The Rules of the MARP Tournament

Updated May 31, 2000, 2145 GMT

Newest Rules will be highlited in blue.

These rules are subject to change

VOTING ON GAMES & RULES:

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

- Please make your votes in the 'Tourney # - 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  :)

- There will be a deadline of thirty days after the beginning of the month after the end of the previous tournament to vote.

-On the beginning of the second month between tournaments, the tournament coordinator will randomly pick 30 gamesout of the games voted for.  If a game recieves more than one vote, it does NOT get a higher randomizing power than a game that did recieve one vote.  S/He will then post the results on the board.

-After this happens, 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.  On the tenth day of the second month between tournaments, debate will end and based on this debate we will decide on the final eight games to be played in the tournament.

- Rules will be decided through different rules as established by the Main Coordinator.  The main rule will be a three, five, or seven day vote, and majority wins.

GAME SELECTION:

- If more than one 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 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:

- Twin Galaxies' Settings will be used for this tournament.  They 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, 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.  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:

- TG MAME 35 FINAL version 3 created by Mark Longridge will be used for this tournament.

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 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.

- There will be three tournaments in a given year:

December & January rest, February & March play
April & May rest, June & July play
August & September rest, October & November play

REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTICIPATION:

- ANYBODY can play in any tournament we play.

- If you are playing in the tournament, you must complete 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 (reachable by the "@" link on the score table). 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.  Why?  You can easily get an email address, use 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 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 48 hours after you recorded it.  If these periods are violated, then that person's score for that game will be changed to zero.

- If a game involves shooting, 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 90 %.  Recordings failing keep the speed at 90 % or greater will be disqualified.

- 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.

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