘s fine.

•More animations (intro player, name displayed on stage like on Red Bull dance battles). Freestyle is insane cool for non-players, open is a bit more boring for non kendama players and takes a bit too long.

•Having time during the comp to do something like the Birlies or TOTY or other yearly awards which bring the community together (best edit of the year, best trick etc.) I can't say there is anything I'd remove, except to ensure that large events could be attended by kids with their parents and it would paint a welcoming picture of the community.

•Add double elim if possible timewise. Add new concepts of competition to make it interesting. Remove predetermined brackets.

•I’d like to see every comp run three, kwc style truck list 3min sesh, 1v1 with tricklist & freestyle.

•I would add a more curated mise en scene. Something more thought out and worthy of a show.