ALL ABOARD EXPO 2023

TOURNAMENT RULES (V3)
Updated October 11, 2023

All aBOARD EXPO is a venue for gamers to come together and play the games they love; to make new friends, widen social circles, and foster friendly competition amongst themselves. It is the desire of the Gaming Library to put forth a tournament that is enjoyable for every attendee. Yes, this is a competition, however players shall exhibit kindness, courtesy, and fair play.

Editor's Note:
- This is a bit long, just take your time and go through this whole document :D
- V3 of the Tournament includes tournament rules for Marvel Remix and the List of Available Characters and Maps for Unmatched Tournament

Competition:

• Preliminary Round (3 Rounds)
• 1 Semi-final Round (Top 8)*
• 1 Finals (Top 4)

• Minimum Players: 8
• Maximum Players: 16 / 32

SCHEDULE:

OCT 13 (FRI), 5PM - Ticket to Ride: Europe Tournament  (1 hour per round)
OCT 14 (SAT), 1PM - Cascadia (1 hour per round)
OCT 14 (SAT), 5PM - Marvel Remix (30 minutes per round)
OCT 15 (SUN), 1PM - Catan (2 hours per round)
OCT 15 (SUN), 5PM - Unmatched (45 minutes per round)

—

 

TOURNAMENT FORMAT:

The official tournament language is English.

All games must be played using the same version.

The tournament is made up of two rounds: the Preliminary round, and the Final round. 

• If the tournament has more than 16 attendees, the Organizer may add the Semi-Final round, and take the highest 8 scores after three Preliminary games to create the Semi-Final round. The respective winners and 2nd placers from each of the Semi-Final games reach the Final game. There must be a minimum of 8 attendees, maximum of 32 attendees.

After 3 games, the 4 players with the highest scores/rankings will reach the Finals. Final tables will be assigned in a random order (draw lots).

For Unmatched Tournament, See UNMATCHED TOURNAMENT RULES Section.

REGISTRATION & TABLE ASSIGNMENTS:

Players must register 10 minutes before the first game at the registration booth. Table assignments will be drawn randomly and will be posted at the registration booth. You must then proceed to your assigned table where a judge will confirm your presence via roll call. Absence in the assigned table during roll call will mean an automatic loss (0 points) in the first game, but the player can still join the 2nd and 3rd game of the Preliminary round.

A table will be composed of 4 or 3 players. In an event that a table will only have 2 or 1 assigned players (due to no show of other players), the 2 players will be reshuffled in other tables at random so that tables will have either 4 or 3 players.

SET-UP:

The tournament organizers will set up the game boards.

• Ticket to Ride: Europe - Train Car cards and Tickets cards will be shuffled by the organizers.
• Cascadia - Wildlife Scoring Cards will be chosen at random. The Wildlife Scoring Cards will be the same for all tables per round of qualifier games (Preliminary and Semi-Finals).
• Catan - All Qualifier games (Preliminary and Semi-Finals) will use the same game board layout. Each round (Preliminary and Semi-Finals) will have a new board layout.
• Marvel Remix - Remix cards and Villain cards will be shuffled by the organizers.
• Unmatched - Maps will be randomly assigned by the organizers. Organizers will also check the decks for completeness and for any markings. Before a match, players secretly select 3 characters. The opponent will eliminate one character from the 3. Players then secretly select a character from the remaining 2 (by, for example, choosing the character card of the set they wish to play and placing it face down), then simultaneously reveal. 

GENERAL CONDITIONS:

Please follow the rules found in the Ticket to Ride: Europe® (base game), Cascadia® Retail Edition and Catan® 5th Edition base game, Marvel Remix® base game and All released Unmatched® sets except Adventures and IP-based sets. No expansions will be used for the tournament.

The Organizers reserves the right to cancel or modify the Tournament if fraud, technical failures or any other factor beyond their reasonable control impairs the integrity of the Tournament, as determined by the Organizers in their sole discretion.

The Organizers reserves the right in their sole discretion to disqualify any individual they find to be cheating, tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Tournament or to be acting in violation of these Official Rules or any other promotion, or in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner.

If rules are broken at a table, players must call for a referee immediately. The referee’s ruling is final. If a rule is broken and players do not report it immediately, this is considered “normal” play and its effect on the final game results must be accepted.

Repeated incidents can be called out individually even if previous incidents not judged by a referee were deemed as “normal.”

The recording of information through note taking or any other physical method is prohibited.

No competitor in the Tournament may bring personal notes, strategy guides, player aids, or any form of “cheat sheet” into the Tournament. Use of mobile devices is not allowed. Taking of photos by participants is allowed before the start of the round and after the round. Coaching is not allowed.

TIME LIMIT:

The Organizer has the authority to introduce and enforce a time limit on player turns, or players may, following set-up, call in a referee to enforce timed turns. The timed turn length is limited to three minutes.

There are no breaks during the round. Players are advised to take their breaks before the start of the Tournament and in between rounds.

PROTEST:

If players feel that the outcome of a game was unfair due to broken rules or illegal play, they must immediately inform a referee. Once the game record sheet has been signed, further protest is not permitted and the results cannot be further altered.

The Head Judges’ ruling is final.

SPORTSMANSHIP:

Attendees are expected to behave in both a legal and civil manner at all times.

We do not tolerate harassment of any kind, including: intimidation or threats, inappropriate disruption of events, hurtful language, physical assault of any type, inappropriate physical contact, unwanted sexual attention, unwanted photography or video recording, bullying, stalking, or following. Especially in connection to: race or ethnicity, national origin, gender identity or presentation, sex or sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, citizenship status, medical condition or pregnancy.

If you experience or witness any form of harassment, please contact an Organizer or Referee If you are asked to stop any harassing behavior as listed above, STOP immediately.

Poor game-play is not a justification for disqualification. Players colluding strictly in service to advance mutual positions in the game can be frustrating, but is not a justification for disqualification. Collusion among players to advance other players' positions in the tournament rather than to further your own position in-game is discouraged and will be served with a warning.

Referees can disqualify players from the tournament if the rules of the game are broken on

purpose or a player has violated the Code of Conduct. These circumstances include, but are not limited to, players breaking the rules with the intention of winning the game, players engaging in abusive play, or intentionally causing or promoting another player to win. 

PUBLICITY:

Except where prohibited, participation in the Tournament event constitutes consent to Sponsor's use of participant's name, likeness, voice, opinions, hometown and country for promotional purposes in any media without further payment or consideration. 

These images and videos may appear in any form of marketing material and social media posts which may be found inside or outside the official Gaming Library website.

Take down requests can be sent to: support@gaminglib.com

DATA PRIVACY:

The Organizers collect personal information from you when you enter the Tournament. The information collected is subject to the Privacy Policy

Republic Act No. 10173, otherwise known as the Data Privacy Act aims to protect personal data in information and communications systems. The Organizers will not be using your information outside of this event; and will not be shared to anyone except the Organizers. 

TICKET TO RIDE: EUROPE TOURNAMENT RULES:

Reference: World Series of Board Gaming

• Minimum Players: 8
• Maximum Players: 16
• Time Limit: 1 hour per round

SET UP:

The original Ticket to Ride: Europe base game with NO expansions will be used. 

Seating/starting player will be determined randomly. 

At the start of each game, players check to see that they have exactly 45 trains in their color. The number of train cars, cards, and destination tickets is public knowledge.

After all players have chosen what tickets to keep at the start of the game, the remaining tickets will be shuffled well. Discarded tickets are placed at the bottom of the pile as they are discarded.

GENERAL RULES:

Placements in each swiss round will be given tournament points as follows: +6, +4, +2, +0 (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th)

Top 8 for Semi-Finals will be determined by the highest ranking tournament total score. Ties will be broken by total raw game score from the 3 Preliminary games.

Discarded Train Cards must be reshuffled and put into play as soon as the last card is drawn (not when the next card is required).

TIME LIMIT:

The time limit for each match is 1 hour. If players are still in the game after 1 hour has elapsed, they finish the round (so that everyone plays the same number of rounds), and we will then proceed to scoring. 

It is encouraged for players to perform their turns in a timely manner. If a player exceeds the time allocation for their turn (3 minutes), he/she will be given a warning by a judge to finish his/her turn promptly.

TIE BREAKER:

If two or more players tie for first place in a game, even after applying the game’s tie-breakers, then reverse Turn Order will break the tie (i.e. the player going last at the start of the game has the highest tiebreaker).

PRIZE:

Winner - Ticket to Ride Legacy: Legends of the West
Participation - Ticket to Ride: Europe 15th Anniversary signed cards

CASCADIA TOURNAMENT RULES:

Reference: World Series of Board Gaming

• Minimum Players: 8
• Maximum Players: 32
• Time Limit: 1 hour per round

SET UP:

Promotional wildlife scoring cards will not be used.

Seating, start player, starter tiles, and scoring cards will be selected at random. Habitat and keystone tiles will be shuffled and distributed from a pile. 

Wildlife tokens will be placed, whenever necessary, from left to right, with the rightmost being located beside the pool of nature tokens. 

All players should confirm that all required wildlife tokens are in the drawbag before the start of the game. 

TOURNAMENT RULES:

Placements in each swiss round will be given tournament points as follows: +6, +4, +2, +0 (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th)

Top 8 for Semi-Finals will be determined by the highest ranking tournament total score. Ties will be broken by total raw game score from the 3 Preliminary games.

All wildlife tokens shall be drawn one at a time.  

If more than one is ever drawn at once, then all of those tokens will be placed back in the draw bag, with another player having the opportunity to shake the bag before a single replacement tile is drawn.

Once a pair of token and tile has been taken from the center, players are not allowed to exchange it.

Players must finalize their placements before the next player can take their turn. Players are encouraged to announce that they have ended their turn as courtesy.

Players must clearly announce use of their nature token on their turn.

Players must clearly announce if they will be resolving overpopulation.

TIME LIMIT:

The time limit for each match is 1 hour. If players are still in the game after 1 hour has elapsed, they finish the round (so that everyone plays the same number of rounds), and we will then proceed to scoring. 

It is encouraged for players to perform their turns in a timely manner. If a player exceeds the time allocation for their turn (3 minutes), he/she will be given a warning by a judge to finish his/her turn promptly. Else, the leftmost tile will be taken and added by the judge to the player's largest applicable terrain type and the animal pair will be returned to the bag.

 

TIE BREAKER:

In the case of a tie, the tying player with the most nature tokens will advance. 

In the case of a further tie, the tying player in the highest-numbered starting position (seat 4 in a four-player game) will advance.

PRIZE:

Winner - Trip to CMON Expo Bangkok 2023 (Flight and Hotel accommodation)

*This prize is non-transferable and non-convertible to cash. In the event that the winner is not available to travel to Bangkok, the 1st place prize will be offered to the next highest ranking player.

1st Runner up - Cascadia: Landmarks (Expansion)
Participation - All Aboard XP Voucher

MARVEL REMIX TOURNAMENT RULES:

• Minimum Players: 8
• Maximum Players: 16
• Time Limit: 30 minutes per round

TOURNAMENT FORMAT:

Placements in each Swiss round will be given tournament points as follows: +6, +4, +2, +0 (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th).

The top 4 for Finals will be determined by the highest ranking tournament total points. Ties will be broken by total raw game score from the 3 Preliminary games.

TABLE RULES:

Make a space for 10 cards in a 5x2 grid to show the discard limit.

A touch-move rule will be implemented. If you need to check a card's text, announce "check" and touch it on your turn. After checking, put it back in the discard area (5x2 grid) to avoid confusion. The time limit will not be paused when checking.

A player's turn ends once they discard a card. If a player chose to discard (or accidentally discards) a card before drawing a new one, they can't change their mind after drawing the new card. The next player takes their turn after the active player finishes drawing and discarding.

TIME LIMIT:

It is encouraged for players to perform their turns in a timely manner. If a player exceeds the time allocation for their turn (3 minutes), he/she will be given a warning by a Judge to finish his/her turn promptly. Else, his turn will be skipped. The time limit for each game is 30 minutes. 

TIE BREAKER PER GAME:

In the case of a tie, the tied players will get the average of their tournament points. For example, if 2 players tied for 1st, they have 5 tournament points each.

PRIZE:

Winner - Fantasy Realms Gift Set
Participation - Squirrel Girl Card

CATAN TOURNAMENT RULES:

Reference: Catan World Championships Tournament Rules

• Minimum Players: 8
• Maximum Players: 32
• Time Limit: 2 hours per round*

SINGLE TOURNAMENT FORMAT:

Organizers may not end games before one player has reached 10 victory points and may not place time limits on the games themselves. If matches are running long, timed turns are encouraged.

In a preliminary round, all participants will play three games with the base Catan

The organizer will generate a schedule that determines table and starting positions for each round. The player in first position selects color and chair first, followed by second, third, etc

After 3 games, the 4 players with the highest rankings reach the Final game. In the Final, seating is based on ranking from the Preliminary round. The players select their starting position, along with player color in order of their rank. The winner of the Final will be the Qualifier Champion.

POINTS:

During a preliminary round, the number of victories will be used to rank players.

In case of ties, the total sum of victory points across all three games will be used as the first tiebreaker.

If ties still exist after that, the second tiebreaker will be the sum of the percentage of victory points the players reached at their three tables. If there are still any ties after that, lots will be drawn.

Example: Players A and B both win 2 games. Both get 28 victory points - so there is still a tie. Now the percentages of victory points will be calculated.

For Player A:

Game 1: A gets 10 VPs, there were 32 VPs at the table, their percentage is: 31.25%.

Game 2: A gets 8 VPs, there were 30 VPs at the table, their percentage is: 26.67%.

Game 3: A gets 10 VPs, there were 36 VPs at the table, their percentage is: 27.78%. A’s sum is: 85.70.

For Player B:

Game 1: B gets 10 VPs, there were 30 VPs at the table, so their percentage is: 33.33%.

Game 2: B gets 10 VPs, there were 33 VPs at the table, so their percentage is: 30.3%.

Game 3: B gets 8 VPs, there were 36 VPs at the table, their percentage is: 22.22%. B’s sum is 85.85.

Player B is ranked higher than Player A.

In the case of a three-player game, a fourth score will be created by averaging the other three scores (rounding any 0.4 remainder down, and any 0.5 remainder up). This average score is included into the calculation as if it were a fourth player for purposes of the percentage of points earned.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF PLAYERS

The tournament organizers set up the game boards. All Qualifier games will use the same game board layout for all players. Each game will have a new board layout.

All game materials must be kept on the table at all times, so that they are clearly visible to all players. This is especially true for development and resource cards, which must be held above the table throughout the game. All shuffling should happen above the table, including when one player is stealing from another.

The number of cards in a player’s hand is public information, and must be defined upon request.

In all games, with the exception of the Final, the starting player will act as resource banker, receiving used and distributing new resource cards to and from the supply The starting player has to announce clearly when they are handing cards to themselves or when they are paying resources to the bank.

By agreement, players may create two resource piles, and/ or collect cards on their own. If there is a disagreement as to players collecting the correct number of cards, these agreements are voided and the starting player must distribute all cards.

If the starting player is uncomfortable being the banker, the table can elect another player to be the single banker if all agree. At any time, players may ask for a judge to handle all cards for the rest of the game. In the Final a judge should automatically handle all cards.

Newly obtained development cards must be kept well away from the other cards the players might have in hand. If this rule is broken, the player forfeits the opportunity to play a development card until their next turn, such as Victory Point cards.

Players are responsible for verifying that they have the correct number of pieces at the beginning of the game (5 settlements, 4 cities, 15 roads). Also, all players should verify that there are 25 development cards and 19 of each resource card. In the case of an issue, the organizer should be immediately notified.

Players shall exhibit kindness, courtesy, and fair play to others during tournament games, during other tournament activities, during related event activities, and throughout the tournament and event program

ADDITIONAL AND SUPPLEMENTARY RULES

The following are areas of Catan rules that occasionally cause confusion.

These are clarifications to the standard rules. If there is any disagreement between the standard rules and these clarifications, then the clarification is considered to be the official rule.

A player’s turn begins with receiving the passed dice. Players are allowed to play any development card (for example, a Soldier / Knight card) before they roll the dice. No other actions may occur prior to the rolling of the dice.

Once the dice are rolled, the dice roll must be resolved before any other actions are taken.

Players are not allowed to build a road beyond a settlement or city of another player.

Players are allowed to upgrade a settlement to a city in the same turn it is built. To do that, the player cannot have five settlements on the board before building the settlement the player wants to upgrade.

If a player buys a development card with a victory point on it, they may immediately reveal it if it is their tenth victory point to win the game. This is only possible with development cards that have a victory point printed on it. Players are not allowed to immediately play a soldier / knight out of turn, even if this means that the player would get the largest army and win the game. The player must wait until their next turn before playing the soldier / knight.

There is no distinction between the trade and building phase.

A harbor may be used the same turn that a player builds on it.

If after rolling the dice, there are not enough resource cards of one kind to give every player, no one will receive a card of this kind. The other resource cards are handed out to the players as usual. If only one player gets resource cards and there are not enough cards of this kind in stock, they will receive all available cards of this kind.

It is not legal to intentionally show your resource cards to any other players outside of cards displayed for trade during a players trading phase. If shown, this information is public until the end of that trading phase.

A player has won if they have 10 or more victory points (although only 10 will be counted for the ranking) and it is the player’s turn. If a player does not notice that they have 10 points, the player must wait until the next turn before winning the game (assuming no earlier player wins, and the player still has 10 points).

The robber is in effect as soon as the game begins, from the first throw of the dice. There is no “grace period” before the robber is moved. The robber MAY be moved back to the desert during the game.

If a player forgets to move the robber, it will be:

1. a) placed on a field of the player’s choice if the player is still the active player. The active player can then, according to the rules of the basic game, draw a resource card from the hand of another player, provided that the active player hasn’t taken further actions like attempting to trade with other players.
2. b) placed on the desert field, if the turn is completed. No cards may be taken.

Players take a series of actions on their turn. They may build and trade in any order. An action is considered complete as soon as the player begins the next action. For example, if a player is building a road and they place the road on the board they may still reposition the road while they are in their road building action. The instant a player instigates a trade, or begins another action like building a settlement or buying a development card, their road building action is over and the road may not be moved. Likewise, a robber movement action is complete when you attempt to take a card from another player.

Cards played into the supply are spent cards. Cards spent may be used for something different than what they were originally intended for, but may not be taken back. For example, a player may trade four sheep in for a wheat, a player can decide to take brick instead as long as it is in that trading action.

If either of the dice are ever completely obscured by rolling off the table or landing in a cup/pocket/etc, reroll both dice. If a die is cocked, balance the other die on top, if it slides off, reroll both dice.

PRIZE:

Winner - CATAN 3D Set (P16,000)
1st Runner up - CATAN Trading Post Convertible Card Tray
2nd Runner up -  CATAN Hexadocks Base Set
3rd Runner up - Autumn Catan Hexes Limited Release - Terrain Hex Set
Participation - All Aboard XP Voucher

UNMATCHED TOURNAMENT FORMAT:

Reference: Unmatched Essen 2023 - Challenge ruleset

• Minimum Players: 8
• Maximum Players: 32
• Time Limit: 45 minutes per round

GAME RULES:

Conscript follows the official rules, which are found in a separate attachment: Unmatched Core Rulebook and Unmatched Special Rules.

Before the tournament begins, the organizers will publish a bracket, showing each pool, and a

number that is assigned to each position. On arrival, players are assigned a number. This corresponds both to their position on the tournament diagram.

TOURNAMENT RULES:

The Unmatched challenge will take the form of 2 consecutive matches.

Players will be randomly divided into pools of 4.

• Match 1: each player plays against an opponent at his or her own table (player numbers are shown on a table).
• Match 2: each table winner plays the winner of the same table. The two losers at the same table play each other.

Players will be randomly divided again into pools of 4.

• Match 3: each player plays against an opponent at his or her own table (player numbers are shown on a table).
• Match 4: each table winner plays the winner of the same table. The two losers at the same table play each other.

The best 8 players in terms of win rate / ranking will proceed to the Quarter Finals. The tie breaker will be the highest ratio of remaining health points (hero and sidekick combined) to initial health points. At this point, this will be a single elimination tournament. The winners in the Quarter Finals will proceed to the Semi-Finals, and the winners in the Semi-FInals will proceed to the Finals.

If the number of participants does not allow for tables of 4 players, players from different pools will play against each other or play again against the same first opponent.

In this format, players will bring three different characters. They come from all IELLO games (excluding Marvel licensed games and Unmatched Adventures). Full list of available characters to follow.

They play on randomly drawn maps from IELLO sets.

Tournament organizers nominate two different characters to be reserves. These are used in the event of complete mirror selections.

Players may not play with the same character in two consecutive games.

a) Before a match, players secretly select 3 characters. The opponent will eliminate one character from the 3. Players then secretly select a character from the remaining 2 (by, for example, choosing the character card of the set they wish to play and placing it face down), then simultaneously reveal.

b) If they have both selected the same character, they set the matched character aside and draw a different one. This is repeated until the drawn characters do not match.

c) In the event that players draw a complete set of matching characters, one of two scenarios occurs.

• If one player has unselected characters remaining, they choose one of those. The other player selects from one of the two reserve fighters.
• If neither player has unselected characters in hand, they are assigned randomly by the tournament organizers.

d) Players are highly encouraged to bring their own sets.

e) Players may borrow characters from the organizers, but this is subject to availability and will be distributed on a first-come first served basis

TIME LIMIT:

The time limit for each match is 45 minutes. If players are still in the game after 45 minutes has elapsed, they finish the round (so that everyone plays the same number of rounds).

In the event of a tie, the player with the highest ratio of remaining health points (hero and sidekick combined) to initial health points wins the match. In the event of a final tie, the winner is determined by randomly drawing a card from the 2 opposing hero cards.

PRIZE:

Winner: Unmatched Adventures: Tales to Amaze
1st Runner: Unmatched: Houdini VS The Genie
Quarter Finalists: Unmatched Acrylic Companions
Participation: All Aboard XP Voucher

LIST OF ALLOWED CHARACTERS AND MAPS:

Battle of Legends, Volume 1

• Heroes
• Alice
• King Arthur
• Medusa
• Sinbad
• Maps
• Marmoreal
• Sarpedon

Battle of Legends, Volume 2

• Heroes
• Achilles
• Bloody Mary
• Sun Wukong
• Yennega
• Map
• Hanging Gardens

Bruce Lee

• Hero
• Bruce Lee

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

• Heroes
• Angel
• Buffy
• Spike
• Willow
• Maps
• Sunnydale High School
• The Bronze

Cobble & Fog

• Heroes
• Dracula
• Invisible Man
• Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
• Sherlock Holmes
• Maps
• Baskerville Manor
• Soho

Houdini vs. The Genie

• Heroes
• Houdini
• The Genie
• Map
• King Solomon’s Mines

Jurassic Park - Dr. Sattler vs. T. Rex

• Heroes
• Dr. Ellie Sattler
• T. Rex
• Map
• T. Rex Paddock

Jurassic Park - InGen vs. Raptors

• Heroes
• Robert Muldoon
• Raptors
• Map
• Raptor Paddock

Little Red Riding Hood vs. Beowulf

• Heroes
• Little Red
• Beowulf
• Map
• Heorot

Robin Hood vs. Bigfoot

• Heroes
• Bigfoot
• Robin Hood
• Maps
• Sherwood Forest
• Yukon