Author Topic: Carcassonne mini-tournament 2014 (Read 13746 times)

MrNumbers · « **on:** January 30, 2014, 05:09:33 AM »

On my website I have announced Carcassonne mini-tournament 2014, which I organize in cooperation with local distributor. Last year it was a tournament with Carcassonne Minis, short report can be found on the forum.
This year I wanted it to be different and I decided that this tournament can be with 8 major expansions. It is still "double elimination" with 16 participants, accordingly 8 tables, that perfectly matches the number of expansions

I have only 1 copy of each expansion, that is why every table will be equipped with one different expansion, but players will change the table after each game: the format implies that and I will try to follow that every player doesn't play with the same expansion twice (however, it is possible under special circumstances).
The final game will be played with 2 randomly selected expansions.
After the event (23.02.2014) I will definitely post a report.

Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=598.0

kettlefish · « **Reply #1 on:** January 30, 2014, 06:18:49 AM »

MrNumbers,
it sounds very interesting.
That will be a long gaming day...

Carcking · « **Reply #2 on:** January 30, 2014, 01:40:35 PM »

I think I remember your report from last year. Your tournament sounds really fun. Wish I could be there.

MrNumbers · « **Reply #3 on:** February 26, 2014, 01:08:20 AM »

So, this Sunday I had hosted my second Carcassonne mini-tournament.
Photo-report you can see at my website. Text is in Latvian, but I will post here the main part.
It was 16 spots in this tournament format, 20 people had applied, but the day before event 7 of them dropped out. Because of odd number of participants I also decided to take part in the tournament. Because the lack of participants we had some auto-wins (3) throughout of the tournament. As I wanted before I was able to achieve that every player played with the same expansion only once (excluding final game), using only one set of expansions.
On third round I was relegated to "Losers Bracket" by player with nickname Zone2. After some hard struggle I was able to win Losers Bracket and enter the Final, where I met the same guy, Zone2! He has one game in reserve (he could lost one game without being eliminated). For the first final game we randomly selected P&D and Catapult. I was luckier in Catapult targeting and won with score 198-194.
That was a time for the second and the very last final game. This time we chose A&M and BC&B. The fight was really hard and in the end we came to a .... DRAW! 138-138! And according to rules of the tournament the winner is a player who spend less time for the game. Zone2 spent only 3 seconds less than me, and became the winner of the mini-tournament! What a dramatic final!

I think it is better that I didn't win. It would be strange if I would give a prize to myself

By the way, the prize, sponsored by local distributor, was 2 Carcassonne expansions. Zone2 has almost all expansions so he chose BC&B (didn't have it yet) and will wait till the moment then in local game store will appear 9th expansion "Sheep and Hills". From me (e.g. Carcassonne Latvia) Zone2 received a copy of Wind Roses.
It was a great event and now it definitely will be annual. One thing I should think about is to change the format. Double elimination has some benefits, but has some disadvantages too: 1) in losers bracket players should play more games to reach the final (up to 7 games vs. 3 games in winners bracket); 2) some players have to wait till they have an opponent to play with (for example, Zone2 had to wait 3 games till I came to the finals). Maybe I can try to implement something similar to Ice Hockey World Championship format.

Carcking · « **Reply #4 on:** February 26, 2014, 10:57:04 AM »

What a great report - and a fun tournament. Good thing you didn't win. It would be strange to win your own hosted tournament.

Merit for you for promoting this fun game!

It is kind of funny to see the Catapult being used in tournament play. That could be frustrating or it could be really good for you. I wonder how it was received?

I see a couple of the game boards went right to the edge of the table? What is your tournament rule regarding the table edge?

MrNumbers · « **Reply #5 on:** February 26, 2014, 12:04:53 PM »

Thanks for the merit! I do my best promoting my favorite game

As for Catapult, almost everyone looked sceptically at it before trying, but playing with it was fun

Some players even considered buying it!

Maybe it was because of the overall atmosphere, or because it was something new... Maybe when you buy some expansion, you are waiting too much from it. Catapult can't give that much, but fun is guaranteed!

)

For table edges rules are quite tolerant: table is a natural playing area and you can't place tiles outside of it, but you can shift all tiles away from particular edge when it's reached. If playing field reaches both opposite edges, tiles cannot be shifted.