High stakes Scrabble tournament format proposal
After posting a high stakes Scrabble tournament idea as an April Fools joke, it turned out the joke was on me. It seems there was actually enough interest to move forward with the idea. After talking it over with a few expert rated players, this is what I've come up with as the working plan. I'm looking for feedback, particularly from players who would seriously consider attending.
Fully rated 14 game tournament, limited to 16 players.
Dates: Friday, Aug. 22nd - Sunday, Aug. 24th
I'm limiting it to 16 players so that I can host the event at the 23rd St. Comfort Diner. It will be held on the mezzanine level. It should be noted that while this is a private area of the restaurant, it is NOT soundproof. The restaurant will still be open on the main level. The noise level SHOULDN'T be an issue, but if you prefer playing in a cone of silence, this might not be for you.
Entry fee: $750
Prizes: 1st - $6,000 2nd - $3,000 3rd - $1,500 4th - $750
Format:
The first half would have the players divided into 2 brackets of 8 according to rating. Bracket A would have rated players 1,4,5,8,9,12,13 and 16. Bracket B would have rated players 2,3,6,7,10,11,14 and 15.
Each bracket would play a 7 game round robin. The top two finishers in each bracket would advance to the semifinals (all others would still be eligible for 3rd and 4th place as you'll see.) Bracket A 1st place player would play bracket B 2nd place finisher and vice versa in a best of 3 game series. The winner of each would then face off in a best of 5 game series for the top two prizes.
Meanwhile, the other players would continue to play. This is the proposed schedule for those games. Player numbers in this case are determined by standings rather than seedings.
For games 8-10 there will be 3 groups of 4.
Group 1 would be players Group 2 would be players Group 3 would be players
A3 B4 B5 A6 B3 A4 A5 B6 A7 A8 B7 B8
Those groups would play a 3 game round robin.
After those 3 games are complete (and the finalists are determined) the losers of the semifinal matches would be returned to the larger pool of players to vie for 3rd and 4th place. There are two options if one or both of the semifinal matches end up 2-0. One thought would be to give the losing a bye win, thus rewarding them for having reached teh semis (and rewarding the finalist with a break from playing as well) OR having them play the eighth place finisher from the opposite bracket (while the finalist would play the 7th place finisher). This is an area I'd REALLY like some feedback on.
The final four rounds would also be paired according to standings with the final round or two being KOH rounds.
The proposed schedule looks like this:
Friday:
7:00 PM registraion and dinner
8:15 PM round robin games 1-3
Saturday:
8:30 AM breakfast
9:30 AM round robin games 4-7
1:30 PM lunch
2:30 PM Semifinal series plus round robin games for 3 groups of 4
5:30 PM dinner
Sunday:
8:30 AM breakfast
9:30 AM finals games 1-4 plus consolation group games 11-14
1:30 PM lunch
2:30 PM finals game 5 (if neccessary)
I'd love to hear feedback before I finalize the tournament. I'd most like to hear what you feel should happen if a semifinalist loses in a 2 game sweep. Should they be given a bye as a reward for making it to the semifinals (and protecting them from the possibility of falling too far behind in the standings) or should they have to play a game against someone in the consolation brackets in order to more fully "earn" 3rd or 4th place?
Thank you in advance for your comments,
Ira