How to run an Aquarius Tournament

by Emily Frawley

Try to get everyone into tables of five people each, so that there isn't a goal left over. Tables of four will also work, if you can't get enough people for tables of five or if you are short on time. Don't put out the decks until everyone is situated and you are done giving instructions, otherwise the players will likely not pay total attention to you.

Explain the scoring system to the players (see below). Have one player at each table raise their hand. Tell them that they are player one. Number the rest of the players so that you can rotate them after everyone gets through one round.

After everyone has played one game for points, tell players one and three to rotate to another table.

After everyone has played a second game for points, tell players two and four to rotate in the opposite direction that you had players one and three rotate in. Rotate as many times as needed until you get five players to go into a semifinal round.

Scoring: There are 60 points to be given out per table. If one person wins, that person gets all of the 60 points. However, there is always the problem of ties. If there is a two person tie, each person gets 30 points. If there is a three person tie, each person gets 20 points. If there is a four person tie, each person gets 15 points. And if you have the great luck of a good group of players who make it to a five person tie, each of them gets 12 points.

Semi-finals: The first five people in the group that get to 100 points go to a semi-final round. If you are short on time, reduce the tables to four players per and reduce the get-into-the-semifinal-round point count to 90. That way there are more points to go around and you have to get fewer of them to advance. If you are really, really short on time, take however many semifinal players you have (hopefully this will be three or four) and allow the rest of the players that want to to draw for a 'wild card' spot in the semifinals round. Play one last game for the winning spot. I haven't figured out what to do with ties in the semifinal round.