For the last few weeks those of us on the test site have been messing around with Multi Table Tournaments, and they are looking to be heading into the final stages, so I figured I would throw a FAQ of sorts up, and start getting the general kdice population prepared for them.

What are Multi Table Tournaments?

Multi Table Tournaments (MTTs) are a new format of play that will be introduced in the near future. Unlike regular kdice, where your score is changed at the end of each game, and your placement can be determined by an unlucky start or a bad roll, MTT relies on multiple games, giving you a chance to make up for that bad start one game. The tournaments work very similar to tournaments in poker. Everybody has a starting amount, and they stay in the tournament until they lose that starting amount. The longer you stay in, the better chance you have of winning points.

How many people will be in a tournament?

Tournaments will start at set times, and will be open to any that can afford the buy-ins. This means that theoretically hundreds of people could be in a tournament.

Why do you mean by a buy-in?

Like in poker tournaments, some MTTs will require an amount of money to enter it, ranging from nothing to a possible 10,000-point end of the month tournament.

Bigger risk means bigger reward right?

The pot for a tournament is equal to the number of participants times the buy in. Then a bonus is added to it if Ryan wants to. If a tournament had a 500 point buy in with 50 people that is 25,000 points in the pot. Because free tournaments have no buy in, there is a bonus value added to the pots, so you get something for nothing. Not so bad…

How is the pot divided up?

The amount of players getting points is determined by how many players joined the tournament and how many points are in the pot. It is safe to say though, that most of the time you need to make it to the final table to see any points.

How does scoring work?

Scoring for MTT does not contain dominance. However this does not mean it is any simpler. Scoring is entirely based on position. Therefore, your score will be the same if you had 1 land all game and win, or if you have 30. There is a change though, because after each round (1 game for each player) of the tournament, table values go up. The formula for table values is (((x^2)*50)+50)/2, where x is the game number. Because you last until you lose all of your points (the points given at the tournaments start, not your actual points), this means that often times people are playing that don’t have enough points to cover the point level for a table. This means that Side Pots must be used.

What are Side Pots?

Side Pots work just like in poker. Players with more points can risk more, and even if they are beat by a player that has few points, they can often gain points. Side Pots are complicated, so I will use an example. If a person at a 500-point table only has 25 points, and wins, they cannot receive points that they did not risk. This means that often times the person in second or even third who risked more than that 25-point person can earn more than them.

Okay, we have covered scoring and buy-ins, now onto games and maps.

Every game up until the final table will have a random map, and random seating. Unlike poker where you play until you are the only one left, you will be switched to a random table after every game, even if people have points left after they are killed. Not every game you sit in will have 7 people, and in later rounds you will go down to as few as 2 people at a table. The less people that you have when the game starts, the smaller the maps are.

What about the Final Table?

The final table works differently. The map size does decrease with fewer players, but everyone stays in the same seat. To make things even, the player that goes first is not random; instead each game the first turn rotates clockwise around the table. This makes it impossible for the same person to go first for multiple games in a row, earning a significant advantage. Even though the table does not change, The map itself changes with every game.

Is anything else different in MTT?

When you join a MTT table, there will be a leader board for the entire tournament on the left side just above your friends list. This lets you keep track of everybody else’s score, even if they are not at the table.

Strategy for MTT is different from in normal kdice as well, because each tournament contains many games, and somebody getting last in a game makes them less of a threat the next round. There will be many threads on strategies for MTT, so I will not go into any depth here.

Why should I play MTTs?

MTTs offer a completely different experience to kdice. They are to kdice as kdice was to dicewars. It is a far richer, more exciting experience. They introduce new strategies, new complexities. It is a chance to win many points at a relatively low risk. There are many more reasons to try MTTs, but you will just have to try them out for yourself.

I am sure that this did not answer even half of the questions people will have, figured I would just open up the topic for now. If you have any more questions, go ahead and ask.

As of right now MTT is only on the test server at http:// dev.kdice.com:8081/ . Go there and check it out. At this current time its set that 7 people have to join the tournament, and then bots will fill it up to 50.