So you're sitting there, and you're looking at rules for the "Quad Damage Tournament" on the QuakeCon site, and it's making about just as much sense as John Madden's rundown of last year's Super Bowl. However, we're here for you guys. Let's go through each of the stages of the tournament in a language people can actually understand.

Introduction

This year's QuakeCon will feature one of the largest Quake tournaments to ever take place, dubbed the "Quad Damage Tournament", and will start off with 256 Quake players from across the world. It's meant to test each competitor's skill in each of the Quake releases, Quake 1-4, each with it's own mod to enhance the competitive side of the game. So let's get down to how this tournament will be run. In the Quake 1 matches, there will be a 10 minute timelimit, with no frag limit. In any of the Quake 2-4 matches, matches will last for 15-minutes, also with no frag limit.

Round 1: Group Play

Like I said before, the tournament will begin with a staggering 256 players. Each player will be seeded before the round starts. The players will then be divided into groups of 4, leaving 64 groups. In those groups, each player will play 9 maps, 3 maps against each of the other opponents in their group. If a player wins a map, that will give that player 1 point and the losing player will receive 0 points. So that means if a player wins every map in their group, they will have 9 points at the end of Round 1. At the end if Round 1, only the top player from each group will move on to Round 2. One of the nicer features of this system is that even though three-fourths of attending players won't move onto Round 2, they still got a decent amount of matches in. This is unlike other tournaments, where a player can lose their first matches and be out of the tournament.

As for the matches, the higher seed will pick the game and the lower seed will pick one of two maps in that game's category. The second map will be chosen the same way, but with the lower seed picking the game, from the three unplayed games, and the higher seed picking one of two maps in that game's category. The third map will be a randomly selected map from one of the two remaining unplayed games. Remember, these matches are for points, not "Best of Three". The top 1 player from each group will go on to Round 2.

Round 2: Group Play

Round 2 will start out with 64 players, and will work much like Round 1. Players will be re-seeded and put into groups of 4. This time though, there will be 16 groups and the top 2 players from each groups will move on. Other than that one aspect, Round 2 is run exactly like the first. Maps and games are still chosen the say way.

Round 3 - Single Elimination Bracket

Now here's where it will get interesting. Round 3 will begin as a 32-player single-elimination bracket. There aren't any second chances or any Lower Bracket here. Before play starts, players will be re-seeded and placed in the bracket in that seed position. This time, matches will be "Best of Three". Both the first game and map will be chosen by the higher seeded player, and then the second game and map will be chosen by the lower seeded player from the three unplayed games. If a third map is required, it will be randomly chosen from the two unplayed games. If you lose your "Best of Three" match, you are automatically eliminated from the tournament.

Round 4 - Finals

So there's 2 players left and it's going to be a "Best of Three" match just like in Round 3, right? WRONG! In the finals, the two competitors will play each Quake sequentially, with one map for each being chosen at random. To win the finals event, a player must win three of the four games. In the event of a 2-2 tie, an unplayed map will be randomly chosen from any of the Quake games. The winner of that map will then be named QuakeCon 2007 Champion. Even if a player wins the first three Quake games, a game of Quake 4 will still be played.

This year's QuakeCon event will be definitely be unique, and it should be interesting to see how the players, as well as spectators, respond to this tournament format. I hoped this little guide helped clear a few things up for those that were a bit confused about how this tournament would be run. A special thanks to Trey 'T-Dawg' Bushart, Director of QuakeCon Competitions, for sitting down and helping me understand the tournament a little better. If anything is unclear, you can refer back to the original QuakeCon rules by click here.