Board Game Arena

So far on BGA I have joined two Ticket to Ride tournaments. Both times, one player ran out of time and was eliminated in the first round. I ended up winning the game, and had the most remaining thinking time. Yet I was eliminated, because one player getting kicked out technically makes all three others "winners," yet only two can advance. Apparently the tiebreaker is who has the oldest TTR account, and mine was created only a year ago, so I was disqualified. This feels unfair and has also wasted hours of my time. I have seen that this issue has been raised on BGA forums in the past yet nothing has been done. It is making me rethink my BGA membership. Certainly I will not be participating in any more tournaments.

I avoid now this problem playing game with only 2 players.

I encountered also that in the past in the second phase of a tournament where I was the leader.

delawillo wrote: ↑26 September 2026, 19:29 Certainly I will not be participating in any more tournaments.

It's decided by the oldest BGA account. There aren't "accounts" for each individual game.

There are other options besides not playing at all. As menettm mentioned, this can't happen in a two-player game. You can also join tournaments that have disabled the ability to expel players.

If you're thinking "I don't like two-player TTR," then you're Premium, so you can set up your own tournament with exactly the settings you prefer, including making it 3+ players and disabling expelling players.

Meeplelowda wrote: ↑26 September 2026, 22:30 You can also join tournaments that have disabled the ability to expel players.

If you're thinking "I don't like two-player TTR," then you're Premium, so you can set up your own tournament with exactly the settings you prefer, including making it 3+ players and disabling expelling players.

This option that disable the ability to expel players did not exist in previous years.

A better option would be : Expelling must be a consensus of all others players, like requested in a suggestion report for BGA.
This https://boardgamearena.com/bug?id=35239 is in 12th position of BGA bugs. You may vote for it.

menettm wrote: ↑27 September 2026, 06:39

Meeplelowda wrote: ↑26 September 2026, 22:30 You can also join tournaments that have disabled the ability to expel players.

If you're thinking "I don't like two-player TTR," then you're Premium, so you can set up your own tournament with exactly the settings you prefer, including making it 3+ players and disabling expelling players.

This option that disable the ability to expel players did not exist in previous years.

A better option would be : Expelling must be a consensus of all others players, like requested in a suggestion report for BGA.
This https://boardgamearena.com/bug?id=35239 is in 12th position of BGA bugs. You may vote for it.

That suggestion may make sense in regular games, but it doesn't for tournaments because only the oldest accounts guaranteed to advance and people who don't know about the oldest accounts rule would vote yes.

menettm wrote: ↑26 September 2026, 21:24 I avoid now this problem playing game with only 2 players.

Meeplelowda wrote: ↑26 September 2026, 22:30 As menettm mentioned, this can't happen in a two-player game. You can also join tournaments that have disabled the ability to expel players.

It's funny that you both mentioned this, and it was quite nostalgic for me reading this thread, because it reminds me of a tournament I played in 6 months ago (back when I was still playing under my old handle, msverr). The tournament was 2p and expelling players was not allowed. Yet there was a very rare "perfect tie" between me and the other first-place contender, down to the score differential. https://boardgamearena.com/tournament?id=533490





The tie was broken by account age, making Diger74 the final winner and myself second. It was the first time either of us had heard of this rule, heh. Of course, this isn't exactly the same since I wasn't eliminated from the tournament or anything, but this just goes to show that playing 2p expelling-disallowed tournaments doesn't allow you to avoid this odd rule entirely.

(Anyways, that was a great tournament and Diger beat me in a bo12 right after, so hey, no complaints here. )

The way to solve this for multi-player tournaments is for them to have an option equivalent of what Heat and others have for every game, where the game always plays to conclusion regardless if someone leaves the game. It's by far the fairest way, and I'm yet to hear a better solution, it would stop all the oldest account stuff.