International Thud Tournament Rules 2006

The Thud Tournament 2006 (TT2006) is to commemorate the paperback release to the stores. That should be around the 1st of October, therefore TT2006 must end at midnight on the 30th of September 2006. Depending upon the number of players, time management will be of vital importance. As such please read the rules carefully, and be sure you will be able to abide by them before you join.

1. All games must be played via Online Thud or via pre-arranged Slowfire Thud on the forum. These rules stand for Slowfire Thud. For online games the game result will stand from the database results.
2. Oograh Boike will set up the tournament; he, Lee Alley and Dewi Morgan are the referees for the duration of the tournament. They will, as a consequence, not partake in TT2006.
3. Participants must join the Thudguild to be eligible for play. Details on how to do this are at https://www.thudgame.com/shop.
4. All games MUST be double unlimited.
5. Participants must be able to play several simultaneous, double unlimited games until the end of the semi-finals. Simultaneous play is necessary to accommodate a fair but lengthy tournament. It is much like football tournaments (soccer to Americans): depending on the number of players several pools are made at random. Players within the same pool need to play all other players in that pool simultaneously. The best two of each pool go on to play in the next pool, and play the next set of three simultaneous games, and so on, until we have two finalists.
6. Because we have a fixed date for the end of TT2006, we will maintain a strict time management program. All moves must be answered by a new move within 24 hours. Posting early is allowed and cheered on, but it does not buy extra time to use later on; it only keeps the game interesting. Games get a maximum of fourteen days in which they can be played after which the scores will be tallied, and the next round will begin.
   
   

   To elaborate: this rule deals with a situation in which someone might think “I've taken 3 dwarfs, all I need to do now is not post until the end of the fortnight! Three points for me!” Sorry, no cow. You need to answer within 24 hours after your opponent's post, or you will lose a point in the next six hours, another one in the next six hours, and so on, until another 24 hours have expired. After that, you will be disqualified if you have not posted yet.

   Another thought might be “hey, yesterday and the day before that I posted within the hour. That gives me at least 47 hours more for this move!” Again, no cow. Sorry mate, the 24-hour rule stands.

   And yet again, to be perfectly clear on this: it is NOT that you can only post once every 24 hours after your opponent, you must AT LEAST post once every 24 hours after (s)he did!. Do remember to keep “topic reply notification” on for each game you're in!

7. All rounds in TT2006 have a fixed fortnight in which they will be played thus it's in everyone's interest to play quickly rather than in a leisurely fashion. Players who start and/or post in new pools and/or games ahead of time will be disqualified.
8. We do not know of any games “out of sync” an this shouldn't change with the tournament. Using ThudBoard 1.5 is as easy as 1, 2, 3, as far as copy/paste is concerned. Use it to your advantage. Any move and/or post you make stands as played, even if it is blatantly obvious that it is foolish! Check and double check each post before submitting.
9. Do not edit your TT2006 posts, even if it is only to change spelling. Anyone editing posts will be disqualified.
10. The Thudgame Druids will notify the head referee, Oograh Boike, who will be participating before the start of the tournament. Those who wish to sign up for the Thud Tournament must do so before the 10th of July 2006.
11. Participants playing the Slowfire game in the tournament must keep OograhBoike.com updated by sending savegames at least every few days, or when asked for them.
12. All games in the forum that have to do with the tournament, will have to have TT2006 at the start of their topic line, to distinguish them from other ongoing, non-tournament games. Oograh Boike will set up each TT2006 game topic, with specifics on who gets first post and so on.
13. All TT2006 games topics will be locked after each round has been completed. You are free to continue a game if it has not been concluded, but you will have to do so in another, non-TT2006 topic. Please contact one of the tournament referees if you'd like to do so, and want a copy of all posts in your new topic. Please understand that due to the nature of the tournament they will probably only be able to comply once the tournament is finished.
14. Please keep this as fairplay. OB, Lee and Dewi and two not to be named other parties, worked very hard setting all this up. Once these rules are online, we won't change anything, as it wouldn't be right to others. However, we do keep an open mind for ideas, rants, raves and maybe even outright abuse (hey, you lost a game, we understand; if you need a place to vent, we are here for you ). However: please stick to the topic we opened just for that cause in the Suggestions section in the forum, “Thoughts on TT2006”.

Happy Thudding, and may the best player win!