Through the Ages

BPA Through the Ages Tournament 2022

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Game Assignments
Standings
This is the home page for the 2022 Boardgame Players Association “Play By Email”  tournament for Through the Ages. It is open only to members of the Boardgame Players Association (BPA). If you attend the World Boardgaming Championship (WBC), and are up to date on your registration fees for 2022, then you are already a member. If not, you can purchase an “Associate Membership” (PBEM only) for $10 from this website: www.boardgamers.org.
This tournament will award laurels and contribute to the annual Caesar award, all of which is tracked through that same website.
 

GM: Allan Jiang

AGMs: Randy Buehler and Galen Loram

Tournament Format

This tournament will be played on the TTA app by Czech Games that launched in 2017 for iOS, Android, and Steam. You must own the app AND the New Leaders and Wonders expansion in order to participate in the tournament.
 
This tournament using the TTA app Tournament feature, which will automatically create games, balance seat order in the final round (and possibly also in the semifinals), record finished games, and automatically calculate standings.
 
Games will be 4-player, use “Random Mix” for the card set, “Rules: Digital”, and “Default Async” timing (which means you have 24 hours to make a move once it is your turn, plus a time extension bank that refills whenever a new age begins … if you run out of time you will be dropped from the game and replaced by a bot).

Stages: There will be 3 stages in the tournament: heats, semifinals, and finals. In each stage, all players will play in 4 simultaneous asynchronous games.
 
Advancement: Advancement will depend on number of participants.
  • 26-31 participants: Top 13 in heat standings will advance to the semifinals where each semifinalist will play all others once. Top 5 in semifinal standings will advance to the finals where each finalist will play the others three times each.
  • 32-47 participants: Top 16 in heat standings will advance to the semifinals where each semifinalist will play all others once, except those in their quartile (i.e. top 4 in heat standings will not play each other). Top 7 in semifinal standings will advance to the finals where each finalist will play the others twice each.
  • 48+ participants: Top 20 in heat standings will advance to the semifinals where each semifinalist will play 12 different opponents; seeds 1-4 will not play each other, seeds 5-8 will face exactly one top 8 player in each game, and seeds 9-20 will face either one or two top 8 players in each game. Top 7 in semifinal standings will advance to the finals where each finalist will play the others twice each.
Standings: Each stage will have its own standings. You will be awarded 10 points for winning a game, 6 for finishing 2nd, 3 for 3rd, and 1 for 4th. Points for tied positions in games will be divided evenly among the tied players.
 
Standings Tiebreakers:
  1. Points in the semifinals (if applicable)
  2. Points in the heats (if applicable)
  3. Average % of winner’s score in current stage
  4. Head to head record in current stages, then in previous stage(s)
  5. Average points of opponents played in current stage (strength of schedule)
  6. Later average seat order in current stage, then in previous stage(s)
  7. Random

Resignation: Players may resign as their political action prior to age IV, by clicking on ‘Game Menu’, ‘Forfeit the Game’, and ‘More about resigning”. A player who resigns will place last among the players currently in a game, and will still earn tournament points
accordingly.

Bot Alert: When a player runs out of time or abandons a game, the app replaces that player with a bot. This is generally unpleasant for all parties involved, so please resign on your political action if you will not be finishing the game. You will not receive any points for games in which you were replaced by a bot, while the remaining players will receive points according to their finish rank including the bot.
 
If a player is replaced by a bot in age I and in the first two weeks of a stage, then the game is to be restarted as a 3-player game unless all players agree to continue playing with the bot. If a player is replaced by a bot at any other point, then the game may be restarted as a 3-player game if all players agree and the GM approves, on the basis that this restart will not prolong the stage.
 

Pace of Play: You are expected to check your games and take your turns (at least) once per day. It’s OK to have an occasional break of a couple of days, but we expect most games to finish in less than two months. Games that haven’t finished in 8 weeks are likely to be adjudicated, and the adjudication will include demoting slow players to lower finish positions.

Sportsmanship: Please be respectful to your opponents. Each player is entitled to make their own decisions in the game. However, it is not permitted to discuss pacts before offering them, to reveal any hidden information, or to intentionally help another player without any personal benefit in game. If you have any concerns, please contact the GM team.

Schedule

Registration Opens: May 30, 2022

Registration Closes: July 22, 2022

Heat Stage Starts: August 1, 2022

Semifinals Start: September/October 2022
 
Finals Start: November/December 2022

Game Assignments

We will use the CGE tournament feature to automatically create games.

Game Results

We will use the CGE tournament feature to automatically track standings.

Sign Ups

Sign up below, or click here to open the sign-up form.

Through the Ages Online Tournament

Through the Ages Season 23
Online Tournament

Standings
Report Results
Pairings
Sign Up
Overview & News

Season 23 Standings

As games end the standings are updated. See how each league is doing and check on your friends and rivals.

If the frame below is hard to read on your device follow the link:

Tournament Results

Season 23 Game Assignments

Players will find their game game assignments on bucketofdice.

The Through the Ages tournament uses Czech Games Edition application of the game. 

OR link to a page/tab.

Sign Up for Next Season

You can sign up for the next season on bucketofdice.com.

Remember, the Tournament now uses the expansion cards set. You must have that to play.

If you don’t already have one, create an account for the sign up system the Meeple League is using. Be sure to add your Czech Game Edition online user name (and any others you have) to your account.

bucketofdice.com

Under the Play! menu select Register for Tournament to see all the events open for sign up.

Our TTA event uses the online implementation on ios, Android and Steam (for Mac and Windows) from Czech Game Edition. The app is based on the most recent edition of the game (“A New Story of Civilization”) and no house rules.

Players are sorted into Groups of 7 players based on previous results.  In a season, each player plays in 4 games and each other member of your Group will be in 2 games against you. Winning a game is worth 10 points, 2nd is 6, 3rd place gets you 3 points, and 4th nets 1. You can read more details about the rules for Meeple Leagues HERE.

Divisions are based on previous Season results. New players enter at the bottom level for their first season.

You’ll receive a notice in your email once the pairings are ready. If you do sign up, you are committing to checking the app a couple of times on most days (it’s OK if something comes up every once in a while, or if you’re out of town for a weekend (for example), but in general we’re hoping game lengths will be measured in weeks not months.

To sign up for this (and future) season of Through the Ages, you must create an account at BucketofDice.com.

Add your user name on the Czech Game Editions application and then sign up.

This system is run by the Meeple League, but has a separate domain name because it isn’t part of our WordPress system. We are developing it on our own.

The reason we are doing sign ups with it now is to make sure players are credited for participation in all Meeple League events. Mis-typed and slight variations in names causes many problems with our previous sign up and score reporting system. Having your own identity for use in all events saves a lot of sifting through data.

Through the Ages Online Tournament
Report Results

The winner of each game should report the result on bucketofdice, but if a day or two has gone by and the score isn’t reflected in the standings then anyone else should please feel free to make sure we get the scores.

Standings update immediately once results start coming in.

Previous Season Results

Season 22 is over. If any new results have to reported, email the game coordinator.

Lifetime standings are available.

If the frame below is hard to read on your device follow the link:

Tournament Results

BPA Through the Ages Tournament 2021

Game Assignments
Standings
Signup
This is the home page for the 2021 Boardgame Players Association “Play By Email”  tournament for Through the Ages. It is open only to members of the Boardgame Players Association (BPA). If you attend the World Boardgaming Championship (WBC), and are up to date on your registration fees for 2021, then you are already a member. If not, you can purchase an “Associate Membership” (PBEM only) for $10 from this website: www.boardgamers.org. This tournament will award laurels and contribute to the annual Caesar award, all of which is tracked through that same website.
 

GM: Allan Jiang

AGMs: Randy Buehler and Galen Loram

Tournament Format

This tournament will be played on the TTA app by Czech Games that launched in 2017 for iOS, Android, and Steam. You must own the app AND the New Leaders and Wonders expansion in order to participate in the tournament.
 
The GM will attempt to run this tournament using the TTA app Tournament feature, which will require an extra confirmation step by participants. The Tournament feature will automatically create games, balance seat order in the final round (and possibly also in the semifinals), record finished games, and automatically calculate standings.
 
Games will be 4-player, use “Random Mix” for the card set, “Rules: Digital”, and “Default Async” timing (which means you have 24 hours to make a move once it is your turn, plus a time extension bank that refills whenever a new age begins … if you run out of time you will be dropped from the game and replaced by a bot).

Stages: There will be 3 stages in the tournament: heats, semifinals, and finals. In each stage, all players will play in 4 simultaneous asynchronous games.
 
Advancement: Advancement will depend on number of participants. Details on semifinal matchups are subject to change depending on the capabilities of the TTA app Tournament feature.
  • 26-31 participants: Top 13 in heat standings will advance to the semifinals where each semifinalist will play all others once. Top 5 in semifinal standings will advance to the finals where each finalist will play the others three times each.
  • 32-47 participants: Top 16 in heat standings will advance to the semifinals where each semifinalist will play all others once, except those in their quartile (i.e. top 4 in heat standings will not play each other). Top 7 in semifinal standings will advance to the finals where each finalist will play the others twice each.
  • 48+ participants: Top 20 in heat standings will advance to the semifinals where each semifinalist will play 12 different opponents; seeds 1-4 will not play each other, seeds 5-8 will face exactly one top 8 player in each game, and seeds 9-20 will face either one or two top 8 players in each game. Top 7 in semifinal standings will advance to the finals where each finalist will play the others twice each.
Standings: Each stage will have its own standings. You will be awarded 10 points for winning a game, 6 for finishing 2nd, 3 for 3rd, and 1 for 4th. Points for tied positions in games will be divided evenly among the tied players.
 
Standings Tiebreakers:
  1. Points in the semifinals (if applicable)
  2. Points in the heats (if applicable)
  3. Average % of winner’s score in current stage
  4. Head to head record in current stages, then in previous stage(s)
  5. Average points of opponents played in current stage (strength of schedule)
  6. Later average seat order in current stage, then in previous stage(s)
  7. Random

Resignation: Players may resign as their political action prior to age IV, by clicking on ‘Game Menu’, ‘Forfeit the Game’, and ‘More about resigning”. A player who resigns will place last among the players currently in a game, and will still earn tournament points accordingly.

Bot Alert: When a player runs out of time or abandons a game, the app replaces that player with a bot. This is generally unpleasant for all parties involved, so please resign on your political action if you will not be finishing the game. You will not receive any points for games in which you were replaced by a bot, while the remaining players will receive points according to their finish rank including the bot.
 
If a player is replaced by a bot in age I and in the first two weeks of a stage, then the game is to be restarted as a 3-player game unless all players agree to continue playing with the bot. If a player is replaced by a bot at any other point, then the game may be restarted as a 3-player game if all players agree and the GM approves, on the basis that this restart will not prolong the stage.
 

Pace of Play: You are expected to check your games and take your turns (at least) once per day. It’s OK to have an occasional break of a couple of days, but we expect most games to finish in less than two months. Games that haven’t finished in 8 weeks are likely to be adjudicated, and the adjudication will include demoting slow players to lower finish positions.

Sportsmanship: Please be respectful to your opponents. Each player is entitled to make their own decisions in the game. However, it is not permitted to discuss pacts before offering them, to reveal any hidden information, or to intentionally help another player without any personal benefit in game. If you have any concerns, please contact the GM team.

Schedule

Registration Opens: June 13, 2021

Registration Closes: July 25, 2021

Heat Stage Starts: ~August 4, 2021

Semifinals Start: September/October 2021
 
Finals Start: November/December 2021

Game Assignments

We will use the CGE tournament feature to automatically create games. Tournament link is at https://account.czechgames.com/tournaments/detail/3172

Standings

We will use the CGE tournament feature to automatically track standings. Tournament link is at https://account.czechgames.com/tournaments/detail/3172

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