GM: Lisa Gutermuth
Assistant GMs: Jeff Mullet, Ken Gutermuth
Boardgame Players Association: Players need to have a PBEM-level membership at the start of the tournament to be able to play. This membership is $10 and you can register at https://registration.boardgamers.org/
Questions? Email bpa.pbem+car@gmail.com.
Registration: Registration for the tournament via Google Form ended on October 1st at 11:59pm Pacific.
Format: All games will be 2-player, following a double elimination format (you play until you've lost twice) with Swiss-style pairings (players are matched up with folks with similar records). We're not sure how many rounds will be required to land on a single winner given this is the first year of this PBEM tournament, but we hope to have each round last no longer than two weeks.
Game Settings: We will use the default options for Carcassonne in BGA: Base game only (no expansions), and international rules for field scoring and two tile cities, which means each field is worth 3 points per adjacent completed city and 4 points per two tile cities. Game speed will be set to 1 move per day, though we hope the tournament moves more quickly than that.
Website: This tournament will be run on Board Game Arena (BGA). If you haven't played Carcassonne on BGA before, I recommend a practice game to become familiar with the interface. There is no way to reset or roll back an action once it is made, and we will not restart games due to mistakes or mis-clicks.
Carcassonne is a premium game on BGA, requiring one of the two players at each table to have a Premium account. Players with non-Premium accounts can join the tournament, but if a table has only non-Premium users, either a) one player will need to upgrade their account, or b) the game will count as a loss for both players. I will attempt to ensure that each table has at least one premium player as much as I can while staying with the outlined format.
Schedule:
Registration for the tournament is open via Google Form until October 1st at 11:59pm Pacific.
Once BPA membership has been confirmed for all participants (expected by October 8th), initial pairings will be made and players will be expected to start their games.
We hope for each round to last no longer than two weeks. Proceeding rounds will match players against others with similar records (more details under "Pairings" below).
Progress throughout the tournament will be tracked in a Google Sheet, which will be shared once the tournament starts.
Round Length:
We are aiming for two weeks per round, though given this is our first year of the tournament we'll see how realistic that is.
If players will be on vacation without internet access, they should inform the GM and post a message in their current game.
If a player does not take a move within 48 hours, please inform the GM. Two such complaints may result in an automatic loss to ensure the tournament progresses.
Games that have not completed within three weeks will receive a warning.
Games that have not completed within four weeks will be adjudicated.
Pairings:Â
Players will be paired based on their records (e.g., players with 2 wins and 1 loss will be paired against each other).
We will seek to avoid re-matches where possible, otherwise players will be paired randomly.
If there are an odd number of players with a given record, a player at that record will be matched with a player with a similar record. If we get to an odd number of players, a bye will be randomly granted to a player who has not previously received a bye.
Final Results: The winner is the last player standing. 2nd through 6th place will be determined by:
Most accrued wins at the time of the 2nd loss. Byes do not count in either direction.
Percent of their opponent's winning scores across both games lost.
Laurels will be awarded in the year the tournament concludes.
Drop Outs: Players may drop between games if they do not wish to continue. If they drop during a game, or don't take a move for a week without prior notice, the player will be removed from the event.