Tiebreaker for Tournament Games?

[Erik Arneson]

There's no tiebreaker in Kingdom Builder, but obviously there is in single-elimination tournaments... Does anyone know what tiebreaker is used? Thanks!

[CB Droege]

least thinking time. A bit arbitrary when playing turn-based tourneys, but there it is anyway.

[CaKtus]

Good to know but not very satisfying.

I would prefer ( in this order if not possible):
1 - a rematch with the first player going second,
2 - giving qualification to the one who started second (not fair if the Lords card is on play, but nothing is perfect),
3- giving qualification to the one with the smallest elo ranking.

[CB Droege]

This is actually part of the tourney system, rather than part of Kingdom builder. If Kingdom Builder rules had a tie-breaker built in, BGA would use it, but since it doesn't it allows normal games to remain tied. However this isn't good for an elimination tourney. Any BGA game which ends in a tie by the rules is broken by time in the tourney.

Honestly, I don't like it either, especially because I only play turn-based, and losing by thinking time is basically time-zone luck. But this is an aspect of BGA tourneys that would have to be changed.

They've talked about overhauling the tourney system at some point in the future, maybe this is something that will also get attention.

Personally, I'm much more interested in being able to set up tourneys for games with more than two-players per match. :O

[CaKtus]

We have been talking about this issue...

Why am I eliminated here ?

https://imgur.com/a/JeuRqHs

I clearly have more time left

[Sheffield_refugee]

https://boardgamearena.com/table?table=117614467
https://boardgamearena.com/gamereview?table=117614467

You do have more time. This the first example I see where the "winner" has less thinking time left. Perhaps it IS related to overall tournament thinking time, although that seems unnecessarily complex.

In play where the game ends due to a game time limit we see this message:
The game was abandoned automatically because the players did not manage to finish it before the next round of the tournament. The player with the most remaining thinking time wins the game.
However, perhaps the thinking time tie-breaker doesn't apply in single elimination tournaments where there is a tie in "normal" scoring.

[DeCante BGTT]

I just ended a tournament Azul game with a dead tie. My opponent had more time left and I had a higher elo. I moved on. When can we get a ruling on what the tie breaker actually is?

[ErikLevin]

I just ended a tournament Azul game with a dead tie. My opponent had more time left and I had a higher elo. I moved on. When can we get a ruling on what the tie breaker actually is?

The statements above that thinking time is the tiebreaker are incorrect. Thinking time determines the standings if the match times out, i.e. the whole match is not finished by the end of the tournament round.

When match results are tied (but the match did complete on time), the account age is the "tiebreaker" used by the tournament system in elimination matches. The newest BGA account gets eliminated.

Both of these are entirely undocumented in any BGA documentation.

This forum is really for Kingdom Builder, check out the Tournament subforum instead, there are loads of threads about this tiebreaker confusion, you can read more or ask for more info.

[radicarian]

I don't think it's account age either, otherwise I should have moved on here in this Kingdom Builder tournament - https://boardgamearena.com/table?table=509692364

Nor is it less ELO or least thinking time

[Mathew5000]

When match results are tied (but the match did complete on time), the account age is the "tiebreaker" used by the tournament system in elimination matches. The newest BGA account gets eliminated.

Maybe that used to be true, but it seems that at present it is not the rule for single-elimination tournaments. See my post in this thread: viewtopic.php?p=178102

Both of these are entirely undocumented in any BGA documentation.

That part is true! https://boardgamearena.com/bug?id=61176 (currently 54 votes)

I wish BGA would let us know what the system is doing. Did BGA change the elimination rule (in the case of tied games) and if so, when?

Based on the a thread from 2020 I infer that Draasill was the developer in charge of the updates to the tournament system at that time. It would be great if he could comment on the point raised here, about who advances from a tied game in a single-elimination tournament.