Although the game has been out of production for some time now, there were some noob kids who have showed up for our most recent tournament. Two of them were students of mine (a grade 3 and a grade 2) who happened to pick up a few loose pieces with cards and wanted to impress me by showing them to me (because I don't make it a secret that I'm a SW fan). They liked looking at the pics and playing freestyle with the figures. Luckily, they also played Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh, so the idea of playing the game wasn't entirely foreign to them. I offered to teach them the game when they showed interest in the cards, so last week we did lunch in the class and they each scrabbled together 100pt teams to take on my squad (6 of those Old Rep. droids with shatterbeam and the OR wookiee warrior I think). I mentioned that there was a tournament this weekend, and they asked if they could play too. With kids their age, our local group allows them to make a squad with whatever they can get together, regardless of faction. I emailed their parents to give details and didn't hear back, so I figured the interest wasn't there.
However, on Sunday I showed up and both boys were there and eager to play. As well, there was another 8 year old who showed up with his dad too. The other players helped them scratch together 200pt teams and then we thoroughly whupped them . However, we showed them strategy, explained the rules, and at the end the kids got to go home with our booster pulls and a repaint each. After all, we pretty much have all we need, so we tend to give the pieces to the kids who own just a handful of pieces.
I got an email from one of the moms the next day saying that her son was already talking about going to the next tournament. Now a couple of other boys in the class want to know where to buy the pieces so they can learn to play as well. If the interest continues, perhaps I'll start my classroom league again....

Yeah, I want the game to keep going in Toronto as long as I can and know it has a bit of staying power, especially if presented properly. I was always a bit mystified how the game went down despite the popularity of star wars. I think wotc was right in keeping as many mainstream characters as they did, but I think the advertising was off in getting the younger generations to pay attention. Anyway, word of mouth can still be a good system locally.

good job Mike! one of these days I'll be able to convince my wife to let me go out on a Sunday! :)

Ahh newlyweds. Bring her along. Drop her at the huge mall 2 minutes away I'm sure you'll be done long before she is.

Awesome, way to keep the game going!