Great Canadian Board Game Blitz

This coming weekend (Aug 28th-30th) is Fan eXpo and one of the things going on there is a board game tournament called the Great Canadian Board Game Blitz. They've been running a series of preliminary events over the last while (I think they launched at Fan eXpo last year but I didn't go so I'm not sure) with the same general tournament format with a grand prize of entry to Fan eXpo to play in the main event. It looks like entry is open to anyone who goes to Fan eXpo but space was saved for the winners. I won the tournament in Toronto a month ago so my entry to Fan eXpo is free, woo! Other people can show up to play though, so I'm going to talk a bit about the format in the hopes of getting other people to go. (Probably would have worked better if I did this a few weeks ago but I'm lazy and you all knew that.)

The tournament is 5 rounds long and each round has a list of games that can be played. They rank everyone in order (by current record first and then randomly as a tie-breaker) and the person at the top of the list gets to choose one of the available games to play. They take the game and go to a table to set it up. Then #2 on the list can either choose one of the other games and start a table of it or they can sit down with #1 and play the game they chose. Go down the list repeating for each person in turn with a couple restrictions:

• each game can only be chosen once, so if there's already a table up you can't make a new one of it
• games can fill up, so if a game is chosen and fills before you get to pick then you just can't play it
• you can only start a new game while there isn't room for all the remaining players to play existing games (so if 20 people are playing and 4 5-player games have been chosen no new games can start; you have to sit down at an existing non-full table)

As a consequence of these rules picking in the first n players (where n is the number of games to start) is very powerful. Picking early enough to guarantee a spot in your best game is very, very good. (You need to be in the first 4 to guarantee this since it's possible the first 4 people will all play the same 4 player game which you really wanted to play too. Unlikely, but possible.) Picking last is terrible because you may not get to pick at all. There's one empty seat, go sit at it.

The first round is ordered randomly but after that it's be record. This means winning the first round gives you a lot of power going forward and losing it badly could scuttle your chances of doing well. For example, in the event I won the first round games were:

• Bohnanza
• Ingenious
• Modern Art
• Roll Through The Ages
• San Juan
• Ticket To Ride

Of these 6 games I'd say I'm an expert at one of them. (San Juan). I'm decent at Ticket To Ride. I know the rules to Bohnanza and Modern Art but I'm not very good at either. I have never played Ingenious or Roll Through The Ages. I'd give myself good odds of winning at San Juan and of placing top 2 at Ticket To Ride, but after that I don't like my chances. If I was forced to play Modern Art I'd probably come last every time.

I ended up picking 2nd overall (go random!) and got to start a game of San Juan, but if I wasn't in the top 4 people I don't think a San Juan game even would have started. I pretty much got stragglers at my table (people who didn't want to play San Juan but didn't have much choice) so I doubt anyone else would have started a game of it. Winning the first round meant I got to start a game in round 2 (which I then won) which meant I got to keep starting games. By getting lucky to start the event (and then actually winning the game I picked) I got to control my destiny the entire tournament. In most of the game pools there were only 1 or 2 games I've played very much (if that) so it was a strong factor in how well I actually did. If I don't win my first round I don't get to start a game of Puerto Rico and probably end up having to play Endeavor (which I've played once) or Princes of Florence (which I actively hate).

It's a little unfortunate that people who do poorly in round 1 have little control over what they get to play for the next couple rounds and maybe the whole tournament. If you keep getting forced to learn new games or play things you're bad at (stay away from me, Ra!) then you're going to stay down at the bottom of the list. I'm really thinking if that happens to me this weekend I'll just drop out and do other Fan eXpo things rather than be forced to play a game I don't enjoy/don't think I can win.

They're expecting a big turnout this weekend, so there are 9 possible games each round. Every round has a couple games I've never played before, so I could be in for a rough go at it. (Though at least then I get to learn new games... Having to play Carcassonne or Settlers really doesn't appeal.)

But I don't know what to do to 'fix' it. It's a fun format as far as getting to spend a day playing a bunch of different games with different people. It's just not the best for competitive balance, I don't think.

At any rate, it should be fun, and you should go too!