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PBEM Rated Ace Requirements

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As you all know, PBEM really took off during the Dark Years of SFB. As such, the people who ran the PBEM system made many decisions about the rules that would govern PBEM without a lot of input from ADB, and the system grew without a lot of scrutiny from ADB. ADB, Inc. extends its apologies that its inability to fully function during The Interregnum made the problems worse than they had to be. But now that ADB is back in business, some oversight must be applied to prevent the explosiveness of PBEM from swamping the Rated Ace system, and to guarantee that PBEM is as competitive and fair as FTF tournaments. It is ADB, Inc.'s goal that PBEM ace cards have the same "weight" as ace cards earned in FTF play or on SFB-OnLine. As such, the following rules will govern play in all past, current, and future PBEM Rated Ace tournaments.

  1. The ADB PBEM system will be limited to running two 64-player single-elimination tournaments per year as ADB-sanctioned Rated Ace events. Other games and tournaments may be run, but they cannot be Rated Ace events. It is possible that a third HR tournament may be added in future years depending on demand.
  2. A given player cannot start a new official rated ace tournament while still playing in one. The decision on how it will continue will remain under study a few more days.
  3. ADB PBEM events will generate two ace cards per tournament, for the winner and the 2nd place player. All players must complete their first game, or they will be replaced by new players and the deadline for the first round will be extended as needed. Games that end due to a player dropping out will be subject to adjudication; if the player who dropped out was not clearly losing at the time, the game will be void and the remaining player will start over against a replacement or (in later rounds) a wildcard opponent.
  4. All players in events starting with HR7 must provide complete registration data (name, address, telephone number, and Email address) before commencing play. Current players in HR4-HR6 must provide this data before continuing their current games. All previous players in HR1-HR6 are asked to provide this data as ADB Inc. cannot award ace cards unless all (or at least the vast majority) of players have properly registered. This information is necessary in order to verify that players actually exist. With free email addresses so easy to come by, it is conceivable that a single person, through 64 Email aliases, could comprise an entire tournament, guaranteeing himself an ace card but denying other real players a chance to play. Note that this is not a specific requirement of PBEM but is required of all tournaments including FTF and On-Line events which award Ace cards. (NOTE: ADB Inc. will NEVER sell or transfer this data to another company. ADB Inc. has, for many years, provided the addresses of known SFB players to other players in the same geographical area, and tournament registrations are the primary means of generating these lists. ADB Inc. also provides such data to the judges of SFB events at conventions to promote the convention. ADB Inc. reserves the right to send a monthly Email newsletter to known Email addresses but historically has sent such an Email only twice.)
  5. In future tournaments, pairings for Round One will be done as the players sign up. The deadline for Round One will be four months from the date upon which the last game was assigned. This will give more time to replace players who drop out early, and will avoid the long delay between signing up and starting.
  6. No player will be promoted into the Round of 8 or any round thereafter without actually playing a complete game. If a player disappears in mid-game at this point in the tournament, the best two players who lost in the previous round (Judge's opinion) will play each other for the right to fill the vacant slot. If this holds up the tournament, so be it. To reduce the delay time, the Judge may opt to have the two players begin a 'loser's bracket' game to make themselves available should a slot need to be filled. Players in this game are NOT excluded from entering another HR tournament.
  7. No player will ever be advanced more than one level, and no more than one time, without completing a game.
  8. If a tourney ship design changes in mid-tournament, the new design will be used in all games starting after the date of the design change. Ships will not change in mid-game, but at the beginning of the next game.
  9. Judges for PBEM events must be approved by ADB Inc. and the PBEM Coordinator.

Here is how these rules changes affect tournaments already in progress or complete.

HR1: This tournament only had 24 players, and PBEM events are now required to have a minimum of 32 (since it is easier to play in multiple PBEM events than multiple FTF events). However, HR1 can be "grandfathered in" as a valid PBEM Ace event, but ONLY if we can get full registration data (name, address, phone number, Email address) on most of the players. Please send this data to Jim "Vandal" Hart immediately.

HR2: This tournament had 32 players, none of whom were properly registered. We need to get everyone (or at least the vast majority of those) who played to send their full registration data (name, address, phone number, Email address) to Jim "Vandal" Hart immediately. If we cannot get most of the addresses, there cannot be an Ace card awarded.

HR3: Same as HR2. Send contact information to Sandy "Firemane" Hemenway

HR4: This tournament had 100+ players. We need to get registration information for as many of them as possible. ADB Inc. requires that all players provide this registration but will grant the cards in HR4 if the vast majority do so. Please send your registration data to Sandy "Firemane" Hemenway immediately.

HR5: This tournament had 64 players. We need to get registration information for as many of them as possible. ADB Inc. requires that all players provide this registration but will grant the cards in HR5 if the vast majority do so. Please send your registration data to Jonathan "Nightshade" Dean immediately.

HR6: Same as HR5. Send your contact info to Jim "Vandal" Hart.

Copyright © 2003 Armarillo Design Bureau, All Rights Reserved Updated 15 November 2006