All the tournaments are individual competitions in their own right. However, over the year, points will be accrued by all entrants based on their achievements in whichever of these events they enter.
£1 will be levied from each of the entry fees of all the tournaments to cover the provision of year end prizes. Where players are eligible for both the OGP and the IGP the £1 levy will be split 50:50 between the OGP prize fund and the IGP prize fund. Otherwise the £1 levy will go to the OGP prize fund.
£1 will also be levied for administration expenses. The remainder of the entry fee money goes on prizes for the individual tournaments.
The £20 Lesters Trophy events and the £10 tournaments will all be two flight straight knock-out affairs, provided there are at least seven entrants. All main flight matches will be to 7 points, except the main flight final, which will be to 11 points.
N.B: In all of the £20 and £10 knock-outs, players eliminated in their first match will be entered into a consolation flight, where matches will be to 5 points. These consolation flights will be subject to approximately 25% of the night's prize fund in the case of the £10 tournaments, and around 20% in the case of the £20 tournaments.
Should there be between four and six entrants, however, the format will change, with a round robin. All matches here will be to 7 points (if there are 4 players), or 5 points (if there are 5 or 6 players). Should the round robin finish with leaders having won the same number of matches, then each player's total points difference in the round robin will be the first level of tie-break. Should that fail to separate the players, then the results -- but not the scores -- of meetings of those players will decide; failing that, a short play-off will be ordered.
As from 2016, all matches in these tournaments (except the Intermediates Trophy) have been subject to clock rules, with each player having a time bank of one minute and thirty seconds times the match length. There will be a delay of twelve seconds before time banks start to be eroded.
NOTE: All the above events have associated with them an optional side pool. While these aspects of tournament night provide additional elements of entertainment, they have no bearing whatsoever on either the OGP or the IGP.
The £5 entry Intermediates Trophy will be a single flight knock-out tournament with matches played to 7 points.
| O G P POINTS AWARDED for knock-outs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| For: | Lesters £20 event | £10 event and Int. Trophy | ||
| Main | Cons. | Main | Cons. | |
| Entry | 10 | 10 | ||
| Win before semis | 20 | 6 | 15 | 5 |
| Semi-final win | 30 | 12 | 25 | 10 |
| Final win | 40 | 18 | 35 | 15 |
| O G P POINTS AWARDED for round robins | ||
|---|---|---|
| For: | Lesters £20 event | Other £10 event |
| Entry | 10 | 10 |
| 5- or 6-player round robin match win | 12 | 10 |
| 4-player round robin match win | 18 | 15 |
| Round robin win bonus | 12 | 10 |
A player's best seven tournament points performances throughout the year will count towards his/her final total, thus anyone entering more than seven of the tournaments will discard low point scores.
In the event of a tie on total points, there will be four levels of tie-break: (1) fewest tournaments entered in total during the OGP season; (2) highest percentage of wins in all IGP matches throughout the year; (3) results of any meetings of the players in question during the IGP season; and (4) a play-off where necessary to separate significant positions. Otherwise, i.e. where the positions are not otherwise significant, such players will be deemed to have finished equal.
For general terms and conditions of entry to Bristol Backgammon tournaments, click here for knock-outs or here for round robins.