1. Register here for a chance to win an entry
2. If you're in, you'll be informed on the DailyGammon website (either in a private message or on the discussion board)
3. Send and accept invites to/from your opponents with the help of this page
4. Have fun playing!
The DailyGammon 8x8 Tournament is a team-based backgammon tournament with 64 players.
The 64 players will be assigned into 8 teams of 8 players each in a way that provides a balanced strength distribution. Based on their ratings, players will be grouped into 8 divisions, with each team having one member in each division. Players in the same division play each other in a round robin format. You don't play players outside your division, so that's 7 matches for each player.
Matches are to be played on the dailygammon.com website.
Match length will depend on the strength of players: for example the top division plays 15-point matches, the bottom division plays 1-pointers, in between it goes linearly. Time control of the matches is 'twice daily'.
Some players will get automatic invitation, but most player spots are awarded through a lottery system.
Registration will be available here from 8am, 8th August (UTC).
The system filters out double applications - submitting your username twice does not increase your chance for being drawn.
The drawing will be held 48 hours after the registration opens. The number of players to be drawn is determined so that there will be 64 players in total including those who got automatic invitation. The neccesary number of players will be drawn from those who've registered up to that point. The true randomness of the drawing is provided by random.org.
Players, whose experience is under 400 are not eligible to participate. This threshhold comes from the rating-calculation expression: below 400 experience, the rating values are less realistic, and cannot serve as the base of the strength balance between the teams. If your experience does not reach 400 at the time the registration opens, your registration will not be accepted.
If you have multiple accounts on DailyGammon, please only use one to register for the lottery.
In case there aren't enough applicants after the drawing took place, players can register for the remaining spots on a first-come-first-served basis.
Once there are 64 confirmed players, they will be grouped into teams based on how they rank against each other. The ranking is based on their rating, if two or more players have the same rating, they will be ordered randomly. Marking the nth ranked player with #n, the team assignment will happen with the help of the following table.
| Division | Match length | Team A | Team B | Team C | Team D | Team E | Team F | Team G | Team H |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15pts | #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6 | #7 | #8 |
| 2 | 13pts | #16 | #15 | #14 | #13 | #12 | #11 | #10 | #9 |
| 3 | 11pts | #23 | #24 | #21 | #22 | #19 | #20 | #17 | #18 |
| 4 | 9pts | #26 | #25 | #28 | #27 | #30 | #29 | #32 | #31 |
| 5 | 7pts | #38 | #37 | #40 | #39 | #34 | #33 | #36 | #35 |
| 6 | 5pts | #43 | #44 | #41 | #42 | #47 | #48 | #45 | #46 |
| 7 | 3pts | #52 | #51 | #50 | #49 | #56 | #55 | #54 | #53 |
| 8 | 1pt | #61 | #62 | #63 | #64 | #57 | #58 | #59 | #60 |
[Let me add that this table has a beautiful symmetry which provides the balance of strength among the teams: for any pair of teams there are 4 divisions in which the first team has a higher ranked player than the second team, and 4 divisions the other way around. Furthermore, the sum of match lengths of the latter 4 matches equals the sum of match lengths of the other 4.]
After the players have been assigned to teams, players will find the information about who to invite and who to accept invitation from on this page.
Invites should be sent out by simply clicking on the links that are found right below your username. Please, don't setup invites manually.
Depending on which team you're assigned to, you'll have to send out 3 or 4 invitations. Please send them all at the same time, matches are meant to be played paralelly.
As the invitation links are public, anybody can click on them accidentally.
Before accepting an invitation, please make sure that it is from the correct person, has the correct match length and time control, and its name fits the following format: 'DG 8x8 [year] - [inviter's team] vs [your team] - Div [division number]'. The format is important because links for the matches are collected automatically based on the match name.
If any of the above parameters is incorrect, please do not accept the invitation, and contact the tournament director.
Matches with incorrect parameters won't be counted into the official results, and have to be restarted.
Teams will be ranked by:
1. Most number of matches won
2. Most number of points scored in won matches
3. Most number of points scored in all matches
4. Least number of points conceded in all matches
The actual team rankings and individual match results will be available here.
Matches which end with one of the players forfeiting on time or resigning, give the other player a full score win - that is the scores are counted as they appear on DailyGammon. However, the player who times out or resigns might be excluded from future tournaments.
In any questions and problems which are not disclosed above, the tournament director has the decision.
In case of any issues, do not hesitate to contact the tournament director via direct message or the relevant forum thread.