What's going on here?

[Lohoris]

I haven't partecipated in many tournaments here so maybe I'm missing something...

This tournament https://boardgamearena.com/tournament?id=218509
This match https://boardgamearena.com/table?table=388108799

So basically another player left.
The game was cancelled.
Me and the third player were equally 1st.
As a consequence I was randomly eliminated from the tournament, basically without even playing.

Either there's something unclear in the interface, or this is the worstly designed tournament I've ever played in my entire life lol.

[Meeplelowda]

As a consequence I was randomly eliminated from the tournament, basically without even playing.

Yes, and there are threads already discussing this issue:
https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30604
https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26659
https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28174
https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27518

From some of those threads you will learn the history of the tournament system that was originally only designed for 2-player games, in which case you don't have to worry about what to do if one player gets booted or abandons the game.

Currently the only way to guarantee this won't be the outcome of a match where N players advance is to only play tournaments with a player count of N+1. Practically speaking this means only entering 2-player tournaments, as I am not aware of any tournaments where more than half of the field advances (such as 2 out of 3 players).

[nik592]

I've been in tournaments where only the last placed player is eliminated. For example:

https://boardgamearena.com/tournament?id=157670 (4 out of 5)
https://boardgamearena.com/tournament?id=183824 (3 out of 4)
https://boardgamearena.com/tournament?id=157625 (3 out of 4)

[Lohoris]

I've been in tournaments where only the last placed player is eliminated. For example:

https://boardgamearena.com/tournament?id=157670 (4 out of 5)
https://boardgamearena.com/tournament?id=183824 (3 out of 4)
https://boardgamearena.com/tournament?id=157625 (3 out of 4)

That could work. Why isn't this enforced site-wide?

[nik592]

I would assume it's at the discretion of the tournament organiser.

[Lohoris]

I mean I assume so too, but if the feature is broken it shouldn't be allowed to be used, or you'd just piss off users

[Meeplelowda]

I've been in tournaments where only the last placed player is eliminated. For example:

https://boardgamearena.com/tournament?id=157670 (4 out of 5)
https://boardgamearena.com/tournament?id=183824 (3 out of 4)
https://boardgamearena.com/tournament?id=157625 (3 out of 4)

How does this not take forever to finish?

Edit: One of them is literally named "Never-ending battle." I rest my case.

[nik592]

I've never paid that much attention to how long a specific tournament takes - I just play the games as they come up. I assume if that bothers you, you wouldn't enter that kind of tournament (similarly, if multiplayer elimination bothers you cause it's not always fair, don't enter those tournaments either). But yeah, they all look they took 4-5 months to complete. Still, that's probably not so bad when you consider that the maximum time would have been 200-250 days.