Here is a quirky two-stage tournament that I created and that is still running. https://boardgamearena.com/tournament?id=567401 It tells us a little bit about what happens when fewer than the intended number of players register in a two-stage tournament.
What I wanted to have:
21 groups of 4 players, best 2 per group go to the KO stage. Group distribution is done by Serpentine.
- 1st places go directly into KO round 2.
- 2nd places start before in KO round 1, except the 2nd place with best Elo also starts in round 2.
(In that way it makes a difference if you get 1st or 2nd in your group and we can avoid some unwanted BGA quirks about matchmaking in the KOs.) https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewto ... 480#p89480
The intended number of players was 84, however, I am always very tolerant with the minimum number of players because I see no good reason to take a tournament away from people who registered, even if the tournament turns out shorter and a bit odd. I set the minimum player number to 42.
Here is what happened:
- Only 62 players registered, that means not even enough were there to create 21 groups of 3 players.
- I expected that maybe a 21st group with only 2 players would be created, however, only 20 groups of 3 players were created.
- 2 players were seeded directly into the 2nd tournament stage, the KO stage, they missed the initial group stage completely.
- Surprisingly, the 2 seeded players were rank 21 and 22 in the original Elo ranking of participants, I suspect this has to do with Serpentine.
- Other than that, everything went normal and as intended, all 1st places were seeded into KO round 2, and the 2nd places started in KO round 1.
I think we can learn 3 things from that:
- If too few players register for a two-stage tournament, BGA makes sure that it can still happen, however, with some seeding to make it work.
- A group where everyone advances to the next stage is never created. I suspect there is a hard rule to prevent that.
- The seeded players are not necessarily plausible, it may even depend on the group distribution mechanism.
I don't think anything needs to be done about this. I am happy that these tournaments actually start and work out. It's a bit of an obscure edge case.
What I wanted to have:
21 groups of 4 players, best 2 per group go to the KO stage. Group distribution is done by Serpentine.
- 1st places go directly into KO round 2.
- 2nd places start before in KO round 1, except the 2nd place with best Elo also starts in round 2.
(In that way it makes a difference if you get 1st or 2nd in your group and we can avoid some unwanted BGA quirks about matchmaking in the KOs.) https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewto ... 480#p89480
The intended number of players was 84, however, I am always very tolerant with the minimum number of players because I see no good reason to take a tournament away from people who registered, even if the tournament turns out shorter and a bit odd. I set the minimum player number to 42.
Here is what happened:
- Only 62 players registered, that means not even enough were there to create 21 groups of 3 players.
- I expected that maybe a 21st group with only 2 players would be created, however, only 20 groups of 3 players were created.
- 2 players were seeded directly into the 2nd tournament stage, the KO stage, they missed the initial group stage completely.
- Surprisingly, the 2 seeded players were rank 21 and 22 in the original Elo ranking of participants, I suspect this has to do with Serpentine.
- Other than that, everything went normal and as intended, all 1st places were seeded into KO round 2, and the 2nd places started in KO round 1.
I think we can learn 3 things from that:
- If too few players register for a two-stage tournament, BGA makes sure that it can still happen, however, with some seeding to make it work.
- A group where everyone advances to the next stage is never created. I suspect there is a hard rule to prevent that.
- The seeded players are not necessarily plausible, it may even depend on the group distribution mechanism.
I don't think anything needs to be done about this. I am happy that these tournaments actually start and work out. It's a bit of an obscure edge case.
