Why did I not advance?

[Montu]

Why is it so hard to get a straight answer to this seemingly simple question?

As I said upthread, where a game in a single-elimination tournament ends in a tie, it appears to be a random selection which player advances. I said that in May 2024, and since then I haven't seen a more plausible explanation.

See also https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=44873

I'm guessing Montu meant an official answer from BGA.

We don't know why some operations of tournaments are so opaque. My only guess is someone has decided it's not in their job description to answer these questions or update the FAQ.

Yes, an official answer. I appreciate the answers in this thread, but it's all just speculation.

[Meeplelowda]

but it's all just speculation.

This is pretty dismissive. If you find dozens of examples of something working one way and zero counterexamples, it's not merely speculation just because BGA has not confirmed it works that way. We pretty vigorously hypothesis test, including setting up dummy tournaments specifically for the purpose of testing some hypotheses.

What is speculation is guessing why BGA won't put these things in a FAQ.

[BenPatient]

My sob story is from Wingspan today: Points tie, tiebreaker (food) tie, single elimination tournament, both players get awarded "First Place," and I am eliminated from the tourney.

https://boardgamearena.com/table?table=755726511

I was 2nd player. I was lower ELO by quite a bit. Turn-based game. I used more of the allotted time. Opponent also premium member, 1 month longer time on BGA (both over 2 years).

1st player does have a natural advantage in the BGA implementation of Wingspan, enough of one that going second could easily be justified as a second level tie-breaker.