Galaxy: The Dark Ages Tournament 2003 World Boardgaming Championships Hunt Valley, MD, July 29 - Aug. 3, 2003

Join the BPA and play in the tournament

Tournament Format	Play one game in a heat. Enter as many heats as you'd like, with best finish considered in seeding. Top 25 table winners (and lower seeds, as necessary) advance to Semi-Final. Top five finishers advance to final. Please note, this is a Demo Event, with two scheduled times for learning the game. HEATS TABLE ASSIGNMENT: The GMs will assign four or five players to each table. No relatives or teammates may play at the same table prior to the final. Otherwise, seating will be random, with the option of spot adjustments as determined by the GM. (Generally, players with no experience will be placed together at the same table.) SCORING: Each table will play one game, with scores at finish determining finish. If there is a tie for the most influence, the tied players determine the value of the cards in their hands. Each ship of a surviving world (or ally) is worth double its value. Each ship of a surrendered world is worth its face value. Each technology card is worthless. The tied player who has the highest-valued Hand finishes higher. If still tied, the tied player who played last. (If the players fail to resolve ties, the GM will break them based on her whim.) Once a new betting round has begun, no spoils of war may be granted for the previous round. Once the cards are picked up off the table after the last round, no scoring adjustments may be made. SEATING: At the start of each game, seating at the table will be randomly determined by drawing cards from one suit in the deck or rolling dice and placing players in clockwise numerical sequence from lowest to highest or any other way agreeable to all players. ADVANCING: The top 25 players will advance to the next round. The round will be filled out to ensure five players per table, as necessary, with alternates. Additionally, some alternates could be substitutes for dropouts at the start of the next round. The order among alternates will be determined by: 1) Finish order 2) Player's score as a percentage of table winner's score 3) Player's score as a percentage of the second-place player's score 4) Player's score as a percentage of table score 5) Player's total score 6) Fewest heats entered. TABLE SCORING FORMS: Players will fill out the scoring form for the table, listing the players and other identification, scores, finish, and other information. Turn this form into the GM after you've finished playing your game. It must be signed by both the first and last place finishers to be valid. SEMI-FINAL ROUND Twenty-five players will advance to the semi-final round, which will be the same format as the heats. ADVANCING: Each table winner in the semi-final round will advance to the final round, immediately following. If any of the players drop out, the final round will be filled with alternates, as necessary, to ensure five players. The order among alternates will be determined by: 1) Finish order 2) Player's score as a percentage of table winner's score 3) Player's score as a percentage of the second-place player's score 4) Player's score as a percentage of table score 5) Player's total score. FINAL ROUND The top five players from the semi-final will advance to the final, which will be the same format as the heats.
Schedule	The schedule for the event is TBD. I expect two demos, four heats, and a semi-final and final round.
Tournament Officials	Kaarin Engelmann is the GM. Stuart Tucker is an assistant GM. Additional assistant GMs will be designated, as necessary.
Rules Interpretations	Table talk suggesting alliances or a specific course of action is permitted; however, such verbal agreements are not binding. The only restriction is that you may never show any card to another player until you play or discard it, except as required by the rules of play. If you show a card by "accident" or otherwise, the player to your left draws one random card from your Hand which is discarded as a penalty. (Thus, any card played is played. You can't take it back.) Revealing a secret base is done instead of placing an unplayed base. The Garrison ship is returned to your hand. (If the world has already surrendered, the Garrison ship must be used as the ship play for the turn and placed in the discard pile.) Spoils of victory are awarded when a world surrenders, starting with the player whose turn it is and proceeding clockwise. Once the next round has begun, no spoils of victory can be awarded for the previous round. There is no limit to the number of cards you can hold in your hand. At the end of your turn, you may either draw one new card from the Draw pile or pick up all the card(s) in your Reserve. If the Draw pile is exhausted, you may not draw new cards. Any undefended, visible Base on any row can be attacked by any Fleet Ship with a combat opportunity. A Base is undefended if it has no ship in the current row of the world's column. If you are not already governor of a world when you play your ship card, you may not use that Governor's power that turn; however, you may use a Governor's power in the same turn you become Governor. The ship you play need not survive the action phase to trigger use of the Governor's power. You don't have to be governor of a world to use a ship's power. If you play a ship card, you may use the power listed on the card or attack with the card, as appropriate, regardless of who is the governor of the world. Facedown ships cannot use their ship power; however, facedown ships defend bases. When the Governor of the Divergence exercises his or her power, he or she may play a second ship in the Action Phase after the first ship's power (including attacks) is used or forfeited. The second ship may not be played in the Divergence column. If the second ship is played on a world with the same Governor, the world's governor power may be exercised. Technology cards augment a player's ability for the duration of a round (until a world surrenders), except Advanced Processing, which may be used only once. If no player at the table can either play a card or discard a card, the game ends, and the winner is determined by calculating the value of the bases on all remaining worlds. If a player reveals a Secret Base, the value of the bases on the world is immediately calculated to determine if the governorship changes. If the moving player gains the governorship and, if that person then plays a card on the world (Action Phase segments A, B, C and/or D can be performed in any order), he or she may immediately use the Governor power of that world. (Example: Reveal Secret Base on Divergence, take control and then in the same turn use the Divergence power to play the additional ship card).
Late Arrivals, Long Games and Byes	Late arrivals will be accommodated in the heats, as possible, if a full game (five players) can be formed; however, all games must be completed by the end of the scheduled period. For the semi-final and final rounds, players must check in with the GM by five minutes after the beginning of the scheduled round or they may be disqualified, if an alternate has already checked in to replace them. Games that are not complete by the end of two hours may be adjudicated by the GM, at her discretion.
Changes from Last Year	When revealing a secret base, if the world has already surrendered, the Garrison ship must be used as the ship play for the turn and placed in the discard pile. Only the top 25 players will advance to the semi-final round. If there are more than 25 table winners, the table winners will be seeded as described above.

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