Running Out of Time

[JimF]

I am quite new to tournaments. What is the correct approach when a player runs out of time?

Had a game recently that I was going to win going into the final turn. I had very little time left myself when one of the other players ran out of time. I waited all day until I had to go to sleep and then skipped their turn as I was worried that I'd run out of time if they took their move whilst I was asleep. The game was awarded as a draw to myself and another player. Didn't feel very satisfactory - is there anything else i could have done?

[Tulivuori]

Multiplayer games are indeed problematic in that sense. For point return, it's about balancing

1) If you kick, then it indeed is a tied win
2) If you don't kick, and someone kicks you, then you finish last
3) If you don't kick, but the game doesn't finish in overall time, then the positions are decided by the time left (so probably you wouldn't have won in that case either)
4) If you don't kick, and the game is finished, then you finish in correct place

[JimF]

Thanks for the response Tulivuori. Like how you set out the available options and the use of the term 'kick'!

so it's either (1) kick or gamble on (2-4). Probably best to discuss it with the other players ahead of time and have a gentleman's agreement.

[TheaLuna]

The trouble with that is some players are not interested in 'gentlemanly' agreements. BGA admits to this feature being abused by players during games and tourneys. So, with that in mind - why do they not take responsibility and get the devs to tweak..

Kicking someone from a game when they are there talking and playing with you bc you just want to win is very poor and should not be enabled.
As in the above case when someone doesnt return this feature is fair enough. But to penalise players through abuse of the system is wrong in anyones world, no?

I have spoken with a number of players who have experienced the same, who pay to play and are unhappy about this feature. Nobody says anything bc they say nothing happens to fix it.
It just makes all games and tourneys where ppl do this, invalid and pointless. But I hope the winners are happy with their achievements that are mere paper tigers and have no substance. This is meant to be fun. Being cheated on time and again and nothing done to stop it? Not fun.
How is this ok?

[el cosimo]

It is difficult situation. I got kicked also on that situation and was missed because the persoon who already out of time kicked me.

Some games later I prevent this by kick and then the persoon who ended 3rd was angst because the kick result in an order where the 3rd persoon get kicked of tournament. Yeah that was because someone need To be 3rd… he blamed me but I react: sorry but he only persoon who is guilty is the one out of time. You Just get bad luck that system make you third…

[MisterXX]

I recently had the following situation:
4 player tournament game, I had by far the most time left (because I never sleep).
The game was about to be aborted in some hours automatically and I saw no chance that this game would be finished in time.
It was my turn and I decided not to move and wait for termination instead. So, I finished as the winner and the others followed in the order of their time left.
If I had moved, someone might have kicked the player after me who was out of time and then the others including me would have tied.

Well, did I behave fair? I can't tell.

[Giordano_Bruno]

Dear players,
ir's even worse. I just "stopped" a 4-ply.-match (3 days each) merely by accident with two players out of time (one -2 days(!), the other -few hours). The ridiculous point is that "kicking out" only affects the current ply. - in this case unfortunately the one who did not completely ignore the time-settings.
In other words, the one with two days over time was declared as co-winner - this is indeed not really fair ...

[Mishe11e]

I think deciding finishing position by amount of time left doesn't make any sense. The timer behaviour doesn't even make sense to me. I'm in a 7 wonders tournament. I went to bed at midnight last night, and it was not my turn, and I had 4h left. I got an email at 4AM saying it's my turn. Got another at 8AM saying I'm running out of time. When I got up at 9, I saw these messages, logged in to play, and I see my timer is at -17:58. Can anyone explain that?

I try not to hold up the game, and make my moves in a reasonable amount of time, but somehow my time is always running out. This makes the tournament very stressful and not fun. Also, it seems like now I am incentivized to kick someone else out, since a tie is better than a loss.

[Shivaware]

I think deciding finishing position by amount of time left doesn't make any sense. The timer behaviour doesn't even make sense to me. I'm in a 7 wonders tournament. I went to bed at midnight last night, and it was not my turn, and I had 4h left. I got an email at 4AM saying it's my turn. Got another at 8AM saying I'm running out of time. When I got up at 9, I saw these messages, logged in to play, and I see my timer is at -17:58. Can anyone explain that?

The time in a tournament works differently than a regular game. In your tournament you were given a total of 2 days of thinking time, and no time gets added to your clock each time you take a turn. At 4am when it became your turn, your 4 remaining hours starting counting down and were gone at 8am. Your time will remain negative for the rest of the game, and I think that means you will finish behind anyone with a positive time remaining. Also, another player could skip your turn which will affect the results for everyone else.

Some tournaments, like yours, have a 12 hour playing window. Your clock will not count down outside of this window. It looks like the playing window for this tournament is intended for European players, and is likely during the time that you are sleeping.