Best game

In best game tournaments, players are not paired together for match play-style matches. Instead, they play single-player games. The tournament organizer assembles a bank of arenas, and each player plays each arena one or more times. Their "best game" is compared against the best game of the other participants in the tournament, and they are awarded points based on how well their best game ranks.

Match Play provides flexible configuration options so you can organize a range of different styles of tournaments using the best game format.

Best game tournaments are a popular qualifying format because you can support a large number of players with only a handful of arenas. Selfie leagues are also organized using a best game tournament.

Managing entries

Match Play can manage entries purchased by players for the tournament. The entries configuration is flexible and you can setup your tournament as being unlimited or limited entries. With limited entries Match Play will automatically prevent players from buying/playing more entries than the limit.

You may also assign a number of entries automatically to each player. This can save lots of time for tournaments where every player received a set number of entries along with their registration. These automatic entries are added to players when the tournament is started.

By enabling pricing for entries, Match Play will keep track of the money paid for entries. This is useful both for general auditing and for automatically calculating prize pools (see below). You can even set up bundle pricing like seven entries for $20.

Once entries are enabled, you manage the entries themselves from the Entries tab. The page displays all "purchases" made for all players. There are three types of entries you can add to a player:

Regular entries are just that.
Comped entries are entries with a cost of zero. Comped entries can also exceed the limit for the tournament.
Refund entries are negative entries. They subtract rather than add entries. They have a negative cost.

Setting up prize pools

For best game tournaments, the prize pools feature can be connected to the tournament entries. All you have to do is select Tournament entries as the prize pool type, and all money from entries are automatically added to the prize pool.

Scorekeepers

Scorekeepers in a best game tournament can perform a wide range of tasks. They can add/remove players from queues, enter scores and void games.

Managing virtual queues

Best game tournaments all come with virtual game queues. The game queues let players see when they are up on a game without the need for the tournament organizer to have players line up in person.

When virtual queues are enabled, players can add themselves to a queue, leave a queue or switch queues using their own Match Play account without having to locate a scorekeeper. A scorekeeper can also perform the same actions for players who do not have Match Play accounts.

Scorekeepers can remove any player from a queue. If the player is not present for their game, the scorekeeper has additional options available. They can skip the player or send them to the back of the queue.

Link queues across tournaments

If you are running multiple tournaments at the same time you may link the queues together. When queues are linked they act as a single shared queue and a player can only be queued for a single arena across all tournaments.

Recording scores

A scorekeeper can add scores from the Arenas page. An Add score button is shown for arenas where a score can be added. If virtual queues are enabled, scores can only be added if there is at least one person in the queue for the arena.

After clicking Add score, the scorekeeper will select or verify the player they're adding a score for. Once that's done, they will enter the score or void the game. Voided games do not have a score attached and are not eligible for points, but they still count against the player's limit.

If a score has been entered incorrectly, the tournament organizer has several tools at their disposal to fix the problem. To get started, go to the Scores page and locate the problematic score. There is a filter button in the top right to help locate the score. You can show only games from a specific player and opt to show voided games (hidden by default). Click View details for the game and now the organizer will have three options:

Change score lets you change the score itself if it was entered wrong
Change player lets you assign the score to a different player
Delete score lets you delete the score outright. This is different than a voided game because the deleted game will not count against any limits.

In the event of two players have the exact same game score, both players will receive the higher number of points for the position.

Suggested results

When suggested results are enabled, players can submit their own scores. This feature is not available if virtual queues are enabled. Scorekeepers can approve submitted scores from the Score page.

Viewing arena details

The Arenas page shows an overview of all arenas in the tournament, and it lists the most important details such as the number of people queued for the arena, who is currently playing, what the high score is, etc. But it doesn't show all the details. You may click either the arena name or the view details button to access the arena details.

On the arena details page, you can see all scores on the arena and see the players who are currently queued up. This is also where scorekeepers can perform actions on the queue (like removing players from the queue).

Finally, the arena details page is where the tournament organizer can start the process for arena malfunctions (see below).

Arena malfunctions

Despite best intentions, an arena may have a malfunction that requires it to be removed from the tournament either temporarily or permanently. Match Play automates this process for the tournament organizer.

If an arena needs to be removed from the tournament, the organizer should go to the arena details page for the arena, click on the Actions dropdown and select the Arena malfunction menu item. The organizer has two options:

Deactivated: The arena will be removed from the tournament. Scores will not count for standings. It is as if the arena never existed in the first place.
Blocked: Existing scores will still count for standings, but no new scores may be recorded. Typically used when an arena malfunctions after 50% of the time for the tournament has passed, but can also be used if an arena is temporarily down for repairs.

If an arena is deactivated and the tournament uses entries, then you typically want to refund any entries played on that arena. Match Play can do this for you. Once the arena is deactivated, re-open the Actions dropdown and click the Refund entries menu item. That will ask for confirmation and issue comped entries to all players who played the arena.

Managing entries

Setting up prize pools

Scorekeepers

Managing virtual queues

Link queues across tournaments

Recording scores

Suggested results

Viewing arena details

Arena malfunctions

Configuration options