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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 take place into two phases: qualifying and playoff.

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

Qualifying phase

Participants play a fixed number of games, each of them starting within a specific time slot. New games are formed every minute (or 2 minutes, according to the characteristics and participation of the tournament) 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.

For detailed information on the scorring system during the qualifying, please refer to Annex 1: Scoring in the qualifying phase.

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).

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.
• Among players with the same score, depending on the type of game, there may be some specific criteria to resolve potential ties in the ranking. You can consult these specific criteria in Appendix 2: Tie-breaking criteria between players in the qualifying phase.

Playoff phase

The final playoff begins a few minutes after the end of the qualifying phase. Playoff games begin at specific times and are eliminatory.

The top players in the qualifying phase that and are online at the start of the playoff take part in the first knockout round. The number of playoff participants is predetermined for each tournament.

At the start of the playoff, a schedule of matches is established, following the usual order in sports competitions according to the positions obtained in the qualifying phase (first against last, second against second-to-last, ...).

In the playoff phase, only the winners of each match advance to the next elimination round. In games where draws are possible, such as Chess, Checkers, or Tute Cabrón, in the event of a tie, the player with the better result in the qualifying phase will qualify for the next round.

From the second round onwards, if the qualified player is not online at the exact start time of the next playoff round:

• If it's a game for two players, the opponent wins the knockout round directly. This also applies to fixed-pair tournaments.
• Otherwise, one of the participants from the absent player's previous game will take their place (the highest-ranked player who remains connected to the tournament). If none of them are connected, a LudoBot will start playing in their place, and they will have a short window to access the game if they reconnect.

Tournament final standings

Once the tournament is over after the final Playoff round, the final standings are established.

The top spots are occupied by those players who have participated in the Playoff according to the following 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 that last game.
• Finally, the position obtained during the qualifying phase is taken into account.

The remaining players will have their final position based on the one they obtained in the qualifying phase.

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 comnpetitions are held 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 categories, the top finishers at the end of the tournament are promoted to the next category (gold and silver, respectively) for the the next edition in which they participate. Approximately 20% of the participants will be promoted.

Likewise, in the gold and silver categories the last-placed players will be relegated to the lower category (silver and bronze, respectively). The number of players will also be approximately 20%.

Tournaments of games by pairs

Tournaments of games played by pairs are distinguished according to the mode of participation: individually or with a fixed partner.

During the qualifying phase of the individual participation 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); the information about the players' preferences is taken into account when forming the pairs.

However, in fixed-partner tournaments, participants register together (through a simple invitation and acceptance mechanism), 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 new games. 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, the tournament system periodically generates (every 1 or 2 minutes) new games with players who are ready (those who have the Play Now option enabled). These games are generated through a draw that may be influenced by the following criteria:

• Form games between players who are in a similar situation in the tournament, both in the number of games played and in the score achieved in those games.
• If possible, prevent players from playing together more than once.
• In case that one or more players can´t be placed in a game, the system gives an higher priority to those who had to wait in the previous start, and to those who are in their last opportunity to play the corresponding round.

In order for the tournament to proceed according to the established schedule, some special measures may be taken for tournament games:

• 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 10 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 10 seconds before the deadline to play the first game. In case of not playing this first game, the registration is cancelled.

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

Annex 1: Scoring in the qualifying phase

Participants earn points based on their results in the games:

• In games with 2 participants or pairs, winners earn one point per victory.
• In games for 3 players, the winner earns 5 points and the second earns 2.
• In individual games for 4 players, the winner earns 10 points, the second 6 and the third 3.
• In games for 5 players the distributions is 30, 21, 13 y 6 points (Julepe game), or 30, 24, 17, 9 (Burro game).
• In games for 6 players (Poker Texas No Limit), the distributions is 40, 30, 21, 13 y 6 points.

In the final standings, those with unplayed games are placed behind other players with the same score.

Annex 2: Tie-breaking criteria between players in the qualifying phase

Among players with the same score, the following tie-breaking criteria are applied, varying according to the type of game:

• In card games and dominoes, the sum of the differences in the final scores of the games is taken into account.
• In some card games that allow it (such as Tute, Brisca, Mus, etc.), if the tie persists, a second tie-breaking criterion is applied: the differences in the sums of the scores of each hand played.
• In racing games, like Parcheesi, the number of squares remaining to achieve the objective of the games.
• In individual games with more than two players, the score difference with each of the other players is considered. In elimination games, such as Poker, Pumba, Julepe, or Chinchón for 4, when a player is eliminated before the end of the game, the score difference with the remaining players is taken into account at the time of the elimination.
• The maximum point difference is the precise number of points needed to win (or lose) the game. In Chinchón, this maximum difference is increased by 50 points. Special plays, such as Chinchón, Tute or Capote, also award a maximum point difference.
• If the tie persists after applying the above criteria, the following two criteria will be taken into account:
• The results in that tournament of the rivals that each player has faced.
• The level in Ludoteka of the rivals the player has faced in that tournament.