Notes for the 2008 tournament rules and format:

The tournament is a 5 round tournament.  The tournament format is modified accelerated swiss style, with 3 scenarios each round to choose from.

The tournament rules have been altered slightly in 2008, in order to reduce the risk of not finding one clear winner, without the use of tiebreakers. With the 2008 rules – that risk is very low.

Basically, the changes to the rules consist of changes to the pairing algorithm. It is still basically a swiss draw tournament, but the pairing is accelerated, in the sense that in round 2-5, a higher number of players is losing their first game each round – thereby reducing their change of winning the tournament to almost nothing.

For players with one or more losses, we try to increase the fun-factor a bit, by trying to avoid pairing the player with regular opponents in particular and by making the pairing less strict.

Pairing principles:

Players are paired according to the following principles (see definitions below):

Round 1:

• Top 32 players (based on ASO rating) are matched in one pool, seeded.
• The remaining players are matched in a separate pool, seeded

Round 2-5:

• Top X players (maximum point players, in order of ASO rating) are matched in one pool, seeded. X is based on the round: Round 2 = 16, Round 3 = 8, Round 4 = 4, Round 5 = 2
• Each remaining players with maximum points is matched with a player that has exactly one draw or loss. Highest rated (ASO rating) maximum point player against highest rated player with one loss/draw.
• The remaining players are matched according to common swiss draw principles (against player of similar amount of points in the tournament), with the following adjustments:
• We’ll try not to match players of similar nationality
• Players mutually agreeing and with similar amount of points are welcome to request to be matched up as opponents.

Top players: All players with maximum points in the tournament (i.e. have not had a loss or a draw) are put on a list, ranked in order of their ASO rating at tournament start (ties resolved randomly). The top 16 players are the topmost 16 players on this list.

Seeded matching: The players in the pool are ranked in order of their ASO rating at tournament start. The list is then split in the middle, and the topmost ranked player is matched with topmost ranked in the bottom half of the list, and so on. E.g. 6 players on a list are matched like this: 1 vs 4 / 2 vs. 5 / 3 vs. 6

Swiss style means that in each round, you will play an opponent who has approximately the same amount of points as you (i.e. has won / lost about the same number of games as you).
Points: When you play a match you will get 3 points for winning, 1 point for a draw and 0 for losing.

Swiss style means that in each round, you will play an opponent who has won / lost about the same number of games as you. When you play a match you will get 3 points for winning, 1 point for a draw and 0 for losing.

There are two ways of choosing a scenario; 1) you could agree on one of the three scenarios or 2) use the following method; Both of you choose one of the 3 scenarios which you will not play, and give the other 2 a priority. Then there are 3 possible outcomes ;

1. you have chosen to delete two different scenarios ; and you play the remaining one.
2. You have deleted the same one, and chosen the same scenario as 1st priority ; you play this one.
3. you have deleted the same but chosen a different scenario as 1st priority; you roll a die to determine which scenario to play.

We shall use ABS (Australian Balance System) with all of the scenarios. Included in the scenario list are the ABS for all the scenarios. For those who are unfamiliar with ABS, this is how it works:
Instead of one, there will be four levels of balance to each side. To decide who plays which side, each player secretly bids how much he wants to give up to play a given side. It is not possible to choose nothing / blank, you have to choose a side . The four options are ; a given side but level 0 balance, level 1, level 2, or level 3. Each level will strengthen the enemy forces or weaken your own. For example in a British/German scenario, which you feel favors the Germans very much, you could chose G3 (German level 3). If players chose the same side (G1 and G3), the player who has chosen the higher number, gets to play that side, yielding the balance provisions to the other player. If both players have chosen the same side and balance level, roll a die to determine who gets to play what, and the loser gets the balance. If players have chosen different sides, both balance levels are in effect.

Rules:

The tournament uses the official ASL Rules, 2nd. edition, including the following optional rules: IIFT (A7.37), All chapter E rules (E, E.1) and Reverse Motion (F.11). Regarding IIFT, the variant using conditional PTC's is used (see ASL 2nd ed. rulebook, chapter A, Footnote 10A, 2nd paragraph).
If both players in a match agree, they can decide not to use any or all of the above optional rules. 

Rolling the dice:

Some kind of dice-rolling-equipment is required. You can use a dice-cup, throw the dice into a glass, use a dice-tower, or throw the dice into a box or something similar. Whatever the method used, your opponent must be able to see the result at the same time that you are.

If two players are unable to finish a game within the allotted time, they have to decide the outcome of the scenario, using one of these three methods:

• Mutual agreement, i.e. the players agrees on a winner or a tie.
• Roll the dice!
• Let the Organizers decide the game.

If the players cannot agree on a result, or if at least one of the players does not want to roll the dice for the victory, then the organizers decides the match in the following manner:

1. Three judges are selected from among the other players in the tournament and/or the organizers. The organizers should strive to find judges with the following characteristica, but the amount of qualified judges available might make that impossible.
   a. Players/organizers with sufficient rules/gaming experience to evaluate the situation.
   b. Players/organizers whom is either not participating in the tournament or whom has lost at least one game (thereby giving them no particular interest in favoring one side or the other).
   c. No ties of personal friendship or similar (or the opposite) between the judge and any of the implicated players.
2. The players are asked to accept the judges. If at least one of the players involved cannot accept a judge, a reason must be given, and if reasonable a new judge is selected instead. This process is repeated until both the players and the organizers are satisfied. The organizers has the final word in selection of judges. One of the judges is appointed head-judge.
3. Each of the implicated players gets 3 minutes each, to give his assessment of the situation, as well as explain how he is going to win the game. During the players presentation, the judges may ask brief questions, but should take care not to give the player ideas that he would not have thought of himself. This presentation is done one player at a time, without the presence of the other player.
4. Each judge then secretly writes down his evaluation of each players chances of winning the game, should the match have continued with no time limit. This evaluation is stated in increments of 5% (i.e. 67% could not be chosen - either 65% or 70% must be chosen instead). The sum of the judges evaluation of the two players winning chances must be 100%. Each judge must make this evaluation on his own, without discussing the situation with anybody, including the other judges.
5. When all judges have decided (i.e. written down) their judgement, the head-judge calculates the average of the three judgements. The outcome of the match is decided based on this average:
   
   

   0% - 40%	Loss
   >40% and <60%	Draw
   60% - 100%	Win

   Example: Judge A gives player 1 a 40% chance of winning and player 2 a 60% chance. Judge B votes 35/65 and judge C votes 40/60 respectively. Player 1's score is 38,33% ((40+35+40)/3) and player 2's score is 61,67% ((60+65+60)/3). Since player 2's average evaluated winning chance is equal to or greater than 60%, he wins and he gains three points and player one gains zero points. If player 2 had an average slightly lower than 60%, the game would have been a draw, with only one point awarded for each player.

6. It is the responsibility of the head-judge to inform the players of the conclusion, and bring the result slip to the tournament organizers.
    

The winner of the tournament is the last undefeated person in the tournament (a draw also counts as a loss in this context). Please note that is is therefore possible for a winner to be declared before the last round of the tournament. The rank of all other players is determined by their points at the end of the tournament. For players with equal scores, the following tiebreakers are used, in the listed order:

1. Round where the player lost his first game (the later the better).
2. Round where the player had his first draw (the later the better).
3. The average rating of opponents played, based on rating at tournament start.

If all of the tiebreakers are a tie as well, the two players in question share the same rank.

Please note, that no tiebreaker is used to determine the winner of the tournament if all the players in question have the maximum possible points. There is a theoretical possibility af two or more players being undefeated in the event of 32+ participating players. If two undefeated players are tied for the first place, they both win the tournament in combination. If both players agree, they can decide to meet within two months of the tournament to play a subsequent game to decide the tie. The scenario and ABS is provided by the Tournament Organizer. If a tie exists for the first place, but all of the implicated players have had at least one draw or loss, then the tiebreakers above apply.

Prizes:

There will be prizes for the winner and runner up, as well as special prizes for:

• The player with the greatest positive difference between CVP inflicted in CC and CVP lost in CC during the tournament.
• The players who roll the highest number of snakeeyes during the tournament
• The players who roll the highest number of boxcars during the tournament

Smoking is not allowed in the gaming area, but will be allowed in areas near the gaming area.