Cumulative Scoring Tournament Format: Reactions Needed

Current Fighting Games Fighting Game Discussion
#1

Hello, my name is the Keits. I used to run a line of tournaments in Ohio called “UFGT” (Ultimate Fighting Game Tournament). These events were weekend long, and were scored cumulatively. This means that even though you got 1st place in 3rd strike, you might not be the overall winner of the weekend. Back in those days, we didnt play for cash… we played for toys, wallscrolls, and other collectables. The largest turnout a UFGT got was 32 people, including entries from Kentucky and Indiana, and even one wanderer from vegas/cali/minesota/godknowswhere (Frank!!!).

Its been 4 or 5 years sinse I ran a tournament, and the idea is being thrown around to try to revive the UFGT format. I’ve been playing for numbers for a cash payout idea, and I wanted to get people’s reactions to this.

First off; would you come to a tournament like this?

Second off; without harming the format’s uniqueness, how would you alter it for improvement?

Now; The UFGT Cash Payout and Scoring Format----

Id try to run 10 games over the weekends time. I, like Fugee, had an impecable reputation for making my shit run on time.

Potential Game Line up:
CvS2
3rd Strike
MvC2
Super Turbo
KoF XI
NGBC
Smash Bros
Naruto 4 (or VF5, depending)
Guilty (Whichever is the latest variant)
Tekken 5 DR (or VF5, depending)

Its 6 dollars to enter, per game (maybe 4 if this is too high)

$3 of that goes to game pot, and $3 to the cumulative pot

Payout for individual games is 70/20/10… pretty standard. Top 3 get money.
Payout for the cumulative pot is 25/20/15/10/10/10/5/5… The top 8 all get money out of the much larger pot.

16 people example:
Game Pot pays $33.60 to first place
Cumulative Pot can vary if people dont enter everything, but you lose free cumulative points if you dont enter.
8 different games could take the cumulative pot as high as 384 dollars with just 16 people.
Cumulative Pot pays $96 dollars to first place.

6 Dollars each game, a person entering all 8-10 games would pay 48-60 dollars. This is, admitedly, somewhat high.

Now, to score for the cumulative pot, I use Mario Kart Grand Prix scoring.

1st - 10 points
2nd - 8 points
3rd - 6 points
4th - 5 points
5th - 4 points
6th - 3 points
7th - 2 points
8th and down - 1 point.

Everyone who enters, even in last place, gets 1 point for effort tward the cumulative pot.

Highest totals of points at the end payout the cumulative pot.

Obviously, the stakes would be a lot higher if i got a decent turnout, and people were willing to enter games they are not pros at. The idea of UFGT is to introduce players to games they may not know they liked.

All of this is up for discussion, and I welcome ideas and reactions. I fully expect a lot of “hell no, id never go to that”.

UFGT was about a fun atmosphere as well. We ran really silly side events, like gambling with Bison Dollars and Fighting Game Jeopardy. Even MvC1 Cross Fever on DC.

Thank you for reading and discussing.

#2

That sounds good. I like the idea of introducing players to games they don’t normally play. I would do well in Marvel and CvS2, but 3S and Super Turbo and the rest would make me fail to take the win.

For this reason, I also understand why people would hate it. Many people prefer specialty rather than moderation, and therefore would rather be rewarded more for doing great in one game, than doing well in multiple.

But I can respect the concept. And 48-60 dollars isn’t too high, it helps filter the people who really like and are good at many fighting games.

#3

Thanks for the positive feedback. I also feel its prudent to note that Im NOT trying to replace the standard tournament format. I only wish to offer an alternative so that if you do go to multiple ‘majors’ each year, they might not all feel the same.

Maybe I can get a few of my old Team Cincy crew to chime in on this thread and share their UFGT experiences.

#4

Yeah, I’ve been wanting to do that too. I think that opening people up to new games is a good thing, but people are so adamant about not wanting to play something different. good on ya. I like that idea you have there. sounds cool.

#5

So you want to run a Ranbat? Like FFA does? That’s cool.

#6

i dunno, this format only encourages people to enter their best 4 games and take all the cumilitive money. top 3 in all your games (24-40 pts) puts you way ahead of 90% of the average players even if they gamble $60 to get 30 points total (top 6 in all games). With that much money on the line it’ll be the same situation where casual players dont enter marvel for fear of being blown away and lose pts in the process. top players even make their money back in the standard payouts meaning no real risk or incentive to play anything. I can’t think of a better tweak, but players still have the same things to be afraid of. it’s the same as gambling in a standard tourney only there’s more money to lose and less to gain. And as we’ve learned in past ufgt’s, the top players do really well in every game even with minimal practice.

Why not do the cumilitive scoring but for higher stakes prizes? $20 entry fee, you have to play in every game, same scoring system, but top 3 get a wii/tv/stick… bottom 20 get money/keychain raffle/games. :slight_smile:

#7

Actually me and my friends have a tournament like this every 6 months. In fact ours is happening in 2 or 3 days.

#8

So cumulative scoring is not only somewhat popular, but its happening in other areas fairly ofter as well?

I’ve had nothing but people telling me that this wont work in today’s SF community and that I shouldnt run it. :-/

#9

Well the thing is as you know that most people are NOT open to change…thats the problem…

They wanna stick to what they know…so yes as you know I support what you are doing…esp with NGBC etc in there because that helps my Campaign etc…but many may want things the same way…

But I’d still go for it Keits…

You could rebuild something again…

#10

While it’s true that it might make people try new games (I run a similar cumlative scoring format) sometimes you end up with really bad beatdowns that discoucrage newer players from playing even more. That situation is generally unavoidable, but it’s always good to try and have multiple games.

Go for it.

#11

With what poon is saying, doing cumulative prizes only… thats OLD ufgt format. its what i prefer… i was suggesting a hybrid of ufgt and evo stanard to attract more people.

perhaps if the grand prix scoring 1st place ammount was a little lower, it might be harder to win without entering everything?

place----points
1 - 8
2 - 6
3 - 5
4 - 4
5 - 3
6 - 2
7 and on - 1

is this better mathematically? (typing from phone, forgive typos)

#12

our tournament director has run something similar for our nationals over the last few years, a “best overall player” award where the condition is the entrant must have entered all games and placing are given points based on how many entrants in the tourney, etc. last year the prize was an mvc2 board, and independent of the individual game pots

#13

also, just wanted to note that UFGTs were running in 99’… how far back do other’s cumulative scoring events go? where are some of these other events taking place?

#14

I do this best “Overall Champion” format as well for my home-based tournaments…

And funny is since I started travelling the US over for SNK I’ve got to pick it back up…but now people are interested etc.

I been running my events since like 97’… and ran them in college…other cities…even here where I stay…

#15

Yeah less points for tops is more fair overall, but there’s still that really high entrance fee to dissuade people. Again I only see anyone entering 4 games tops and just the games that they’re comfortable with. This would end up being a pretty standard tourney.

The high stakes prize format would encourage more people to join, but of course this means you have to pick just the right prizes and will take a lot of collateral which dips into your venue money.

I think we’re having the same ufgt revival conversation we were having a month ago, but another alternative could be optional cumilitive pot fees. It could be optional to pay a few extra bucks to go into the cumilitive pot, then say you have to enter a certain amount of games and only then would you be able to win the cumilitive pot. in that scenario only one or two top players would shoot for it since it’s a pretty big investment for not the greatest payout. that would leave the average players all with really good chances to win top 4.

the money thing really doesnt work for ufgt. top players are still gonna take everyones money leaving everyone scared to enter. casual players thinking they’re good have been the padding that keep money tournies goin. the games either have to be more casual in nature, or the prizes do. fight night anyone? :slight_smile:

p.s. I think the problem here is you’ve given up on any type of scene and you’re trying to magically sprout ufgt again with a tourney. you already had team cincy to build from originally and luckily the midwest fgc was still young and plentiful. that doesnt exist anymore except in something like the smash community, and even that is becoming less accessible every day.

host freebies/prize tournies in weird games. don’t just run weird games that you’re good at. it’s possible to not have any hope for a scene, but then you’re either gonna have to travel and run side tournies within majors (DG) or you’re gonna have to give up.

#16

I never just ran weird games i was good at. We always put the lineup to a vote (while excluding 3d games entirely, a mistake ill admit i made in my youth).

I think im leaning tward just forgetting about this format. Ill just run small standard format tournies here in Green Bay and maybe come to aid Fugee at a few of his major ones once or twice a year, where I can.

#17

Heh, I didn’t mean you did that, i just meant most people do that when they’re trying to build a scene around a game that has none/barely any.

yeah there’s too much to take people’s attention away these days. if you dont have a scene, you dont have a scene. get fios and make some nice kaillera friends. :slight_smile:

#18

Theres nothing wrong with the format. Not everyone will like it though.

#19

I’m thinking…

Maybe run the major games for the usual entry fees etc.

Then have a mini grand prix series with all the weird stuff, for free or a small fee.

You know I absolutely LOVE the idea and would kill for a revival, but you may have to go with a compromise like that.

Good luck Adam!

-Josh

#20

Any more thoughts?