How to run an IceTowers Tournament

From RabbitWiki

Although the games are considerable different, the way to run an IceTowers tournament is very much that for an Ichouse tourney.

1. The standard rules of IceTowers, as found in Playing with Pyramids will be in force for all games. The tournament organizer will oversee all games and make official rulings whenever they are required.
2. The tournament will consist of two phases: The Ice-Offs, and the Finals. All players will compete in the Ice-Offs; of these, only four will advance to the Finals.
3. During the Ice-Offs, each competitor will play in a minimum of four* games. The schedule of who plays whom is determined based on the number of players. During the Ice-Offs, some players might be scheduled to play one extra game so that other players are able to play the minimum number games with four players in each games. The game that might not count in Ice-Offs rating will be the first game for a player, the players for which the game counts will not be determined until after the game is played. That way all players will have the same level of motivation to play well.
4. A rating based on the scores and number of wins from Ice-Off games will be given to each player:
   
   rating = totalScore * (wins + 1)
   
   The four players with the highest ratings will advance to the Finals.
5. In the event of tie games, winning bonuses will be shared by all players involved. In a two way tie, each player will be credited with half a win; etc.
6. In the event that two players have the same rating at the end of the Ice-Offs, and that they cannot both be advanced to the Finals, the following tie breakers will be used:
   1. The number of wins (higher is better)
   2. The higher(est) total score when the players met during Ice-Off games
   3. The single highest single-game score.
7. During the Finals, the finalists will play a three* game match. The same rating formula as used to determine the finalists will be used to determine the winner of the finals. Scores from the Ice-Offs will not count in this formula -- only Finals games will be considered. The same tie breakers will be used. If there is still a tie for the finals, the ratings from the Ice-Offs and then the Ice-Offs tie-breakers will be used to determine a winner.

Note: Because the scoring rules for IceTowers seem to naturally drive the game to a conclusion, there has not been a need for any additional ways, such as a timer, to determine the end of a game. However, IF a game seems to be dragging on, any player may request that a timer be imposed on the game. The timer will start with an initial time of two minutes. Any move made after the timer gets below ten seconds will reset the timer to ten seconds.

• The minimum number of Ice-Off games and the number of Finals games may be modified for a given tournament, so that the tournament is likely to fit in the allocated time slot. The number of games for both the Ice-Offs and Finals will be announced after the number of participants is known but before the first games starts. It is possible, but unlikely, that the Finals will be skipped altogether and the winner of the Ice-Offs will be the overall winner of the tournament.