WBC 2008 - Prelude

Prelude
Day 0
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
PR Finals
Recap

I reread last year's recap and decided it didn't do a very good job explaining what actually goes on at WBC (World Boardgaming Championships). I think the main problem is that while it summarized what games I played it didn't really explain why I was playing them or what the structure of the whole event is. My goal this time around in general is to try to give a better feel for what actually goes on. In particular I'm going to use this starting post to go over the different styles of events and the feel for the week in general.

The main point of reference I (and I suspect many people reading this) have for a game tournament is Magic:the Gathering. Now, the vast majority of Magic events of any size are run as swiss events with a cut to Top 8. They run a fixed number of rounds (decided in advance or by number of entries) one after another. For larger tournaments they run some number of rounds on "Day 1" and then more the next day and so on until they get them all done. Each round starts shortly after the last one ends and if you want to win you need to play in every round. Failing to play in a round generally results in getting disqualified from the entire event. So a typical Magic tournament will have you play your match and then wait for everyone to finish their match in the round, then you repeat until the day is over or they cut to Top 8. If you play reasonable fast (as I do) you often end up playing for 20 minutes and then sitting around doing nothing for 40 minutes. You can't really leave or do anything long because you have another round starting shortly.

Another aspect around Magic tournaments, especially ones you might be traveling 8+ hours to go to, is that you're there to win. There is a great prize for first place and ok prizes for a small section of the players in attendance. (GPs have prizes to what, top 16, and get hundreds or thousands of people?) As such you tend to find when people are eliminated from contention (a couple losses) they drop out of the event and find something else to do. Or sit around bored while their friends keep competing...

So, how does WBC differ? To start, instead of there being one main event everyone cares about and a smattering of lesser side events you actually have 107 'main' events, 43 'side' events, some junior and teen events, and some seminars. I use the term 'main' here pretty loosely, but basically these are events with a larger prize pool.

The second difference is the aforementioned prize pool. While a Magic tournament will have trips and thousands of dollars on the line WBC has plaques and shirts. Winning one of the 107 'main' events wins you the priviledge of buying a shirt. (Well, paying shipping for a free shirt, I believe it was $5 US last year.) IN addition based on the size of last year's event 1st through up to 6th place win plaques. Sometimes game publishers throw in a minor gift certificate at their online store as well, but most events are just for bragging rights and a plaque. The 'side' events only award a plaque for first, nothing more.

The third difference, and I think it's the most important one of all, is the scheduling. Most events at WBC (or at least most of the ones I've played in) use a format type they called Multiple Entry Swiss Elimination (MESE) but have since rebranded to cover lots of different subtle variants. Basically what this means is there are multiple times you can join the event, the main rounds are basically swiss, and you eventually cut to an elimination. For example, a given event (El Grande) might have 3 rounds (at, say Tuesday at 6pm, Wednesday at 4pm, Thursday at 9am) and then cut to top 16. If you wanted to compete in El Grande you could show up for any or all of the three rounds. After the three rounds are done they'll rank everyone according to their preposted tiebreaking scheme. Generally it will be something like winning in the first round you played, then number of wins, then number of seconds, then number of thirds, then number of fourths, then coin flip. Then when the semifinals start they just go down the list and take the top 16 people who showed up.

What does that mean? Well, if you want you can play in 3 different games on El Grande, or you can play in one, win it, and then skip the next two. Or you can do what Pounder has done, and never win a round but collect up enough second places to still make it into the top 16. It also means even if you don't want to play in the top 16 you can still get in 1, 2, or 3 games of El Grande. One other thing it means is that at 3 points in time during the week you can spend two hours playing El Grande. They're not all strung together, and if you ever have spare time during those times you have something to do.

That last part is really the key to WBC: Low amounts of downtime. The schedule is set up so events always start on the hour, and most game are designed to be played in an even number of hours. And with 150 events happening and with many events having 3+ entry points you actually have a ton of options at most points in time. For example, last year on Thursday at 7pm there were 7 main rounds and one semifinal starting. I've actually had a problem finding time where I can go get something to eat.

To top it all off, events have starting times from 9am to 11pm, but that's not the only gaming going on. They have a tent set up by the pool with around a hundred games that anyone can sign out and just play games of with whoever is around, or with friends. Finding time to sleep is another big problem...

So, in conclusion, it's a little like a big Magic tournament except with more variety, less downtime, and friendlier games since people are there to have fun and not to try to make a living.

Tomorrow: Posts actually recapping WBC 2008!