How are tournaments run?

Othello Tournaments follow a modified Swiss Tournament model.

In the very first round, each player is randomly matched with another player. The players who win their respective matches will have a ranking of "1". Every subsequent round players will be sorted by ranking and matched with another player with the most similar ranking. Every time a player wins a game the player's ranking will increase by 1, or 0.5 if the game ends in a tie.

There is no penalty for losing a game.

Tournament games are started automatically in batches and can only be watched. Games started through the Play page are not tournament games. You can view currently playing tournament games on the Watch page. Tournament games will be prepended with a "Tournament: ".

Tiebreakers

A cumulative system is used to break ties if they occur. This system maintains a combined score of wins, losses, and draws to create a cumulative score at the end of the tournament.

For example, if there are 5 rounds and you win, win, lose, tie, then win the final round. Your rank will be 1 after Round 1, 2 after Round 2, 2 after Round 3, 2.5 after Round 4, and 3.5 after Round 5. Cumulatively, this adds up to 11. In the event of a tie, winners will be decided based upon their cumulative scores.

Viewing Tournament Rankings

If there is a tournament currently playing you will be able to view current rankings on the Current Rankings page. You can also view the rankings of previously run tournaments on the Previous Ranking pages.