What is the tie breaker in tournaments?

[tet3]

The rules say that ties result in shared victory. How are tie breaks handled for tournament advancement? I'm in a tournament now, with tables of 4 where 2 advance, and there have been a couple games where there were ties, and one of the tied players was eliminated. How is that determined?

[Phoxtrot]

I *think* that when the game has no tie-breaker, the tie-breaker for tournaments is the ELO. Best ELO goes forward.
I vaguely remember something like that.

You can search for it in the forums, it is most assuredly not specific to this game.

Ah, I see someone talking about oldest account going forward ?
https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35946

[Meeplelowda]

I *think* that when the game has no tie-breaker, the tie-breaker for tournaments is the ELO. Best ELO goes forward.
I vaguely remember something like that.

You can search for it in the forums, it is most assuredly not specific to this game.

Ah, I see someone talking about oldest account going forward ?
https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35946

That's the procedure if a tie is caused by someone being expelled. At least that's the folklore. I've yet to see a BGA admin officially confirm that the oldest account advances.

If a game ends normally (i.e., not by expulsion and not by the round time running out, which uses thinking time to select the advancing player), according to one user BGA says it's random:

I contacted BGA - their answer:

"There is no tie breaker, and the tournament system has to select winners - so it's a random selection."


They were very prompt in their response, but it was still very disappointing to learn.

I've created a bug report to address this, please vote for it:

https://boardgamearena.com/bug?id=83143

[ErikLevin]

It is not random and not Elo, it is account age.

When a multiplayer elimination game ends in a tie, often because one player quit or was skipped, but also when it actually ties within the game rules, the oldest BGA account(s) advance.

When a tournament game is abandoned, typically due to round time running out, the players are ordered based on clock time used. Least time used advances.

See the tournament subforum for many, many threads about this.

[menettm]

It is not random and not Elo, it is account age.

When a multiplayer elimination game ends in a tie, often because one player quit or was skipped, but also when it actually ties within the game rules, the oldest BGA account(s) advance.

When a tournament game is abandoned, typically due to round time running out, the players are ordered based on clock time used. Least time used advances.

See the tournament subforum for many, many threads about this.

Good reply but why it is always not yet written in the BGA FAQ

[Meeplelowda]

See the tournament subforum for many, many threads about this.

This is what I'm referring to by folklore. Do you have a link to a person who posts with a red background, i.e. an admin, stating this?

[ErikLevin]

See the tournament subforum for many, many threads about this.

This is what I'm referring to by folklore. Do you have a link to a person who posts with a red background, i.e. an admin, stating this?

No, but it can be seen by observation. You can for example look at the tied games of the tournament mentioned (or any other): https://boardgamearena.com/tournament?id=281919.