Congratulations to the tournament winner, Nailer X!
This will be a long, slow, leisurely tournament in which you will play one game at a time over a long period.
Number of Players: I need a minimum of 25 players to start this tournament, but there is no maximum. The more the merrier. I will leave sign-ups open for at least 25 days, and possibly a few more depending on my work schedule. Keep signing up, and bring some friends!
Freemiums: Because only one game at a time will be played, freemiums are welcome, but of course you must keep one slot open for this.
Maps: The only map used throughout the tournament will be the Random? map.
Settings: Settings will be the ever-popular Automatic, Sequential, Escalating and Chained. Every third round (rounds 3, 6, 9 and so on) will be Foggy. The others will be Sunny. Most games will be 5-player Standard, except as needed to balance the numbers.
Procedure: Every round you will play one game. Nobody will be eliminated for the first four rounds. At the end of round 5, and every round thereafter, the players with the fewest wins will be eliminated. One exception: if all the players remaining have exactly the same number of wins, then none of them will be eliminated that round. This will continue until there is only one player left.
A win is a win. There are no partial points for coming second in a game or any special bonuses.
There will be no seeding -- all players will be slotted into games at random. Most games will be 5-player except as needed to balance the numbers. As long as we have 21 or more players remaining, I will balance the numbers by making some of the games 6-player. When the number of players remaining is between 19 and 9, I will go the other way and balance the numbers by making some of the games 4-player. When the number of players remaining is 8 or less they will all play in one game.
Deadlocked games: Because this tournament is for people who are not in a hurry, I will not worry too much about rushing games along. However, if the last game in a round is lasting an unusually long time, I will give five days notice for the players to win, and if it is still not won at the end of the five days then I will declare a winner according to reinforcements received on the last turn taken before the deadline.
Attendance rules: For the first five rounds, I will be following a strict attendance rule. Miss two consecutive invites and you're OUT.
Starting with round six, however, there will be a special provision for people to take a leave of absence from the tournament. Since I expect this tournament to take a long time, possibly even years, it is only reasonable to give some thought to people who need to be away from their comps for a vacation or to undergo open-heart surgery or whatever. To take a leave of absence just post in the thread, and you will not be invited to the next round's games, without prejudice. NOTE: Taking a leave of absence will only protect you from being booted for missing invites. It will NOT protect you from being eliminated in the normal fashion if you have the fewest wins at the end of a round. Try to cover yourself by winning a few extra games before leaving! (I know, easier said than done.)
Let's have some fun! By the way, can you guess that this is my fifth tournament?
