Tournament Terms and Rules

This tournament

These are the extra rules of the tournament you came from. They are in addition to the general rules on this page. If they differ from this page on the schedule, the prizes or the number of puzzles or games, these tournament rules apply. On everything else this page applies.

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Who Runs the Tournaments

Tournaments are run by Sartaba Mind Games, Tel Aviv, Israel. You can reach us through the Contact page. These rules are governed by the laws of the State of Israel, and the courts of Tel Aviv have authority over any dispute about them. This does not take away any right you have by law that cannot be waived. These rules are written in English, and if a translation differs, the English version applies.

Entering a Tournament

• Entry to a tournament is free.
• You must be at least 18 years old to enter a tournament. By registering you confirm that you are 18 or older. We may ask for proof of age or identity if a win looks suspicious or the law requires it.
• You need a Sartaba Mind Games account to register. Each person may enter with one account only.
• The owners and operators of Sartaba Mind Games, its employees and contractors, anyone who can see tournament puzzles, game setups, scoring or results before they are published, and the close family and household members of all of them may not enter or win prizes. By registering you confirm that you are not one of them.
• Registering means you have read and agree to these rules, including the rules and the prize terms of the tournament you register for.
• Registration is open while the tournament page says so. Some tournaments also accept late registration after they start. Time already running is never restored to late entrants.
• Some tournaments need a minimum number of registered players. If that number is not reached, we may extend registration, and if it is still not reached we may cancel the tournament before it begins. A cancelled tournament has no results and no prizes.
• A tournament with a cash prize has extra entry rules. You must live outside the countries listed under Prizes, in the part called Cash prizes and where you live, you must not hide your location, and you must be able to receive the prize through PayPal. Please read that part before you register for a tournament with a cash prize.
• You are responsible for making sure that entering, and receiving any prize, is lawful where you live. A tournament is void where the law prohibits it, and a prize may be withheld where the law forbids sending it. Taxes on prizes are covered under Prizes below.

How Play Works

There are two kinds of tournaments, puzzle tournaments and games tournaments. The tournament page says which kind it is. Each kind is explained below, and the rest of this page applies to both.

Prized and non-prized tournaments

A prized tournament lists one or more prizes on its tournament page. A non-prized tournament lists none. It is played for fun and for the ranking, and nothing is paid. Backgammon and Dominion include chance, with dice in Backgammon and a random setup in Dominion, so they are only played in non-prized tournaments. Prized tournaments use chess puzzles and games that depend on skill.

Puzzle tournaments

• Puzzle tournaments use chess puzzles. Every player gets the same set of puzzles, in a random order that is different for each player.
• Before each puzzle you see a start screen. The clock only starts when you press Start puzzle. If you leave at the start screen the clock has not started, and the puzzle waits for you until the tournament ends.
• Each puzzle has a time limit. The clock that counts is kept on our server, not in your browser. The time shown on your screen is a courtesy display. A solve counts at the moment our server receives it.
• Each puzzle states a mate count, for example Mate in 3. Whatever the computer replies, the puzzle always stands within that mate count. It is the most moves you may use to win. You may win in fewer moves, and fewer moves earn no extra points.
• The moves of the opponent are played by the computer, and it may answer differently from one player to another. This is not a fairness issue, because every puzzle is built so that the mate can always be delivered within the stated mate count, whatever the computer replies. Different replies also make it harder to copy another player's line, which is an extra protection against cheating.
• Running out of moves, being checkmated, or reaching stalemate counts as a failed attempt. A failed attempt costs a time penalty, shown on the screen, and then you try the same puzzle again. All attempts share the same clock, so a later solve still earns points, but fewer the more time has passed. The Reset button does the same thing on purpose.
• There is no skipping a puzzle. You may decide to look at the solution before a puzzle ends. Pressing the Show Solution button ends the puzzle as a loss with zero points. A puzzle also scores zero when its time runs out.
• Every solve is checked by our server, which replays your moves independently.
• The tournament has a hard end time. Nothing can be played, submitted or registered after it.

Games tournaments

Games tournaments are made of games against the computer instead of puzzles.

• The tournament page says how many games there are and which games they are. You play every game once, in a random order that is different for each player.
• Before each game a start screen tells you which game it is and the level of the computer you will play, from 1 (easiest) to 5 (hardest). Every player plays the same computer level in each game. Your color is shown when the game starts.
• Tournament games are not used to teach the computer players.
• You can pause between games and come back later. The tournament still ends at its end time. A game that is still in progress then counts as a loss, and games you did not start score nothing.
• There is no clock inside a game. A game ends by the rules of that game, when you resign, or when the tournament ends. Resigning counts as a loss for that game. If you close the page or lose your connection in the middle of a game, the game waits for you and carries on from the same position when you come back.
• Chess ends in checkmate, or in a draw by stalemate, by too few pieces left to checkmate, by the same position coming up three times, by fifty moves without a capture or a pawn move, or at the limit of 150 moves. Checkers is played under the American rules or Sartaba's International-style rules, and the start screen says which. The other games end by their own rules too. For the rules of each game see the guides for Chess, Connect 4, Checkers, Walls, Dominion and Backgammon.
• Our server follows each tournament game and records its moves and its result. A result that only your browser reports is never used.
• Tournament games do not count in the normal rankings and leaderboards.
• The computer opponents are algorithms made for Sartaba Mind Games. They are not human players.

Scoring, Ranking and Ties

• A solved puzzle earns the maximum points if it is solved within the short grace period at the start. After that the points fall in a straight line to zero at the time limit. Faster is always better.
• In a games tournament a win scores base points plus a board bonus and a time bonus. The board bonus rewards a strong final position. In Chess it is the material you are ahead, in Connect 4 the empty places left on the board, in Checkers the pieces you have left with a king counting double, in Walls the walls you did not use, and in Dominion the share of the board you hold. Backgammon has no board bonus, and its base points count once, twice or three times for a normal win, a gammon or a backgammon. The time bonus is full for a win inside the first part of the time set for that game, and then falls to zero at that time.
• A draw scores half of the base points and no bonus. A loss, a resignation, and a game left unfinished at the end score nothing. Everything a win or a draw scores is then multiplied by the level of the computer, so a stronger computer is worth more. The base points, the bonuses and the times are set for each tournament.
• Players are ranked by total points, then by number of puzzles solved (games won, in a games tournament), then by lowest total time. In a games tournament the total time is the time from pressing Start game to the end of each game, added up. Time between games does not count.
• Players who are level on all three share the same rank and share the prizes for the places that rank covers. For example, if two players tie for first place and there is a prize for second place, the two prizes are combined and split between them, and the next player is ranked third. A prize that cannot be split exactly is rounded to the smallest currency unit.
• Players who never play a puzzle or a game, and disqualified players, do not receive a rank.

Connection Problems

If you lose your connection or close the page during a puzzle, the server clock keeps running. When you come back you continue the same puzzle with the time that is left. If the time ran out while you were away, the puzzle counts as timed out. We cannot restore time lost to your own device, browser or internet connection. If a failure on our side affects many players, such as an outage or a fault in a game, we may pause, extend, rerun or cancel the affected part of the tournament, and we will say what we decided on the tournament page.

Fair Play

The following are not allowed while a tournament is running.

• Entering with more than one account, or letting someone else play your account.
• Using chess engines, solvers, tablebases, AI assistants, web analysis, advice from other people, or any other outside help to find solutions or moves. Ordinary accessibility aids that give no help with the game itself are fine.
• Sharing, asking for, or receiving puzzles, positions or solutions with another person, including by screenshot, screen recording, message or post, while a tournament that uses them is open. Puzzles may be used again in later tournaments, so do not share a puzzle or its solution until every tournament that uses it has ended.
• Using bots, scripts or other automation, or taking advantage of a bug. If you find a bug, please report it through the Contact page.
• Working with other players to influence results.

Monitoring and Review

To keep tournaments fair we record information about you and your connection. This is the IP address and browser details of your registration, when each puzzle or game starts and ends, your moves, and signs of how the page is used while you play. We do this because we have a legitimate interest in fair tournaments, and we use it only to review suspected rule breaking and to handle matters that come from it, such as disqualifications and appeals. We may also use other methods that can flag behavior that breaks our rules. We do not describe our detection methods.

We delete the IP address, the browser details and the signs of how the page is used about 30 days after the results are published. The exception is a player whose entry our review flagged or who was disqualified. For that player we keep what we recorded about the flag for two years, counted from the flag, or longer while an appeal or a legal matter is open. A newer flag stays until its own two years are over. Your scores, your results and your appeals are not part of this and stay. Only Sartaba administrators can see it. You can ask us for a copy of your information, to correct it, or to delete it through the Contact page. We may refuse to delete it while we need it for a fairness check or because the law requires it. You can read more in our Privacy Policy.

After monitoring, an account may be flagged. A flag is not proof of cheating. An administrator reviews every flagged account, and you can answer in an appeal. The administrator decides whether to take no action, to look into it further, or to disqualify the entry. No decision is made automatically.

Results

Standings during and right after a tournament are provisional. Final results are published only after our review is complete and any appeal period has ended. Until then the tournament page shows that results are pending. What our server recorded is the official record of every move, time and result. If it differs from what you played or saw on your screen, the server's record is the one that counts. If you think a score is wrong because of a technical error, tell us through the Contact page. This is separate from an appeal and does not need a disqualification.

Disqualification and Appeals

• An administrator may disqualify an entry that breaks these rules. A disqualified entry receives no rank and no prize. A disqualification is a decision that the entry broke these rules. It is not a public accusation of cheating.
• Sartaba and the tournament managers never say in public whether any account was disqualified, or which account it was. A disqualified entry simply does not appear in the published results.
• A disqualification may affect your ability to register for, play in or win prizes in future tournaments run by Sartaba.
• If you are disqualified you will see a notice on the tournament page and on the All tournaments page when you sign in. We also send you an email about it, as explained under Emails About a Tournament below. The notice on the tournament page is the official one, and the appeal period counts from it.
• The notice states the reason and the appeal deadline. The appeal period is 72 hours from the notice, and the exact deadline is shown in the notice.
• To appeal, sign in and use the appeal page linked from your notice, before the deadline. You can appeal once, so explain why you believe the decision should change and include everything you want us to consider.
• Results are not published until the appeal period has ended and any appeal has been decided.
• Appeal decisions are made by an administrator and are final. An appeal that is not made before the deadline is treated as waived.

Prizes

• Prizes, and the places that receive them, are listed on the tournament page. A tournament that lists none is a non-prized tournament.
• Prizes are awarded to eligible players after the results are official. Winners are contacted at the email address on their account and must reply within 14 days of the day the results are published, giving the PayPal address to send the prize to. A prize that is not claimed in that time is forfeited.
• Cash prizes are paid by PayPal, in US dollars, within 30 days after the results are official. A winner must have a working PayPal account that can receive the prize. If PayPal does not allow the prize to be sent to the winner, for any reason, the prize is forfeited. Details are under Cash prizes and where you live below.
• If PayPal fees have to be paid on a prize, they are taken from the prize amount.
• PayPal has its own rules, and both Sartaba and the winners must follow them. You can read them in the PayPal User Agreement.
• Prizes cannot be exchanged for something else.
• Any taxes on a prize are the responsibility of the winner, who must handle and pay them. Sartaba does not withhold or pay taxes on behalf of a winner except where the law requires Sartaba to do so. If local law requires it, Sartaba may inform the local tax authorities about prizes and their winners.
• We may hold a prize while a disqualification or appeal is open. A prize may be withdrawn if a rule violation is shown by evidence within 90 days after the results are published.

Cash prizes and where you live

These rules are in addition to the other rules for entering a tournament, such as being at least 18 years old and having a PayPal account that can receive the prize. They apply to every tournament with a cash prize. They do not apply to a tournament without a prize.

• You cannot take part in a tournament with a cash prize if you live in, or are connecting from, one of these countries. Afghanistan, Belarus, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Myanmar, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. We apply this because of the laws and the payment rules we have to follow. The list may change, and the list on this page on the day you register is the one that counts.
• We check where you connect from, using your IP address. If you try to register for a tournament with a cash prize from one of these countries, or to start a puzzle or a game of one, we block it and tell you. We record the attempt, your IP address and the country, and we flag your account. The records are seen only by Sartaba administrators, see the Privacy Policy.
• Hiding your location, for example with a VPN, a proxy or another way to look as if you are somewhere else, to enter a tournament with a cash prize is not allowed. If the same account tries from one of these countries and later from another place, or we have another good reason to doubt where you are, we may ask you for proof of where you live. We may ask at any time before a prize is paid. Proof can be an official document that shows your address, and you may cover every other detail on it.
• You must answer a request for proof within 14 days. If you do not answer in that time, or the proof does not show that you live outside these countries, we may disqualify your entry, and a disqualified entry receives no rank and no prize. The disqualification and appeal rules above apply. We may also hold a prize until we have the proof.
• A prize is paid only if PayPal allows it to be sent to the winner. If PayPal does not allow the transfer, for any reason, including the country of the winner or a limit or a block on the account, the prize is forfeited. We do not pay it in another way instead, and we owe the winner nothing for it.
• A prize that is forfeited, or withdrawn because of this part, is not given to anyone else unless we decide to give it to the next ranked eligible player.

Tournament Points and Badges

When the results of a tournament are published, every player who took part and was not disqualified receives tournament points and a badge for taking part. There are further badges for playing the whole lineup, finishing in the top 10, finishing in the top 3 and winning. Tournament points add up across all tournaments and show on your profile and on the tournaments page. They are given once for each tournament. We may correct or remove points and badges if a result changes after a review or an appeal. Tournament points and badges have no cash value.

Use of Tournaments and Results

We may use tournaments and their results to advertise this tournament and future tournaments, on this site and elsewhere, including on social media. This can include your username, your rank and the prize you won. By registering you agree to this. It does not include your real name, your picture or a testimonial, which we would only use with your separate permission. We do not publish your email address or other private account details.

Liability

We run tournaments with care, but we do not promise that the site, a game or a tournament will always be available or free of errors. To the fullest extent the law allows, Sartaba Mind Games, its owners and its staff are not liable for any loss or damage that comes from taking part in a tournament, including technical problems outside our control such as lost connections and delays. This does not remove our responsibility to correct our own errors in results and to pay a prize that was won under these rules. Nothing on this page limits any right you have by law that cannot be limited.

Changes and Cancellation

Once registration opens, the scoring rules, who may enter and the prizes of a tournament stay as announced. We may change them only if the law requires it or to correct a serious technical or fairness problem, and then we tell the affected players promptly on the tournament page and keep a record of the original rules. We may change a schedule, extend registration, or pause a tournament because of a technical or fairness problem. We may cancel a tournament for too few players only before play begins, and for a serious technical or fairness problem at any time. A cancelled tournament has no results and no prizes. We may also update these rules for future tournaments, and the date at the top of this page will change when we do.

Emails About a Tournament

• When you register for a tournament you choose whether to get emails about it. They tell you when it starts, about 12 hours before it ends, and when the final results are published. The box is ticked at first. You choose again for each tournament, and every one of these emails has a link to stop them.
• Some emails are always sent to a player who entered, whatever you chose, because missing them could cost you an appeal or a prize. They are the notice that your entry was disqualified, the message telling you the decision on your appeal, and the message telling you that you won a prize and how to claim it. If you tick the box on the appeal page, you also get an email when there is new information about your appeal. That email only says there is news, and you read it on the site.
• An email is sent to the address of your account, and only if that address is verified. We never put your password in an email and we never ask for it. An email about a disqualification does not give the reason, which is on the tournament page.
• The notice on the site is always the official one. An email is an extra service, and a missing email does not extend the 72 hours to appeal or the 14 days to claim a prize.
• If you chose emails and do not get them, look in your spam or junk folder, and mark emails from Sartaba Mind Games as not spam. It also helps to add tournaments@sartabamindgames.com and support@sartabamindgames.com to your contacts, so future emails arrive in your inbox.
• News and announcements from the site are separate. You only get them if you asked for them when you signed up or in your profile, and you can stop them at any time.

Your Information

Tournament information is handled under our Privacy Policy and our general Terms of Use. The whole appeal discussion takes place on the website.

Contact

Questions about these rules? Use the Contact page. Appeals go through the appeal page linked from your notice.