Pre-Tournament Regulations

Tournament Director

Any potential tournament director (each a “Tournament Director”) of a UKBGF tour tournament (each a “Tour Tournament”) must be a member of the UKBGF when applying for a tournament to be included in the UKBGF Backgammon Tour (the “Tour”), and throughout the duration of the tournament in question. An application for a Tour Tournament must be made in writing by 30^th September of the year preceding the year in which the event is applied to take place. The application should include all relevant details about the proposed event including format, flights, dates, entry limits, venue. Events which are unable to provide a confirmed date by 30^th September should state the preferred month for the event and provide a confirmed date at the earliest opportunity.

The Tournament Director should be seen to make every effort to promote UKBGF membership. This can be done in many and varied ways. How this is done is left up to each individual Tournament Director. The UKBGF expect that Tour Tournaments will be run to a high administrative and organisational standard.

The UKBGF operates a Disability and Diversity policy which Tournament Directors must be aware of and adhere to. If any player requests any form of variation to the rules or procedures to accommodate their specific disability, the Tournament Director must make every effort to enable a player to take a full part in a Tour Tournament. Guidance can be sought from the UKBGF on this matter.

Variations to Tour Regulations for a specific tournament

• Any Tournament Director may request a variation from the Tour Regulations for their particular event when making the initial application.
• The change(s) requested will be considered by the Tour subcommittee (the “Tour Subcommittee”) and notified to the applicant as soon as reasonably possible.

The Tournament Regulations

The Tour Tournament Criteria

• All Tour Tournaments must be played under the current UKBGF Rules then in effect and all the results of matches played in a Tour Tournament must be entered into the UKBGF + WGBF Rating system. This must include any play offs. The Tour Subcommittee accepts the diversity of the various Tour Tournaments i.e. some Tour Tournaments are played with an open structure, whilst others have separate Masters and Intermediate flights. The Tour Subcommittee encourages the addition of a Novices Flight where possible. It should be noted that matches played in a Novices Flight are not rated and Tour points are not applicable.

• The number of players who enter an open Tour Tournament should not generally be limited. (The Tour Subcommittee acknowledges that space and time may impose some constraints). Masters flight must actively seek a minimum of 64 players and be played over a minimum 2 days. If fewer than 48 players take part then no Tour Winners Invitational (TWI) place is offered but Tour Points will still be awarded. Intermediate flights must actively seek a minimum of 32 players and can be played over a minimum 1 day, run as distinct events or in conjunction with a Masters event. If fewer than 24 players take part then no TWI place is offered but Tour Points will still be awarded.

• Tour Tournaments must in general be open to ALL players and should be advertised as such. Exceptions may arise for example because of disciplinary issues or because of venue age restrictions. A website must exist for all Tour Tournaments to allow players to view the details of that event. The website should have a mechanism for players to register online or by email.

• Anything other than a random draw must seek pre approval from the Tour Sub Committee.

The Tour Tournament Format

• The generally accepted formats will be: double or single elimination knockout; one or two stage qualification plus knockout; or triple elimination. Tour Tournaments MUST offer a second chance to score Tour points to all players eliminated before the round of 16, such as a consolation, progressive consolation or fighters bracket. This applies whether the tournament structure is single open flight or Masters and Intermediate Flights.
• All matches must be played to the advertised match length. ONLY Tournament Directors have the discretion to alter match lengths and only in order to facilitate the smooth running of the tournament.
• Player eligibility – ONLY players who are members of the UKBGF at the start of a Tour Tournament will be eligible to receive Tour points. Any player whose rating is less than 1600 on the Tournament Eligibility Rating System is eligible to play in the Intermediate Flight of a Tour Tournament. A player’s Tournament Eligibility Rating is calculated by averaging their rating on the last day of October, November and December 2019 and will be emailed to Tournament Directors and published on the UKBGF website by the 14 January 2020.The Masters Flight is open to players of any rating.

Qualifying for Tour points.

• To be awarded Tour points for a Tour Tournament, a Masters or Intermediate player MUST be a member of the UKBGF at the start of that tournament.

• All players, Masters or Intermediate, MUST attend a minimum of TWO Tour Tournaments to qualify for the Tour Winners Invitational event. Only Tournament winners shall be exempt from this requirement – see “Other Regulations”.

Tournament Levy

The UKBGF will charge a fee to each Tour Tournament as a contribution to the cost of the Tour Winners Invitational Event. This ‘Tournament Levy’ will be £1 per player in that tournament (including Masters and Intermediate players, but not Novices) irrespective of the proportion of players who are UKBGF members.

[NB] The Levy has been postponed for 2022 tour events

Post Tournament Regulations

Results and Scoring

• Tour Tournament results must be entered into the UKBGF and WBGF Ratings system within FOURTEEN days of completion of the Tour Tournament. ALL COMPLETED matches count towards Tour points and results/finishing positions MUST be reported by the Tournament Director to the Tour Sub Committee. Help and guidance for entering results on the two rating systems is available from the UKBGF board.
• A tournament report must be submitted to the UKBGF within SEVEN days of completion of the Tour Tournament for publication on the UKBGF website.
• The Tour Subcommittee will collate the results and compile the rankings for the Tour.
• The rankings will be displayed on the Tour Winners Invitational event website (as well as the UKBGF website) within SEVEN days of the results being received.
• The awarding of Tour points and scoring system currently used will be kept in place for 2020. However, the current system will be kept under close scrutiny and any appropriate amendments will be implemented for the 2022 Tour. Any changes to the rules or the scoring system will be made public via the UKBGF and Tour Winners Invitational event websites.

 Other Regulations

The Tour Winners Invitational Event (TWI)

• Tour Tournament winners from each flight, where applicable, automatically gain an invitation to the TWI. ALL other qualifiers must attend at least TWO Tour Tournaments to be eligible to receive an invitation. Full rules for qualifying for the TWI are available on the TWI website. There must be a minimum number of players in a flight for the winner to be eligible for an automatic invitation to the TWI. A 64 player flight must have a minimum attendance of 48 players and a 32 player must have a minimum attendance of 24. However, players playing in flights with less than the required number of entrants will still be eligible for Tour points.
• All Tour Tournaments will provide space for displaying information of the current standings in ‘The Race to the Tour Winners Final’.
• Promotion of the Tour on individual Tour Tournament websites is a requirement.

Sanctions available to the UKBGF for non-compliance with the Tour Regulations

Any Tour Tournament not run in accordance with the Tour Regulations should expect to lose its place on the Tour for at least the following year. Any reported or observed breaches of Tour Regulations will be considered by the Tour Subcommittee who will then recommend appropriate action to the UKBGF board.

DATE: January 2022

Version No: 1.3