Midwest Tetris Championship
The Midwest Gaming Classic is an all-encompassing electronic gaming event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 2011, the Midwest Gaming Classic will hold the third annual Midwest Tetris Championship (MTC).
The event coordinator for the Midwest Tetris Championship is Dan Loosen. Event coordinators organize volunteers, designate scorekeepers, handle malfunctions and provide ultimate rulings, delegate responsibilities and authority, and otherwise work to ensure the smooth operation of the tournament. Because of this role, event coordinators are excluded from tournament play. Designated officials may play, but must follow all rules regarding tournament play and may not officiate themselves.
I. Quick Overview
The Midwest Gaming Classic's Midwest Tetris Championship rules are quite lengthy and detailed. They reflect the experience of many years of tournament play, under many different systems. The underlying ideas are simple, however.
The majority of the tournament consists of qualifying rounds for players. During these rounds, each player may make as many qualifying attempts as they like. Each qualifying attempt consists of play on the Nintendo version of Tetris, Game B with Speed set to 5 and Level set to 5.
In the final rounds, qualifying players play head short challenges preselected for each round of play by the top qualifier. All players play against one another in this round, however only the lowest scoring competitor is eliminated each round.
The players will continue in this fashion until only one person has won, at which point he or she is declared the "Midwest Tetris Champion."
II. Singles Competition
1. Divisions of Play
There are no divisions of play for the 2011 Midwest Tetris Championship.
2. Fees
There are no registration fees to enter the Midwest Tetris Championship at the Midwest Gaming Classic, however a one-time registration is required of each player before play begins. Registration is not required to watch. Entries will have a fee structure that is outlined below.
Players may enter as many times as they like. If you do not redeem all of your entries before the end of the qualifying rounds, you will lose the ability to redeem them. Qualifying entries are non-transferable. The fees for each entry are:
- Midwest Tetris Championship - $5.00
- 3 Midwest Tetris Championship Entries - $10.00
Any entry left unplayed or uncompleted at the end of qualifying rounds will be voided and refunded. Entries that are intentionally unplayed or otherwise left incomplete through no fault of the tournament will not be refunded.
3. Prizes
The tournament features the following prizes:
The winner of the Midwest Tetris Championship will receive prizes listed on the official tournament page.
III. Singles: Qualifying Rounds
1. Purchasing entries
Before purchasing an entry, all players must be registered. A registered player may purchase qualifying entries for any tournament in which they wish to compete. Each purchased entry is specific to one player. Players should keep their registered player number handy for use when purchasing entries.
Entries will not be sold for any competitions beyond the posted time. Entries are non-refundable unless by special permission.
2. Playing an entry
When a player is ready to play a qualifying entry, he or she approaches the console or consoles designated for the tournament and gives their scorecard to the scorekeeper. At no time may the player begin play on any console without being instructed to do so by the scorekeeper.
Players may practice if they wish. This request should be made to the Tournament Official before practice has begun, and the Tournament Card should be held onto by the player until play they are done practicing and ready to compete. There is no official time limit on practice times, however it should be kept under 10 minutes, and is solely up to the discretion of the Tournament Official on how long it is. In the case of multiple people wanting to compete, practice time may be removed entirely – again, at the sole discretion of the Tournament Official.
Games can end in two ways -- either when the player fails to eliminate all of the lines or when the player eliminates all of the lines. In both cases, the player’s score is the determining factor in rank.
At the end of each game, the player will request that the scorekeeper record his or her score before leaving the console. It is the player's responsibility to ensure that the scorekeeper takes down the score, and to double check the recorded score for correctness.
At any point during play or immediately after play has been completed, the player may elect to abandon his or her entry by notifying the scorekeeper. An abandoned entry is treated as a non-completed entry, and is therefore disallowed in the tournament. No entries are refunded for abandoned or disallowed games.
Once the player has begun to play their entry, they may not take their scorecard from the scorekeeper, whether it is complete, incomplete, or void.
3. Scoring
All scores posted in the Midwest Tetris Championship are ranked with only the highest score for each player counting. Because the rankings will change as new scores are posted from other players, the ranking of each score may change as the qualifying rounds progress.
In the unlikely event of two or more scores on a game being tied, the first player to have scored that amount will be awarded with the higher ranking.
There are no scoring normalizers or other adjustments.
Tournament officials will endeavor to provide up-to-date scores and rankings at all times. This will be done through a computerized tournament ranking system.
4. Ranking Example
A player purchases a qualifying entry in the tournament, and is assigned an entry number of 149. He plays one entry on, and the scorekeeper records his score. At the time the entry is completed, his score is ranked in the 3rd position. This score may change as other entries are played, by this player or other players. For example, at the end of qualifying, the scores for this entry may only place the player 5th, which would leave him unranked and out of the final rounds of play unless a player above him does not arrive to compete.
Note that the more songs that a player qualifies on the less likely it is that they will be bumped out of final play by other players at a later point throughout the day, however this cannot be guaranteed.
5. Game Hardware
Each tournament game will be played on a Nintendo console which will be provided by the tournament. This console is considered the 'official' tournament console, and is the only one which shall be used for all games, unless a catastrophic malfunction occurs (see below).
Each tournament game will have a controller provided for the players to use. Generally, these controllers will be the original controller which was bundled with the system.
Whichever controller is picked by the player must be used for the entire entry, and may not be switched unless a major malfunction has been proven to occur with the controller. In the case of a major malfunction, the tournament will provide a suitable replacement as decided by tournament officials.
Other console hardware devices, such as memory cards, rumble packs, extension cables, memory extensions, hard drives, or other devices may only be used in situations where the tournament officials have decided and provided these items for play. If an item is provided, tournament officials will inform players on if it is required that they use it or if it is optional.
At times, additional hardware may be at a game such as additional controllers, memory cards, rumble packs, and other devices may be left at or near a console which is being used. Players may not use these additional items unless specifically instructed that they may do so by a tournament official. Doing so may void the player's score for that round.
Players may not at any time provide their own console hardware for the tournament, whether it be in the way of consoles, memory cards, controllers, hard drives, rumble packs or other devices not mentioned. Tournament Officials must verify all hardware functions before the tournament.
IV. Singles: Final Rounds
1. Advancing to Finals
At the end of all qualifying play, the top four ranked players will advance to the finals. All qualifying players must meet at the Tournament Table in the Tournament Hall at 2:00 to receive instructions for the final round. In the event a qualifying player is not available, he or she will be skipped in the ranking as if he or she had not qualified. Upon discovering that a player is not present, tournament officials will make a specific announcement for that player, allowing at least two minutes but no more than five minutes for that player to appear. In the case that the ranked player does not arrive, all other ranked players will move up in the standings and the fifth ranked player for that song will be allowed into the tournament. In the case that the fifth place person is not available, the first round will be skipped entirely, with play starting from the second round. Substitutions or late arrivals are not allowed.
In the event that two or more players have the same score in this ranking, the first person to receive that ranking will be the top person.
2. Final Rounds
For the final rounds, the top ranked qualifier will pick either which game type they will play for that round or their position in final round play. Each game type may only be played once. The game types are as follows:
- Game Type A, Level 0, Next Piece Turned Off, 45 second rounds
- Game Type A, Level 5, Next Piece Turned On, 1:30 second rounds
- Game Type A, Level 9, Next Piece Turned On, no piece rotation
Each round of play will consist of two attempts for each level, with the combined scores giving each competitor their score for that round.
The rounds are played in a mirrored fashion. Therefore, the competitor who elects to play first will also play eighth, the competitor who plays second will also play seventh, the competitor who plays third will play sixth, and the competitor who plays fourth will play fifth.
The highest-seeded player will get to choose either which game type or which position they play in. After they have selected, the second highest seeded player will get to choose from what remains. This choice repeats for seeds three and four, with the first place position getting whichever playing position remains unfilled.
This seeding and position decision will remain for the final two rounds of the tournament, always with the highest seeded remaining player getting first choice.
3. Round Structure
The final round structure for the Midwest Tetris Championship will be as follows: All players will play against one another in the order selected as outlined in section 2.
4. Winners
Winners will receive the prizes during an awards ceremony shortly following the conclusion of all final rounds on Sunday. Finals winners need to be present to receive prizes. All decisions by tournament officials regarding winners and prizes are final.
All players, winning or not, grant the Midwest Gaming Classic and all other event sponsors and organizers the right to use their names, scores, and likenesses for the purpose of promoting this tournament as well as other event related activities. If a player has any problem with this rule, please talk with tournament officials before competing to be accommodated.
The top winner will receive the title "Midwest Tetris Champion." This title remains in effect until the next annual Midwest Tetris Championship tournament, or will expire after two years if Tetris tournaments are discontinued at the event.
V. Malfunctions and Rulings
In certain cases, malfunctions will be dealt with more strictly during finals rounds than during qualifying rounds, at the discretion of tournament officials.
1. Minor Malfunctions
A minor malfunction is any incident without external cause which deviates from the normal course of game play, without directly causing a player's loss and without providing any player a significant advantage over others. A minor malfunction is considered part of normal play. Tournament officials shall determine what constitutes a significant advantage; in the event that such an advantage is obtained; refer to "Beneficial Malfunctions."
2. Major Malfunctions
A major malfunction is a game play problem with a game that results in the premature loss of turn, scoring in a fashion that is not a normal feature of the game's game play, or other similar circumstances. These may be unusual one-time events, or they may indicate a recurring problem that will need to be addressed by technicians.
Examples of major malfunctions include:
- Loss of the ability to control the game. This could occur due to the controller losing the proper connection to the console.
- Sudden loss of a button on the controller. This could occur if a button on a controller gets stuck, or ceases to function as normal (IE firing sporadically, firing on its own or getting stuck in the on position).
When a major malfunction occurs, it is the player's responsibility to notify the scorekeeper, calmly and promptly. If necessary, the scorekeeper will request advice from a tournament official. If the official(s) agree that the incident is a major malfunction, the player will be given the option to re-start their game after the malfunction has been fixed, or to play the game until completion while the problem persists. No attempt will be made to re-establish the state of the game at the time of the major malfunction.
In the event that a major malfunctions take place during the game and the player wishes to replay their game, the player's current game will be terminated immediately and replayed. The terminated score will be temporarily recorded, and except in any case where the original score was unfairly improved by the malfunction, the higher score for the player will be recorded as his or her official score. In the event that a recurring major malfunction cannot suitably be repaired, the failure must be treated as a catastrophic malfunction.
If a player decides to decline a major malfunction, this must be approved by the tournament official, and must not result in a situation which provides an unfair advantage to the player.
All major malfunctions must be proven, and unless they can be repeated by a tournament official, they are not considered a major malfunction. If a major malfunction occurs, players shall not attempt to fix it themselves, and shall instead immediately notify a tournament scorekeeper or official. Any player which has been found to knowingly cause a major malfunction (such as unplugging or disconnecting a controller) will be eliminated from tournament play. If this occurs, any prizes that would have been earned are automatically forfeited.
4. Known Malfunctions
Any malfunction that is determined to be relatively minor but unusual enough to merit comment may, at the discretion of tournament officials, be posted for players to be aware of before playing the affected game. Players who have played the game before this notice is provided will not be allowed to replay the game nor to replace it with play of another game. The occurrence of any posted malfunction will be treated as a minor malfunction unless it worsens or interacts with another feature to yield a major malfunction.
A known malfunction could be something such as the unavailability of the use of a certain controller, or the need to play a game using a different controller port than usual.
5. Catastrophic Malfunctions
A catastrophic malfunction is any event not purposely or inadvertently caused by a player which immediately ends play for the player on the game.
Examples of catastrophic malfunctions include:
- The game system crashes and/or resets due to a software error or hardware component failure.
- Power is lost or interrupted.
- A new game starts unexpectedly.
- A second player starts unexpectedly.
- A major malfunction repeatedly recurs in spite of best attempts to repair the game. Any event caused by a player, purposely or inadvertently, is covered under "Player Errors" below.
When a catastrophic malfunction occurs, the scores of the terminated game will be temporarily recorded if possible, any player(s) whose game(s) was/were not already completed must replay their game(s) from scratch. The higher score for each player will be recorded as that player's official score if possible. In the event the game cannot be repaired in order to continue play, see "Disabled games."
6. Beneficial Malfunctions
Any malfunction which provides at least one player with a significant advantage over any other player competing on that game is known as a beneficial malfunction. Tournament officials shall determine what constitutes a significant advantage.
Any beneficial malfunction which provides one or more players with a significant scoring or strategic advantage in a way that is not part of normal gameplay will void the score of the affected player(s), unless all immediately-affected players and tournament officials can agree on a suitable adjustment of the score or other elimination of the advantage. If the beneficial malfunction has been specifically avoided by the player, it is unlikely that a penalty is necessary. If any player score(s) are voided, the affected player(s) may then replay the game after the other players have finished, and the new score(s) are used for the affected player(s).
Any situation which indicates the presence of a beneficial malfunction should be brought to the attention of the scorekeeper promptly, who will alert tournament officials. Any player who intentionally takes advantage of a significant beneficial malfunction may be given a warning and/or have his or her affected entry interrupted and disqualified by tournament officials.
7. Disabled games
In the extremely unlikely event that any console or tournament game breaks down during play and cannot be replaced or attended to by technicians immediately, the game may be taken out of service temporarily or permanently. During qualifying rounds, players in the affected division must choose an alternate game in place of a temporarily disabled game. A permanently disabled game may be replaced with a substitute by tournament officials. During finals rounds, tournament officials will designate an alternate game; the game in progress on the disabled game, if any, will be discarded, and play will continue on the newly designated game.
8. Player Errors
A player error is any player action, purposeful or accidental, which affects the normal play or outcome of a game in progress.
Any player who deliberately interferes with the play of another player, through distraction, touching the game or player, or disrupting tournament procedures, will receive a score of zero for the game. Any repeated offense under this rule will result in ejection of the player from the tournament. Any non-player, or tournament participant not playing in the game in progress, who deliberately interferes with the play of any tournament game, will be given one warning. On the second offense, the offender will be ejected from the facility.
Accidental interference is regrettable but can happen. Any player or non-player who accidentally interferes with the play of any tournament game will be warned. If the interference was sufficient to cause the loss of life or premature ending of a game, this will be treated as a major malfunction. If the interference terminated play for the player (for example, tripping over a power cord and pulling it from the wall) this will be treated as a catastrophic malfunction.
Because the tournament qualifications consist solely of singles play, coaching of any player during a game, in any round, is not allowed. If a player specifically requests advice on a game feature during play, his or her question may be addressed only by a tournament official or scorekeeper, and answered only in terms of whether or not the game is functioning correctly. Players are not to seek assistance from other players or spectators. Outside of play, players are of course free to discuss features and strategies as much as they like.
During tournament play, if the "Pause" button is pressed by either player for any reason, the player who has pressed the button will be docked 10% of their final score at the end of the face off for every offense.
Tournament officials will be the sole determiners of what constitutes interference and whether or not it is accidental or deliberate. Scorekeepers are strongly encouraged to watch for and, if possible, prevent incidents of interference.
9. Rulings
Rulings shall be made by tournament officials, which include event coordinators and any person(s) designated as officials by the coordinators. Designated officials may have restrictions on the breadth of rulings, and may be overridden by tournament officials. Any designated official or event coordinator is excluded from ruling on any play situation that directly affects his or her actual or potential standing as a player. Final authority for any ruling rests with Dan Loosen.
VI. Game Settings
1. Software Settings
In general, the software settings of each game will be adjusted to best accommodate tournament play. The following settings will be employed on each game:
- Game Type B
- Speed Level 5
- Block Level 5
Also note that all video and audio lag settings will be determined and set by tournament officials before play is to begin.
Tournament officials may check these rules at any time to ensure they have not been tampered with. If any tampering has occurred, the most recent tournament entry on that machine will be voided, as well as any questionable entries before that at the discretion of the tournament officials. If a player is caught tampering with these settings, he or she will immediately be disqualified from all tournament play and no refund shall be issued for any games which have or have not yet been played.
Any player with a complaint or question about the software setup of a game should make his or her inquiry in between games if urgent.
2. Hardware Settings
Games used for tournament play will be prepared and kept in good working order to the greatest extent possible.
Any player with a complaint or question about the hardware setup of a game should make his or her inquiry in between games if urgent.
VII. Player Conduct
1. Facility
This Midwest Tetris Championship is held as part of the Midwest Gaming Classic event at the Olympia Resort and Spa, which is private property and must be treated with respect. The tournament reserves the right to refuse play to anyone at any time, as well as to remove anyone from the property at any time.
The tournament facility and playing areas must be kept clean. In the tournament area, drinks are allowed only for actively qualifying players. No food is allowed in the qualifying area at any time. Spills of any kind should be reported to officials immediately. Trash should be deposited in the provided receptacles. Please do not remove chairs from any area where they have been placed.
Smoking is restricted to designated areas outside the building or specific areas that are marked. Violation of this and/or other rules may lead to ejection from the tournament.
Weapons and illegal drugs are prohibited on the property. Naturally, any and all types of illegal activity are prohibited as well.
2. Personal Conduct
All players are expected to conduct themselves in a polite and sensitive manner. Outbursts, especially those including indecent language, are unacceptable. A wide variety of players and observers will be present, including media, and these types of outbursts do nothing to promote competitive gaming as a sport.
Any express or implied threats or actions of violence are grounds for immediate ejection from the facility, and authorities will be contacted. Other possible grounds for ejection include but are not limited to fraud, theft, illegal activity, harassment, inappropriate behavior, public drunkenness, etc.
3. Abuse of games
Abusive handling such as punching, kicking, lifting, tipping, or rocking a console or television, as well as punching, kicking, biting, or throwing a controller or game, is grounds for a warning and possible disqualification of game or ejection from the tournament, at the discretion of tournament officials. Players are responsible for reimbursement and / or replacement of items if they cause any purposeful loss in value to any items which are used in the tournament.
4. Interference
Any player who intentionally interferes with tournament play or otherwise disrupts the tournament setting will be warned and/or ejected from the tournament, at the discretion of tournament officials.
5. Delay
Any player who delays (or "pauses") the progress of his or her game at any time, for any reason other than to await a ruling or resolution of a temporary inconvenience, will be given a warning.
Temporary inconvenience is defined as any condition which can reasonably be expected to be resolved quickly, such as unusual noise, lighting problems, etc. An inconvenience such as sunlight glare does not normally qualify, unless easily resolved. A player may choose not to play a game that is experiencing glare; they may reschedule their play or choose another game, within the rules of the tournament. Sunlight glare tends to be temporary.
Delay is defined as time during which the game is paused by the player in any fashion. If delays are repeated or willful, tournament officials may terminate the game in progress and record a score of zero for that player.
7. Wagering or Gambling
Please note that gambling is illegal in our venue and the tournament does not endorse, condone, nor support wagering between players. We also feel that video game playing is at least 75% skill-based, making any wagering at best ill-advised, in addition to being illegal.