I wanty to accumulate BGL on a different platform, which one do you experienced guys recommend?
The number of exchanges that allow you to trade the coin is limited now. Its Crex24, DigiFinex and Hotbit. All information is here
https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitgesell/Also, +1 for how to run nodes and participate in the contest

You do that just by having BGL core wallet open?
Nodes run using Linux VPS. Already there are 130 participants + on the last day are launched many "1 hour nodes". The chance to catch good luck is small.