An unfinished tournament game

Gin · Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 24

Last week at my backgammon club’s monthly tournament a problem that I never knew could arise came about. We play our tournaments in the back room of a restaurant and at the beginning of the final match the restaurant closed and they told us we had to leave before the match could be finished. The two final players agreed to split the prize money. However, I wondered what would happen in an instance like this if the players didn’t agree. How would the winner be decided, especially if it was a really important tournament?

Maddox · Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 25

I guess it’s really up to the tournament director what to do in a situation like this. Your club was lucky that the final players agreed to split the prize money because I could imagine that this could be a very tricky situation. I think that one solution would be to roll the dice or flip a coin to determine the winner, although this isn’t necessarily the fairest way. If one of the players had already won more games in the match or was ahead in the pip count then maybe that could be a way to determine the winner. However, I really have no idea if there is a right way to deal with this situation.

Bardi · Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 22

I have been the tournament director for a few local, small monthly tournaments for my backgammon club. When we have played in restaurants or pubs we have run into this situation a few times. Usually I give the players an option—either they can finish their match on their own before our next club meeting or they can decide the winner based on game equity. Usually they decide to take their game to a nearby bar and finish it that night. It can be annoying to have to deal with a situation like this, but what can you do?

Usually when you are playing in a “really important tournament” you won’t have to deal with a problem like this because important tournaments are usually held in event halls or special places that are reserved specifically for the tournament and won’t have to deal with the venue closing for the night. However, if a problem does arise (either related to this or something else entirely) the tournament director will always make the call based on his or her best judgment in the situation.