Introduction:

Following on from the success of the previous tournament last year (arranged by Jmac), it has been unanimously agreed that a new Tournament should be run for all members of the iSketch Forum. Our Buffers was crowned Queen of the iSketch Forum Tournament after a nail-biting Final and I am sure that this Tournament will be no different!!

This is a fun Tournament and it is hoped that the first round to decide who shall go through to the second round will be conducted within the next couple of weeks. Planning is essential and cooperation from all members would therefore, be appreciated!

I have pleasure in confirming that my stalking and offers of marriage to Peter has resulted in him readily agreeing that he will award the Tournament Winner a coveted custom rank. In addition to this, the winner will also receive accolades and kudos from the members and recognition that they are indeed the King or Queen of the iSketch Forum Community!


Inclusion to the Tournament:

Initially, it would be helpful if all members interested in participating PM me so that I can make an informed decision as to how many rounds necessary it will be to start with, how many players are in each round and how many participants go through to the semi-finals and so on. We have far more members now and I have a feeling in me waters that this Tournament could prove to be very popular! Please also include in this PM the times/day’s which you can play – I will obviously do my best to accommodate everyone’s wishes and if there are any problems I will let you know.


General Rules:

In each Tournament Round there will be three games. I do believe that in our previous tournament they were English UK, English US and Two Words Big Pic (English Easy UK wordlist). If it isn’t broken – don’t fix it; and providing that the majority of members are happy with this – I do suggest that we keep these wordlists the same.

Five participants will battle it out between them over 10 rounds, whereby they get to draw twice. No hinting or skipping! There will need to be two room operators (to act as independent adjudicators) and as before, spectators will be allowed. The role of the room operator and guidelines for spectators is detailed below.



Participation:

• All participants must be registered users of the iSketch Forum site.

• Entrants are to private message me their intention of participating in the Tournament outlining times and days when they cannot participate by 23:00hrs (GMT) Wednesday, 18th April.

• To follow all rules of iSketch whilst playing

• No skipping, hinting, cheating or writing answers

• The time stated is the time the Tournament must start. If you think you may be late – please let one of the Room Operatives know as soon as possible or PM myself. A cut of point of ten minutes (or as agreed by all players) may be allowed.

• It is advised that you arrive at least ten minutes before the start of your Tournament. Practice Rooms are generally opened and then the live Tournament Room will be opened by one of the Room Operatives. Admission to these rooms is strictly by invite only and you will not be allowed to invite anyone in – requests to be made to the Room Operatives only.

• In the event of a tie-break (this happened in the last Tournament between myself and Whizbang!!) the players go onto a Sudden Death scenario whereby they are to play a further round (wordlist agreed by the tie-breaked player’s and the Adjudicators – but not 2WBP).

No doubt more rules will appear of the course of the next few days! Please bear with me and if you think there should be more to include, let me know in the other thread!


Tournament Adjudicators:

Each Tournament Game will require two Room Operatives. Once the list goes up as to who will be playing and when, I would be grateful for volunteers to oversee the games, take screenshots of scores and ensure fair play by participants and spectators.

I certainly do not wish to "teach you to suck eggs" but will draw on my previous experience as a room op in the last tournament. It is advised that the adjudicators liaise with each other before the match as to whom will open the room, invite players/spectators, keep scores, take end of game screen shots and if necessary, draw a word in the event that there are not enough players.

Don't forget that the Adjudicator that opens the room will also need to op their fellow adjudicator! More op's can be selected at the end of the game or a new room opened. The choice of course, will be yours!

They are also responsible for putting up the final scores on the forum and retain the screen shots in the event of any discrepancy. I would also request that all screen shots of final scores are forwarded to myself.



Spectators:

There was much debate last year about whether spectator’s should be allowed to watch. As iSketch Forum is about community, I firmly believe that spectators should be allowed to watch their games and provide moral support for their friends/buddies. However, spectators must agree to abide by the following rules:

• All spectators must be clicked as ‘away’

• Spectators are not allowed to talk during the Game (at the end of a round would be acceptable to offer congratulations/commiserations and such luck)

• Absolutely no pinkage

• All requests to be invited to the Room to spectate must go through the Room Adjudicator. You are not allowed to invite people into the room under any circumstances.

• No talking to the participants, either in PM or otherwise.

• You are advised to /ping yourself whilst observing the game and are strongly discouraged from talking to other spectators in the event that you may fall out of private messaging and disrupt the game.

• Failure to abide by these rules will result in your removal from the room by the Room Operatives and possible non-inclusion in future games in this Tournament.

I think this about covers it for the interim… but no doubt I will be adding to these rules over the next few days!



Also, a huge thank you to offers of help and so forth - I may be calling in a few favours!!

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Brilliant TF! Really looking forward to it.

no pinkage? no pinkage like.. whatsoever? because in the last tournament, there would be a bunch of clapping at the end of each game.

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Gracie... a clap would be fine at the end of each game

Depending on the response we receive, I anticipate the first round of the Tournament to start from Friday, 20th April to run over a few consecutive days. Obviously we need to think about US and Australian players and the time differences and such like. So please give me a rough idea what time/day's you would like to play - wherever possible, I will try and fit you all in!

Blimey... I feel drained already!!

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Please don't think I assume I will progress beyond 1st round but will the games/rooms change in the next round and final?

Hmm.... fair point kisskiss! I do believe that last time around, the wordlists were kept pretty much the same - however, let's throw it out to the community here - and hear what you want? I will put this in the other thread to discuss

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As the timezones have recently shifted to and from daylight savings modes I am in a state of permanent bewilderment at the moment.

I think I might be able to play if the tournament rounds were weekdays (just not Wednesdays) at 9pm Sydney Time - so that would be around Noon for the Brits.

Last time I had to get up at 5:30am to play and that is just NOT a good thing for anyone.

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noon for the Brits wouldn't be such a good idea for those of us in North America. that would be 5am for me. of course, i don't really matter since i'm not entering, but i'm sure there are people from the US... maybe even from Canada (!) who will enter.

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True - but it was my turn to get up at 5:30 am last time - someone else can have that privilege this time.

Can we make the User Created Rooms INVITE ONLY like last time as well - and can someone tell the iSketch Admins in advance that it's a tournament. I recall mid game one of them wandered in and started hugging and flirting - pink all over the shop like a noob with a new toy. Will post that image when I find it again.

Perhaps too we could organise a designated Tournament Photographer to screencap all the pics at the end of each draw, with the artist name and what their word was and have them posted on the forum.

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Re: Times of Tournament Games

Wherever possible, I will do my best to accommodate everyone. I remember well that BM had to be up at an unearthly hour to play and no doubt, this affected his performance. I see no reason why we can't schedule a match for this time of the day - providing there are enough players and we have the allocated room op's as well. As an afterthought BM, at the moment you are the only player from Australia. Could you (and other members) encourage other Australian's to participate? If they are not members of this forum, then of course they will need to join - but I am sure that would also be a good thing!

The general time's will be staggered (I am making a note of where members are from) so it may not be possible to watch all matches unless you wake up very early or burn the midnight oil. Again - this is purely to ensure that player's are at their peak and it is a level playing field.


Re: Invite Only

In one word - Abso-bloody-lutely!! I have re-read the Rules & Guidelines and I have made no mention of this fact, other than the Room Op's will have to invite. I will of course be making this more clearer when I get to doing that section. I have made it VERY CLEAR that no pinkage is to be allowed during the games (remembering that incident very well too!) and anyone not adhering to these rules will be kicked at the end of the game and possible non-inclusion in other matches too. Consistency however, is the key - and anyone volunteering to become a Room Op must uphold these rules - for the sake of the participants.


Re: Tournament Photographer

Fantastic idea! I am not sure however, if only one person should be responsible for this due to the fact that the times of the games will probably be at all hours. Perhaps volunteers for a Photographer for each match?? What do you guys think?

Could I kindly ask that comments regarding any of these idea's be placed in the 'Isketch Tournament' thread.


If you have any questions or concerns, you can PM me

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May I also suggest that if they are willing, spectators take a screenshot of the final score as well as the ops? This should in no way be an alternative to the ops taking the screenshots, as they are supposed to do, but as a back-up. I recall one game last time when there was a mix-up with who was supposed to change the list and who was supposed to screenshot and the scores only just got recorded.

This suggestion is not for a hard-and-fast rule, just as a little suggestion for those wishing to spectate.

Either that, or have an extra-long pause for the celebrations, perhaps? This also gives the spectators more time to congratulate. If we do that, could the ops let the players know how long the pause is? Cause otherwise people can be waiting and waiting and get all thrown out by the unusual length of the pause.

This isn't meant to be disparaging to any of the ops from last year - everyone did a good job, but I do remember feeling the pressure as an op much more than as a player!

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You don't "get up" at 5.30, you stay up till 5.30 practicing!

Been wondering, will it be acceptable to draw a completely different word to get guesses? eg. drawing spit instead of pit; or drawing post to get people to guess poster.

because you can do that in a normal iSketch game, I presume you'll be well within the rules to do that. I might be proved wrong though

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For the sake of the Tournament and fairness to all players - it would be better if the word was drawn (to the best of your ability) first. If your attempt has failed, then so long as a "sounds like" has been drawn (as per instructions of iSketch) or it has been correctly sillybubbilised then I for one can't envisage any problems with that. But the word - wherever possible - must be drawn first.

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I may have completely missed this, but what happens with getting in to the next round? Is it just one person from each group of 5? With there being 3 rounds, will it be point accumulation which puts you through or will there be a system like 5 points for a win, 4 for 2nd etc. Both have their pros and cons.

In previous tournaments it's been 3 rounds, each round is a different type of game. Points from each round for each player are added and the top 3 from each tournament slot go on to the next stage, to play the top 3 from the other slots. In the semi finals (considering 3 slots), only 1 player moves forward and in the finals there's only 3 players (me thinks anyway).

Is TF keeping it that way?

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Until I have an idea of how many player's there will be in the Tournament - it is impossible to state how many will be in the first games and how many will go through to subsequent rounds.

I do need more players to make it as successful as the previous Tournament - so even if you don't post on this Forum but prefer to 'lurk' - I do stress that you would be very welcome to participate. Don't be shy!!

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I am now in the process of pm'ing members who want to take part in the Tournament the proposed dates and times of matches. First Round fixtures will be taking place over the forthcoming week. Keep an eye out here for further details and who is playing.

It is still not too late to join the iSketch Forum Tournament - but please be quick about it

I will also be amending the Tournament Adjudicators part of my original post some time this evening. I will need volunteers to oversee these matches.

EDIT: All private messages sent. If you haven't received one but have entered - please let me know Mistakes can happen!

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The Tournament Adjudicator section has now been edited. I am so tired and am sure that I have missed something - but I do believe that the main stuff is there!

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