At last year’s
Worlds, the Finals completed around 6 AM on Monday and one division completed
their Round-robin around 4 AM on Sunday.
Toby Strite volunteered to lead an effort to improve our signature event
and was commissioned by the STPC Council for that purpose. Toby conducted a survey of the membership and
formed sub-committees to come up with recommendations around tournament format
and pace of play. In summary, we’re
starting earlier (Thursday Noon) so we can finish before 11:59 PM on Sunday and
we’re implementing better enforcement of the Suspended Game Rule (so divisions
don’t get behind). Because the earlier
start might make it difficult for some to attend the event, we’re also
providing an online draft option. We’re
maintaining the things that people told us they like: 4-game series, full
round-robin with 9 or 10-man divisions and the same number of play-off games.
A major difference
for 2024 is that everyone will have a choice of drafting online, FTF or they
can declare EITHER and have the possibility of drafting FTF or online. The online draft(s) will be on the Tuesday
before the Worlds. For us to be able to
offer the online draft option, we will need to get enough EITHER’s to make this
work (which is very likely). We should
know in October or November whether we’re going to be able to offer the online
option so everyone will know what we’re going to do well ahead of time. The balance of the drafts will be FTF on
Thursday (starting at 3:00 PM). By
mid-December, we should have a good idea as to the number of online draft
divisions and FTF draft divisions.
In the months
leading up to the Worlds, entrants will specify their draft option:
FTF – With FTF, their experience is the same
as past Worlds. They will have their own
live Division Selection
in Las Vegas on Thursday (1:45 PM) with a 3 PM Thursday FTF draft. They roll the 20 four times when they check
in (which starts at Noon).
Online Only
(OO) – With this
option, division selection and the draft will be held online (like PureStrat) on the Tuesday before the Worlds (6 PM Pacific
Time). Here are the key features of OO:
1) They
participate (along with the EITHER’s) in the online division selection process
that starts on the Sunday before the Worlds (9 AM Pacific Time) with the roll
for selection order (roll the 20 four times).
2) On
Tuesday (starting at 6 PM Pacific Time), they participate (along with the
EITHER’s) in division selection for the online division(s). When it’s an OO’s turn to select, they select
into an online division.
3) They
draft (along with those EITHER’s that ended up in an online division) their
team online right after division selection.
EITHER – People who select this option have the
possibility of selecting into an online draft or FTF. Here are the key features of EITHER:
1) They
participate (along with the OO’s) in the online division selection process that
starts on the Sunday before the Worlds (9 AM Pacific Time) with the roll for
selection order (roll the 20 four times).
2) On
Tuesday (starting at 6 PM Pacific Time), they participate (along with the OO’s)
in division selection for the online division(s). When it’s an EITHER’s turn to select, there
are three possibilities:
a.
If the number of available online spots is
equal to the number of OO’s that haven’t yet selected, they may not select and
instead will draft on Thursday in Las Vegas with the FTF’s.
b.
If the number of remaining online spots is
equal to the number of OO and EITHER drafters that
haven’t yet selected, they must select into one of the online divisions.
c.
If neither of the above is in effect, they may
select into an online division OR they may opt out of the online draft division(s)
and instead will draft on Thursday in Las Vegas with the FTF’s.
3) If
they selected into an online division, they draft (along with the OO’s) their
team online right after division selection.
4) If an EITHER winds up in a FTF division, they do not get to roll
the 20 again but instead will use what they already rolled.
Your tournament
directors for 2024 are Pete Nelson ( petenelson31@comcast.net
) and Mike Breithaupt ( ichabod32@hotmail.com
). We are both EITHER’s.
General
Considerations - No
more cash entry fees. Everyone must have
their entry fee into STPC Treasurer Toby Strite by Saturday (1/6/2024, 9 PM
Pacific Time) per below. Entry fee is
increased from $250 to $300. This will
allow us to boost the percentage of prize $ that go toward the consolation
tournament while maintaining historical amounts for the championship bracket.
For online division selection, we’ll use phone and text to receive everyone’s
selections and Google Sheets (or similar) for everyone to track the
proceedings. If someone isn’t available
when it’s their turn, we’ll use current practice for making their selection
(see item 5 from https://strattpc.com/WorldsDivSelProcess.htm
). After online division selection, the
online draft(s) will proceed in the same manner as PureStrat
drafts. The FTF draft(s) will take place
at the tournament site as we’ve always done but will happen earlier on Thursday
(see Schedule below). Waivers are collected
during check-in. For FTF drafters that
arrive after check-in, waivers
can be collected at the drafting table.
For online drafters that arrive after check-in, waivers can be
collected before they play their first series.
If someone is late for a FTF draft, we wait 15 minutes and start the
draft. If possible and if a willing
person can be identified to load picks into a Google doc, the missing person
can participate in the draft remotely.
If the connection is dropped, DRAID will make picks until the connection
can be re-established. This would only
be used when there were unexpected and unavoidable delays that prevented the
drafter from getting there on time. Once
the person arrives at the draft, they will take over and draft the balance of
their team. Game play will proceed with
a new schedule (see below) that will allow more time for breaks and meals. Note that six games are scheduled for
Thursday night. Each division will post
results so the current standings will be more visible.
The
Suspended Game Rule will be strictly enforced by Pace-of-play Directors (PoPD’s) appointed by the Tournament
Directors. PoPD’s
will not make rulings for their own divisions.
We’re allowing 3 ½ hours per 4-game series which should give plenty of
time for meal breaks. We hope to have a
shot clock (viewable from anywhere in the room) so players know how much time
they have. If a series is still going at
the 3:20 mark, the PoPD will inform the players to
finish the inning and suspend the game.
Suspended games will be made up at the end of the day. If a player has more than one suspended game,
a guest manager will be appointed by the PoPD to play
the other suspended games. If someone is
more than 10 minutes late for their series, the PoPD
will issue one warning. If there is a
recurrence, the SP for the first game of the series is weak.
The draft and game play are governed by
the STPC
Rules.
Saturday (1/6/2024)
Entry Fee of $300 must be
received no later than 1/6/2024, 9 PM Pacific Time. STPC Treasurer Toby (Samuel) Strite accepts
PayPal or Zelle or you can send him a check if he
receives it before 12/31/23. Contact
Toby ( toby.strite@gmail.com ) if
you don’t already know how to send him $.
Sunday (1/7/2024)
Online-Only’s
and EITHER’s use the STPC Dice Roller to roll the 20 four times. This will be used to determine selection
order for online divisions. If an ‘EITHER’
winds up in a FTF draft division, these rolls will be used for selection order
in Vegas (they don’t get to roll again).
Tuesday (1/9/2024)
At 6 PM Pacific Time, division
selection will occur for the online draft divisions. After that, the online drafts will occur
(like PureStrat).
Noon
– 1 PM Check-in begins at Noon in Salon J of the
California Ballroom of the Gold Coast Hotel and Casino. FTF-only’s roll the
20 four times. Waivers are
collected. Player info is verified.
1 PM – 1:45 PM
Annual
Meeting.
1:45 PM – 2:45 PM
Division
Selection for the FTF drafts.
2:45 PM – 3 PM
Division
Captain’s Meeting for all divisions (including those that drafted online).
3:00 PM – 7 PM
FTF
drafts.
7:00 PM Game-play begins according to the schedule
below. See 8Teams if the
division has eight teams (plus a DRAID team). The nine and ten-team
divisions will play 8 or 9 four-game series (round-robin). The roll of a
twenty-sided die will determine home and away. The winner of the die roll
has the choice of home or away for games 1 and 3.
10:30 PM – Midnight Everyone plays the first two games of their
second series (or the whole series if BOTH agree).
Friday (1/12/2024) All series start times are “NO LATER THAN”. If both are ready, start early and get ahead.
8 AM – 9:45 AM
Last
two games of Series 2.
9:45 AM – 1:15 PM
Series
3.
1:15 PM – 4:45 PM
Series
4.
4:45 PM – 8:15 PM Series 5.
8:15 PM – 11:45 PM
Series
6.
Saturday (1/13/2024)
8 AM – 11:30 AM
Series
7.
11:30 AM – 3 PM
Series
8.
3 PM – 6:30 PM
Series
9.
6:30 PM – 11:59 PM Tie-Break games, Play-in Games and the
first round of the Play-offs. Plus, the
start of the Consolation Tournament (See below).
Championship Brackets and
Tie-breakers
8 AM – 12:15 PM Quarter-Finals
(best of 5)
12:15 PM – 6 PM
Semi-Finals
(best of 7)
6 PM – 11:59 PM
Finals
(best of 7)
Consolation Tournament
The consolation tournament (CT) will continue to be
single elimination for those that are interested. With 50 or more total Worlds entrants, there
will be $1000 for first and $500 for second.
Here are some of the key features:
1)
The CT will
start on Saturday night after all divisions have wrapped up.
2)
It will have
an NCAA style 64 team bracket (1 vs 64, 2 vs 63 etc.). The seeding is based upon regular-season
records with ties broken by a roll of the 20.
3)
The first
round will be 1-game series. Note: the
higher-seeded teams will have walk-overs in this round and everyone will have
walk-over’s if we have less than 33 initial entrants.
4)
Rounds 2 &
3 will be played on Saturday night.
3-game series. Most of these
games can be played concurrently with the Round 1 games due to the expected
large number of walk-overs. Pitcher’s
get a rest day for sweeps.
5)
By Sunday
morning, there will be 8 teams left from those that didn’t make the
play-offs. They are joined by the eight
play-off teams that lost in the first round of the Championship Bracket so, on
Sunday morning, you have 16 teams left in the CT.
6)
Start at 9 AM
on Sunday morning with Rounds 4, 5 & 6 (3-game series). The finals (Round 7) is
a 5-game series. That’s 14 games on
Sunday (max) which should have this finished well ahead of the Championship
bracket (19 Sunday game max) even with the 1-hour-later start time.