How much playtime should you give players for tournaments?

[rexroom]

I've participated and even hosted some tournaments, so I've had my share of good and bad tournaments. One critical aspect that usually makes or breaks one is the amount of playtime you give to players. So far I've come to the following conclusions:

1) BGA is a global platform. Meaning different timezones, so some players will be away, regardless of time.

2) More players, more waiting. Even with games like 7 Wonders, the more players you have in a single table, the more likely some players will be away, as mentioned in point 1).

3) Free space.

So one should carefully consider the pros and cons of each aspect. I would be careful in creating games with lots of players per table in turn-based tournaments, and rather suggest trying real-time tournaments for those instead. But if you still plan to go ahead – please, consider giving more than enough playtime.

[sprockitz]

With point number two, I find anything more than 3 players to be extremely unlikely you'll get to play any turns live, so for most games you would need the maximum time of 30 days per game. For games with only a few moves the 15 would suffice. With 3 player games, 15 days seems to be a sweet spot, 10 for shorter games or games with simultaneous moves. For 2 player 7, 10, and 15 can all work depending on the game.

Even if you restrict playing times to a 12 hour block players will inevitably join who are in the opposite time zones...most people just don't look at this detail when joining tournaments.

[Heezdad]

I just a saw a tournament which had the time limit at 18hours per player. What do you think this means??

[rexroom]

I just a saw a tournament which had the time limit at 18hours per player. What do you think this means??

It's probably a quick game? I don't know without some context.

Anyway, there is a setting in tournaments called "playing hours", where you can set when a 12 hour time period begins where play time is paused for the night (or for some other reason). A small portion of people use it, and I certainly haven't tried it, since I've more or less been able to find a working formula for one game.

I see its use in two ways: it helps people to schedule their play times, and it signals a preference for players of certain timezones. (While you can certainly play during the "night" from the other side of the world, you're still wasting your time.)

The biggest minus though is that restricting players means a smaller pool of players. Not all games have that luxury, who have to scrape the bottom of the barrel for participants, so currently the best way to control the player pool is to restrict a tournament to a private group.

That said, I'm interested how the upcoming "withdraw from tournament" option pans out. Will it improve things, or will it just make things worse? We'll have to see.