The Rules of the MARP Tournament

Updated October 28, 2006

These rules are subject to change

VOTING ON GAMES & RULES:

- Each participant picks up to three(3) games.  Each game has an equal voting power.

- In November, MARPers will be given the opportunity to vote for the 3 games they'd like to see in the tournament. Voting should take place over a period of at least 2 weeks.

- Please make your votes are in the 'Tourney # - Games Voting' thread.  This way, everything is in one thread. :)

- After the voting period, a list of 30 random games from those voted on will be published, with the top 8 tentatively going on to be the tournament games. Then, debate begins on why certain games shouldn't be in the tournament.  "I don't want to play it" will not be a valid reason. What settings to be used will also be determined, but will usually be TG settings, if available, otherwise MAME defaults.

GAME SELECTION:

- If more than one(1) game is of a very similar game type in control and genre, then the one with lower randomizing power will not be involved in the tournament.

- If a game has been voted in to a tournament, it cannot be voted in again, nor it's clones, for the next four(4) tournaments.

GAME SETTINGS:

- Twin Galaxies' Settings will be used for this tournament.  There are two exceptions.

1.  If there is no TG setting, then we will revert back to default MAME settings, or harder if generally accepted by the MARP public.

2.  If the tournament coordinator determines the TG settings too easy or where a general marathon can be created, then he will create more difficult settings.

Definition:  General Marathon - A game that can be played by several players for more than three(3) hours and has no concrete ending.

All DIP settings will be posted before the tournament begins.

JUDGES:

- After the games voting deadline, we will create an "Tourney # - Judge Recruiting"(or similar) thread.  If you wish to judge, please indicate your choices, from first to last.  When the tournament begins, we will pick the games you will judge based on those choices.  If there's a conflict, a first come, first served basis rule will take effect.

- Judging is a huge responsibility - with this in mind, you will need to report to the Judge Coordinator on confirmations on a timely basis(about once every two(2) weeks during the first month, and about once every week during the second month).  All games to be confirmed are due three(3) days after the tournament is completed.  Failure to do so will result in disqualification from the current tournament(both judging AND playing), AND the next tournament.

- If you wish to withdraw from judging the tournament, you will be disqualified from the current tournament(both judging AND playing), AND the next tournament.

VERSION OF MAME USED:

- Any version of WolfMAME may be used. The most recent (currently 0.110) is preferred.

LENGTH OF CONTEST:

- The length of the contest will be from 0000 GMT on the 1st of one month(8pm Eastern Time, the 30th/31st of the previous month, see below) until 2359 GMT on the 30th/31st of the next month(7:59pm Eastern Time).  The Judge Coordinator or the Main Coordinator has the right to extend the deadline for bad server reasons.

REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTICIPATION:

- ANYBODY can play in any tournament we play.

- If you are playing in the tournament, you must play ALL the games in order to qualify for the tournament.  Failure to do so will result in disqualification from the current tournament.

- All players must have a valid e-mail address registered in MARP. This way judges can directly reach the player to inform them of any bad inps.  Failure to have a valid e-mail address will result in disqualification.  The reason of a harsh penalty is because you can easily get an email address, using Yahoo, or Hotmail, or something like that, and you've got one.

RECORDING ETIQUETTE:

- All recordings made by a player must beat his/her personal high score for the tournament.  If you scored 50 points in one game, the next upload must be of a higher value.  It can't be 49 points, but it can be 51 points.

- There will be no excessive points leeching in any game.  It is to the judge's discretion to determine whether a game is points leeching or not.  However, the Judge Coordinator will have the right to overrule the judge.

- Techniques that are banned in MARP regulation play will not be allowed in this tournament.

- The score you claim must be done on the FIRST CREDIT of your recording.  Failure to do so will result in your score being changed to what it was for the first credit.

- All recordings must be dated within the contest dates - so make sure your computer date is right. :)

- To encourage good sportsmanship, no recording can be uploaded 48 hours after you recorded it.  If these periods are violated, then that person's score for that game will be changed to zero.

- NO autofire will be permitted.  Using autofire will result in the recording being disqualified.

- There will be amnesty if there are server problems.  This will be determined by the main and/or judging coordinators.

- No game will be allowed if the speed of the recording is less than 95 %.  Recordings failing keep the speed at 95 % or greater will be disqualified.

SCORING:

- A place-ranking system will be used.  Worst score gets 1 point, next to worst gets 2 points, etc.  The maximum score equals the number of participants in the tournament.  So if 10 players are playing in the tournament overall, then 10 points is the first place score.

- Each person who doesn't submit a score is assessed a ZERO for that game.

To be clear...

If ten people are playing, and two people haven't submitted scores, it would be:

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-0-0

If all people submitted scores, it would be:

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

- If a person uploaded a file, then s/he will earn at least one(1) point, unless that recording gets disqualified, in this case, that person's score for that game toward the leaderboard will also be zero points.

- A tournament is won when at the end of the given time period a person has more points than any other person participating in the tournament.

- If there are any ties in the leaderboard, it will be declared a tie.