-------------- Original message ---------------------- From: Marc Hartstein <marc.hartstein@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> > How would the structure used for the Icehouse tournament work? I wasn't > entirely satisfied with it for Icehouse (as Pace pointed out, it's > gameable), but Martian Chess scores differently than Icehouse. I guess > it still has a problem, though, because not all of the 18 points/player > are awarded. > > A tournament structure which discourages somebody with a commanding lead > from going ahead and winning because they can increase their tournament > standing by dragging the game out would be annoying. I'm not sure how > often positions like that are seen...most of the games I've played have > had more than one player pretty close to 18+ points. Might be an > acceptable risk. While I haven't actually tried it, I'm convinced that the Icehouse calculation would be god-awful for Martian Chess. In fact, I would argue that someone who wins a game of Martian Chess with a LOW score did better than someone who won with a high score. I know... maybe you could take (30 minus points of pyramids taken) and plug that into the Icehouse formula. That way a fast win counts for more. e.g. Let's say I get scores of 17 for a lone win, 11 not for a win, and 14 tied for a high score when the first sector was emptied. My "ice offs" score would be (13 + 19 + 16) * 2.5 = 120 Ooh wait... Then the person in the lead might be motivated to drag the game out and let the opponents increase the number of points taken, thus LOWERING their ice offs score. That could be dangerous though -- I would hate to lose the game just because I got greedy. And letting the opponents get, say, three points each while I take three more isn't economical, because those three points of prisoners would count for more against my ice offs score because I'm planning on getting a bigger multiplier because of the win. Is the [total * (wins+1)] formula "gameable" for Icehouse? Sure. Going into the final game of the finals, Julian knew that he had to beat Joshua by five or more point to win the while thing. Ryan