Board Game Arena

Hey everyone!

I am absolutely stoked about the player base growth of Cosmoctopus. The competition happening in the arena and in tournaments has been a blast.

It's my goal to host enough tournaments so we have one at least every 2 weeks, which shouldn't be a problem since we have a few folks hosting now. I wanted to create this space for tournament talk, whether that be scheduling, format, or just celebrating!

I wanted to start with questions about tournament style. Do you have a favorite? Least favorite? 1v1? Multiple players? Real-time tournament?

Here's some of my thoughts:

Single Elimination: classic 1v1 single elimination is by far my favorite. Nothing beats the raw competition of a 1v1 and the excitement on moving ahead in the bracket.

Group Stage: haven't tried it yet, and don't know how it would work for Cosmoctopus.

Multi-elimination: I'm not a huge fan of 3-4 player Cosmoctopus, however, I can see folks enjoying this style because it means if you may still move forward even if you don't get 1st every match.

Round-Robin: I love the "everyone plays everyone" tournaments. I will say, I wasn't expecting every single game to commence at the same time. Even in a 10 person tournament that meant 9 turn-based games at once!

Swiss System: I like the point based tournaments with a set number of matches. Ensures everyone gets a solid amount of play and a variety of opponents. Curious to see how it pans out with the 1v1 setup.

Cheers!
-Albion

I vote for not getting placed against Pootie-Noon in the first round again!

Frogodo wrote: ↑05 January 2025, 04:29 I vote for not getting placed against Pootie-Noon in the first round again!

Haha, I saw that! Hey, but that's the good thing about Swiss system - there are 3 more matches It says it trys to put players of similar levels together, so that worked. However, my opponent was 100 ELO, so obviously not perfect.

Hey Albion and other Devotees!

First thanks for your, Mematade's, CthulusServant's and Pootie's commitment to create the tournaments we already enjoyed (thanks Ariadne and Hullick, too! ).

Here are my thoughts on the three formats I experienced yet:

Single Elimination: Perfect for those who really want to battle!

Round-Robin: I also did not expect to play nine turn-based games „simultaneously“ in two days, but that tournament weekend really got it's tentacle grip on me! It was great fun!

Swiss System: I was surprised about the pairings in the first round of the actual tournament. Most of them 200+ ELO with 100- ELO, expect Frogodo and Pootie for sure The second round only a bit more balanced… But probably no one has an influence on that.

Would it also be possible to create tournaments with only ELO above or below for example 200 ELO to make playing less frustrating for rookies? Or is this even against BGA rules?

I never tried 3 or 4 player games yet, but will soon. They already have their community it seems and should also have there place in the tournaments.

Have a good day!
00Sleeper

00sleeper wrote: ↑15 January 2025, 10:00 Hey Albion and other Devotees!

First thanks for your, Mematade's, CthulusServant's and Pootie's commitment to create the tournaments we already enjoyed (thanks Ariadne and Hullick, too! ).

Here are my thoughts on the three formats I experienced yet:

Single Elimination: Perfect for those who really want to battle!

Round-Robin: I also did not expect to play nine turn-based games „simultaneously“ in two days, but that tournament weekend really got it's tentacle grip on me! It was great fun!

Swiss System: I was surprised about the pairings in the first round of the actual tournament. Most of them 200+ ELO with 100- ELO, expect Frogodo and Pootie for sure The second round only a bit more balanced… But probably no one has an influence on that.

Would it also be possible to create tournaments with only ELO above or below for example 200 ELO to make playing less frustrating for rookies? Or is this even against BGA rules?

I never tried 3 or 4 player games yet, but will soon. They already have their community it seems and should also have there place in the tournaments.

Have a good day!
00Sleeper

Hey 00Sleeper! Thank you so much for your feedback.

Haha, yeah, the Round Robin was crazy.

After more observation of the Swiss system, it seems like the first round pairing is still somewhat random, but maybe it better matches the winners together in the next round. More to come.

Guess what! I just did exactly what you suggested and created two separate tournaments for February - one for 100-300 ELO players and one for 300+ ELO players. I look forward to hearing how it goes.

Cheers!

Great conversation and great thinking with the split tournament guys. Thanks for making it happen.

I understand this may not be possible but I would suggest that in Cosmoctopus Tournaments that people consider implementing a rule that only the first hallucination with a lightning bolt give the player the ability to play an additional card. In otherwords there would be a two card maximum limit to play. I think it is fun and adds to the chaos in Cosmoctopus, however, it feels like playing three or four cardds or more is over kill in a torunament.

Blango wrote: ↑30 January 2025, 16:22 I understand this may not be possible but I would suggest that in Cosmoctopus Tournaments that people consider implementing a [house] rule

You are correct about it not being possible. It would require changes to the game's code and permission from the publisher. House rules are not usually implemented on BGA.