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tiebreak in a swiss tournament...
Posted: 20 February 2025, 14:01
by mendiburu
Hello,
I searched the forum but couldn't find a clear answer...
in case of equality of points, how is the classification done?
At TerraForming Mars, (
https://boardgamearena.com/tournament?id=328681) I am 4th with 14 points like the 2nd and the 3rd. I have a lower ELO and even beat the second in the last match and I 'm the oldest BG Gamer....
Thank's!
Re: tiebreak in a swiss tournament...
Posted: 20 February 2025, 15:51
by Belgiangrump
Not just Swiss though. In round robins it's the same deal. I'm trying to figure out what the actual tiebreaker is.
But from what I can see it's not the one it should be, which should be results between players who are ending same score.
In 1 tournament i ended 2nd in a tie after i lost our match. However in another tournament i ended 2nd after the opponent i beat. So it's not result between eachother.
In the previous example i was lower ELO than my opponent and i was placed 2nd, however in another tournament i ended 2nd after my opponent who was lower ELO than me. So it's not the highest ELO is placed 1st.
Another path of thinking in 1 tournament i scored my points first before the opponent and i seemed to remain 1st, but when the tournament phase ended i was put as 2nd after all. In another tournament i caught up to someone in points and i was still placed 2nd. So it's also not whoever got the score first, is set first.
Also alphabetical is not the case because i've been placed behind people with a letter after my B, but i've also been placed ahead of people after my B.
So in short I'm falling out of ideas what could be the tiebreaker.
Re: tiebreak in a swiss tournament...
Posted: 20 February 2025, 17:54
by BananaHarambe
mendiburu wrote: ↑20 February 2025, 14:01
Hello,
I searched the forum but couldn't find a clear answer...
in case of equality of points, how is the classification done?
At TerraForming Mars, (
https://boardgamearena.com/tournament?id=328681) I am 4th with 14 points like the 2nd and the 3rd. I have a lower ELO and even beat the second in the last match and I 'm the oldest BG Gamer....
Thank's!
Hello, on the standings chart, you need to click on the + icon to expand it and see the details, which explain the tiebreakers.
https://boardgamearena.com/tournament?i ... ge_display you had the same score as 2nd and 3rd, but your opponent's points were much lower, meaning you played weaker opponents than 2nd and 3rd. This is how Swiss tiebreakers are typically done and how they work on BGA.
This rewards winning earlier in the matches than later which is more fair in my opinion. You would have had an easier path to 14 points than them because you went 3rd, 2nd, 1st, 1st, 1st, which I believe would be the "easiest" possible path.
By comparison, 2nd place went 1st, 2nd, 2nd. 1st. 2nd which kept them closer to the top of the standings and played against much stronger players. They played all the top players, 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th..
Re: tiebreak in a swiss tournament...
Posted: 20 February 2025, 17:58
by BananaHarambe
Belgiangrump wrote: ↑20 February 2025, 15:51
Not just Swiss though. In round robins it's the same deal. I'm trying to figure out what the actual tiebreaker is.
But from what I can see it's not the one it should be, which should be results between players who are ending same score.
In 1 tournament i ended 2nd in a tie after i lost our match. However in another tournament i ended 2nd after the opponent i beat. So it's not result between eachother.
In the previous example i was lower ELO than my opponent and i was placed 2nd, however in another tournament i ended 2nd after my opponent who was lower ELO than me. So it's not the highest ELO is placed 1st.
Another path of thinking in 1 tournament i scored my points first before the opponent and i seemed to remain 1st, but when the tournament phase ended i was put as 2nd after all. In another tournament i caught up to someone in points and i was still placed 2nd. So it's also not whoever got the score first, is set first.
Also alphabetical is not the case because i've been placed behind people with a letter after my B, but i've also been placed ahead of people after my B.
So in short I'm falling out of ideas what could be the tiebreaker.
Round Robin is the same idea, just click the +icon to see the details and it shows the tiebreaker, which is score difference.
https://boardgamearena.com/tournament?i ... ge_display here's an example tournament where I made it to finals on tiebreakers with 5 wins, 2 losses. I had a score difference of 121 compared to the other player with 53 so I advanced. Note that I actually lost to that player. Tiebreakers on BGA don't care about your "head to head" performance against tied players, although that could change in a future update.
Tournament settings and options have poor explanations on BGA and it's hard to find info so not your fault. I am trying to put together an updated tournament FAQ/guide. Make sure you read the main post here:
https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9695
Though TBH this is incredibly outdated.
Re: tiebreak in a swiss tournament...
Posted: 20 February 2025, 18:34
by Mathew5000
Some previous threads on this topic are listed here:
viewtopic.php?t=38649
Re: tiebreak in a swiss tournament...
Posted: 20 February 2025, 18:43
by mendiburu
Ok I understand, it's very logical actually, thanks !!!!