The Rules of the Tournament - 2nd Tournament

Rules of the third tournament - click here!

Updated December 19, 1999, 1730 GMT

New Rules will be highlited in yellow.

VOTING ON GAMES & RULES:  *** VOTING IS OVER ***

- Each participant picks up to ten games.  The favorite game of the voter will earn ten points.  Second favorite, nine points, third favorite, eight points, all the way down to the "least favorite", earning one point.

- Please make your votes in the 'MARP T2 - Games Voting' thread.  This way, everything is in one thread. :)  I'm not going to enforce this rule very well, and no, I won't disqualify you if you put it in the wrong thread.  Just a request  :)

- It is the belief of the main coordinator that all people have a say on the rules.  Place all comments about the rules in the 'MARP T2 - Rules Voting' Thread.

- There will be a deadline of October 15th, 2359 GMT.

- After the deadline, the Judging Coordinator will randomly pick ten games that will be played in this tournament.

- Rules will be decided by either an 8-0, 8-1, or a win-by-two majority vote after ten votes.  A minimum of five days will be enforced.  After ten days, a win-by-one majority vote will come in.  If it is not decided by October 28th, 2359 GMT, then the Main Coordinator and the Judging Coordinator will attempt to compromise.

GAME SELECTION:

- Any game which had 11 voting points will be randomized by the Judging Coordinator.  Minus disqualifications, the first 10 games picked will be in the tournament.

- If a game is of a very similar game type in control and genre, then the one with less randomizing rank 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 tournaments.  For example, Galaga, using fast shooting, was voted into the tournament during the Summer of 1999.  It cannot be voted in again, nor it's normal speed shooting original, nor it's clones, for the Fall of 1999, and the Winter, Spring, and Summer of 2000.  It can come back during the Fall of 2000.

DIP SETTINGS:

- We are using Twin Galaxies' Settings for this tournament.

JUDGES:

- Once again, Pat Laffaye has taken the huge role of Judge Coordination, thanks Pat :)

- After the games voting deadline, we will create an "MARP T2 - Judge Recruiting" thread.  If you wish to judge, please indicate your choices, from first to tenth.  When the tournament begins, we will pick the games you want to judge based on those choices.  If there's a conflict, we will do it on a first come, first served basis.

- 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 weeks during the first month, and about once every week during the second month).  All games to be confirmed are due three days after the tournament is completed, or January 4th.  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.

- Current Judges are as follows:

Pat Laffaye - Judge Coordinator, Judge's Recordings
Ben Jos Walbeehm - Pooyan, Kung Fu Master
Donut - Puzzle Bobble, Jr. Pac Man
Gameboy9 - Super Sprint, Lode Runner
Lagavulin - Lunar Rescue
Brian McLean - Crystal Castles, Rastan
Cicca - Scramble

VERSION OF MAME USED:

- MAME 34 FINAL or MAME32 35 FINAL will be used in the tournament.

LENGTH OF CONTEST:

- The length of the contest will be from 0000 GMT, November 1st(8pm Eastern Time, June 30th) until 2359 GMT, December 31st(7:59pm Eastern Time).  The Judge Coordinator or the Main Coordinator has the right to extend the deadline for bad server reasons.

- There will be four tournaments in a given year:

Winter - January vote, February & March play
Spring - April vote, May & June play
Summer - July vote, August & September play
Fall - October vote, November & December play

GAME REQUIREMENTS:

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

- If you voted for games in the tournament, you must complete ALL ten games.  Failure to do so will result in a decrease in voting power for the next tournament.  Twice in a row will result in a decrease of TWO levels of voting power.  Voting levels are as follows:

1 - 10 votes, most = 10 points
2 - 5 votes, most = 5 points
3 - 3 votes, most = 3 points
4 - 1 vote, most = 1 point
5 - no votes - will go back to a 4 next tournament.

- If you do not participate in the next tournament, you will increase one level of voting power automatically.  If you participate in the next tournament correctly, you will increase one level of voting power.

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 wheater a game is points leeching or not.  However, the Judge Coordinator will have the right to overrule the judge.

- Techniques that were banned in the MARP 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 after a certain time period after you recorded it.  These time periods are as follows:

All of November - No more than two weeks
December 1 - 15 - No more than one week
December 16 - 23 - No more than three days
December 24 - 31 - No more than 24 hours

If these periods are violated, then that person's score for that game will be changed to zero.

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

- It is STRONGLY encouraged to include a screenshot of the game at the end of the game.

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 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. (This is really an old rule... but it needs to be mentioned)

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