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Ludoteka offers a quick tournament system, with one or more weekly tournaments for most games. Each tournament is always held on the same day at the same time. All tournaments are divided into two phases: qualifying and playoff.
All tournaments take place into two phases: qualifying and playoff.

Qualifying phase

Participants play a fixed number of games, each of them starting within a specific time slot. New games are formed every minute between players who are ready to start.

The time required to complete the qualifying phase can vary greatly depending on the game variant, the number of games to be played and how those games develop, but the general criterion when designing tournaments is that they should last around one hour.

Participants earn points based on their results in the games (whenever they don't lose or finish in last place).

If, exceptionally, a player is present in his last opportunity to play a round, but the system, due to not having enough players ready, does not include them in any game, the score is counted as a victory.

Although everyone scores points in the same classification, during the tournament each player only faces some of the possible participating opponents (something similar to the qualifying phase system that was implemented in the soccer UEFA Champions League since 2024).

Playoff phasef

The final playoff begins a few minutes after the end of the qualifying phase.

Playoff games begin at specific times and are eliminatory.
Only a predetermined number of players who get the best results in the qualifying phase can take part in the playoff.

Only the winners of every match move on to the next elimination round.

There may be different circumstances in the event that a player is not online at the exact start time of the playoff round:

• If it is the first round of the playoff, their place is filled by the player with the highest priority who is present (according to the order in the qualifying phase).
• In later rounds, if it is a game variant for two people, or a tournament with fixed partners, the opponent of the absent player or pair qualifies without playing the round. If both players or pairs are absent, the one with the better position in the qualifying phase qualifies.
• Otherwise, the highest-ranked player in the absent player´s last match will take their place, provided they are still present on the tournament page. If none of the participants in that match remain connected to the tournament, the ranked player will participate despite their disconnection, and the system will treat them as if they had disconnected immediately after the match started: a LudoBot will play on their behalf, and they will have a short time to access the match. In this case, the match will not be considered as rated for the purposes of the overall scoring system in Ludoteka.

Tournament standings

In the qualifying phase of the tournament, a complete classification of all participants is established, according to the following criteria:

• The score obtained by victories or positions in each game.
• In case of a tie, by the sum of the scores during the games (if it is a card or domino game, in which each game is resolved by scoring).
• In case of a tie, by the average level in Ludoteka of the rivals the player has faced.

Among the players who reach the playoff, the final classification is made according to these criteria:

• The amount of rounds passed.
• Among those eliminated in the same round, when it is an individual game for more than two players, the position obtained in the last game played.
• Finally, the position obtained during the qualifying phase is taken into account.

If a qualified player is not present at the start of the playoff, they will be ranked behind all the players who did participate in the playoff in the final tournament classification.

Tournaments by category

Some tournaments are divided into three categories: Gold, Silver and Bronze, so that three tournaments are played simultaneously, each with its own qualifying phase and playoff, and players participate in their own category.

Players who take part in the tournament for the first time are assigned a category based on his level in the corresponding game.

In the silver and bronze tournaments, whoever achieves a certain score or number of victories in the qualifying phase moves up a category (gold and silver, respectively) for the next edition in which they participate..

Likewise, in the gold and silver tournaments, whoever does not reach another certain (lower) number of points or victories is relegated to a lower category (silver and bronze, respectively).

Tournaments of games by pairs

They can be individual or with a fixed partner.

During the qualifying phase of individual tournaments, once the match has been formed, the system draws the pairings at random. Generally, if there are enough participants, the system avoids repeating games with the same partner. However, once the playoff phase begins, the pairings are kept (except in the case where one of the players is not present at the start of the round), and the information on the players' preferences is taken into account when forming the pairs.

However, in fixed-partner tournaments, participants register together, and during the tournament they play all games together. This means that, during the qualifying phase, both players must confirm their readiness to participate at the start of games, which occurs once every minute. If one of the two fails to show up to play, the other is also forced to stop participating in the tournament. Similarly, during the playoff phase, the pair will be eliminated if one of the two players is offline at the start of the round.

The games in the tournaments

During the qualifying phase, as many games as possible are formed every minute, using the following criteria:

• Prevent players from playing together more than once.
• Form games between players who are playing the same round, and who have achieved a similar score during previous games.
• In case that one or more players can´t be placed in a game, the system gives an higher priority is to those who had to wait in the previous start, and to those who are in their last opportunity to play the corresponding round.
• The level of the players is not taken into account.

In both the qualifying phase and the playoff, games must end in time for participants to play their next game. To ensure this, unlike the rest of the games played at Ludoteka:

• The game begins even if one of the participants closes their window, loses their connection, or their system fails at the time of starting the game.
• The system may occasionally force the game to accelerate, or directly end it with the result achieved until it detects the impossibility to complete the game.
• Tournament games can never be cancelled by agreement.

Tournament games are rated, except in these two circumstances:

• The difference in skill level between the players is very high.
• One of the players is disconnected at the time the game starts.

Tournament games are public: through the rankings of each tournament, the results of the games can be consulted, and can be reproduced for a period of one month from the date of the tournament.

How to participate in tournaments

Access to the tournament opens 5 minutes before the start, and can be accessed from the corresponding game variant page, from the tournament list, or from the meeting area where the games are formed.

Registration is immediate, and it is possible to do it until one minute before the deadline to play the first game of the qualifying phase.

If you have Ludo+ subscription, you can participate in any tournament. Otherwise, you can participate in one tournament per week.

Other issues

• Tournaments are only accessible from the site ludoteka.com. Participation in tournaments is not possible from the Ludoteka Android App.