Tournament Settings

Stock: 3
Time: 10 minutes
Team Attack: ON
Pause: OFF
Items: OFF/NONE

  Match & Set Rules

Type: Double-elimination Bracket
Match Sets: 2 of 3 rounds
Upper Finals: 3 of 5 rounds
Lower Finals: 3 of 5 rounds
Grand Finals: 3 of 5 rounds

  For the Competitors

Tournament Play:
Step 1: Players agree on Characters
Step 2: Players agree on Stage
Step 3: Play the game (refer to Match & Set Rules or ask the TO if you have a question)

  For the Tournament Organizer (TO):

How to run your tournament in five easy steps:

1. Set the game's rules as detailed in the "Tournament Settings" section.
   
2. Brackets are run according to the specifications in the "Match & Set Rules".
   
3. Have players follow the steps in the "Tournament Play" section.
   
4. Players will report their wins/losses to you; record them on TIO or other bracket recording equipment.
   
5. Declare winners and pay out prizes, then upload your results.
   

Any rule can be added, deleted, or modified by the Tournament Organizer, whose word is law (see below for some additional rules).

      
Teams shall agree upon which characters will be used before every round. "Random" is considered a character choice for all intents and purposes.

Each round has a specific method for players to choose their character.

Round 1 Character Choice
Each team will choose their character on round 1 using the Blind Pick method.

Blind Pick      

1. All character tokens are displaced from the character selection
   
2. Each player tells the referee, and only the referee, which character they will be using
   
3. Teams place their character token on their respective characters as told to referee.
   
4.  The referee verifies characters selected and makes any corrections if needed.
   
5. If there is a further dispute about characters the referee's call is final.
   

• The Blind Pick method may be disregarded when the players have placed their character tokens then shake hands and start the first round of the set.
  
• After players shake hands the character tokens shall not be moved.
  
• If any character token is unplaced after the shaking of hands all tokens must immediately be replaced back on the original choice.
  

Round 2 Character Choice
Character choices are made after Stage Counterpick is determined (see details in step 2)

Character Counterpick

1. The winning team from the previous round will make character choice(s) first.
   
2. Once the Winning Team has laid down their Character Token they may not choose any other characters for the round.
   
3. Losing team from previous round then choose their counterpick character choice(s).
   
4. Round 2 begins with the counterpick stage chosen (see details in step 2).
   
5. If there are any disputes, a referee's call is final
   

Additional Rounds Character Choice
If there are additional rounds played after the 2nd, follow steps from Round 2.

Determining Stage List

It is the TO's choice which (if any) stages will be "prohibited" and which will be "viable" at his tournament.
Prohibited stages will not be used under any circumstances.
By default ALL stages will be considered viable. All stages can be found listed |HERE|

For TO's looking for a suggested stage list, please see this group: |Standardized Ruleset|

If the TO so desires, he may allow the players to determine their own Stage List each match set; see this post: |link forthcoming|

Determining Stage for Round 1:

1. Teams are asked if they agree to play on Smashville for First Choice of Agreement.
   
   • If YES, Smashville is First Round Stage.
     
   • If NO, Battlefield is next choice of agreement.
     
   
   
2. Teams are asked if they agree to play on Battlefield for Second Choice of Agreement.
   
   • If YES, Battlefield is the First Round Stage.
     
   • If NO, Stage Strike Method is used.
     
   
   
3. Stage Strike Method: Five Stage Starter
   
   1. The team with the highest port priority in use (4th slot or closest to 4th slot) will start the striking.
      
   2. Strikes are done in an alternating one-at-a-time fashion.
      
   3. Each team will have struck two stages.
      
   4. The remaining stage which hasn't been struck will be the First Round Stage.
      
   
   

Determining Stage for Round 2:

1. The winning Team of the first round announces a Stage Ban (this banned stage cannot be used as a Counterpick).
   
2. The losing Team from first round announces stage choice.
   
3. The winning Team from previous round selects character(s)
   
4. The losing Team from previous round selects character(s)
   

Additional Rounds: Counterpick

If additional rounds are played after the 2nd, repeat steps for "Round 2" for Characters and Stage selection.

Determining Tied Games

A tied game happens if time runs out and stocks are equal or if remaining stocks expire simultaneously. Under all usual circumstances a winner is always determined by whichever character is shown to be the winner on the Results Display.
In tied games, the Sudden Death rematch will be played out as intended by in-game function and game design.

Alternate Tie-breakers*
If the TO so chooses, tied games can be determined by any of the following alternatives:

• Replaying the round (same stage) using 1 stock and a 5 minute timer. Winner is shown on Results Display.
  
• Winner determined by highest stock then lowest %
  
• Coin Flip
  

Stalemate
A stalemate is condition of a tied game where no winner can be determined.
If such a situation shall occur, the referee will choose a method from the Alternate Tie-breakers section to determine a winner.

*The TO must make known any optional ruling being used by posting online and/or printing a hardcopy to be made available at the tournament.

Controller Ports

First and highest priority controller port is 4th port (or "slot). Second highest is 3rd port. Third highest is 2nd port. Fourth and lowest priority is 1st port.

Determining Port Dispute
If there is a dispute over which ports the players use for their controllers (either wired or wireless) a referee shall make the decision with a coin flip.
In Team Mode the teams shall be split up in a 1-2-2-1 fashion (team 1 is represented by "1" and team 2 represented by "2 from left to right the slots are slot 1 to slot 4).

Color Selection

The team who chooses their port priority does not choose their color choice.
If there is a dispute over character color, a referee shall make the decision with a coin flip.
If there is a team with a color-related impairment (ie color blindness) which affects gameplay, that team has priority in color choice (but not port priority).

I would much rather prefer the port decision based on rock-paper-scissors instead of a coin flip. At least with RPS it leads to some skill involved. I don't like the idea of leaving something that could determine the match to a random chance

Good point, Gage, but I'll point out something that isn't so obvious:

When players are agreeing to point it doesn't matter how they agree to it. So if you want a certain port that your opponent wants to use you can ask to determine it by RPS. If they refuse that it goes to referee's coin-flip. The reason why a referee will use a coin-flip is because it is completely unbiased, 50-50, and quick. This is why a coin-flip is used in professional sports.

So just remember to ask for an RPS, I've never seen it declined and go to a ref.

Remember, 99.99999% of the time none of these additional rules need to be used. It's like the three steps are all you need.

dont we have one of these already? somewhere?

Yes, and it wasn't very easy to find, so I've got it all officially put together here.

I'd like to expand a bit on Stage Selection.

The method I told you about IRL - with both Teams choosing 2 stages +Smashville to make a 5-Stage Strike - I will refer to this as the 'Grab Bag Method' (because I don't have a name for it and it sounds sort of fun).

First of all, I think it works out great for 1st Round Stage Selection - plus it expands the Starter Stage List to practically any stage. You should make sure to include rules for a 3-Stage Starter (with each Team choosing 1 Stage, +Smashville).

What I see missing in the Stage Selection Details section is the option of a Stage Ban for each Team. I think this is even more appropriate (and important) to include as a solid rule, not just as a footnote or optional rule, since literally any stage might be available as a Counterpick.

Speaking of Counterpick Stages...
I think this needs to be tweaked a bit more. Maybe each Team should be able to add in one or two Counterpick Stages to the Grab Bag. This would give 7 to 9 Stages in the 'bag' for each player to counterpick from, which is about how many you see in the average tournament.

The only problem I see with the additional one or two counterpicks is the increased likelihood of players going to exceptionally dumb stages (which might make tournaments run longer). It's sort of like MLG where having just 1 Stage Ban just didn't feel like enough due to the overwhelming number of stages (I had to play on Pokemon Stadium 2 and Green Greens multiple times at MLG just because my opponent wanted the lols). It also reminds me of the Ashland Tournaments where there were noobs playing against other noobs and they would go to Hyrule Temple (both in Melee and in Brawl) because they didn't know any better (there's nothing more painful than waiting for a TV while two noobs play a tournament match for 8 minutes on Hyrule).

I noticed that in the rules you mention that TOs are responsible for creating their own banned stage list (such as telling everyone to stop playing on ******* Hyrule). But, in my experience, TOs are generally not inclined to do much more than adopt a set of rules and then tell the players what they are (some TOs don't even do that much). This means that while theoretically any stage that could cause grief for players can simple be written out of the options, it's more realistic that they will sit around getting counterpicked by noobs and people looking for lolz.

On Port Selection:
I've discussed this with other TOs over the years. Originally it was Rock-Paper-Scissors, but it has gradually changed to a coin flip. The reason is because some people are opposed to playing RPS, while no one can argue against a coin flip. Thus the Coin Flip must be the default option.

IMO, there are still some things this rule set does not cover, but they are things that you generally don't see nor take into consideration for tournaments. What I would suggest is using these rules for general play, but having a second set of rules that cover further questions that might crop up for a tournament. In the words of the Boy Scouts, 'always be prepared'. I've pretty much ironed out all such rules, and you can find them in the Standardized Rule Set.

-Edit-
What are your thoughts about a Team not being able to Counterpick a Stage on which they have previously won a Game in that Set?  It's always important to consider when using 'liberal' stage lists.

EDIT: At first I thought toggling ON would make things faster, but the problem with that is you get players who will automatically get a crazy CP if they so want to try to sneak in something like New Pork City. If you toggle OFF stages then you're removing crazy CPs.
How I remedied this was to make the "six untouchable stages". These six are the most argued for starting stages: SV, BF, FD, YI, LC, PS.
Three CPs get added to this through what is like a "complete strikeout method". And that is what gives a Stage List agreed upon by the two players competing (usual rules we use happen after that, like strike out for 1st round and stage bans for CP rounds).

If you've noticed anything that could possibly need clarification, please let me know. We are taking, as you say, the Boy Scout's approach to this.

I'm leaving the option of Dave's Stupid Rule up in the air for now. But on my own opinion I'd say it has its perks, but seems unneeded if you have a stage list everyone can agree on.

In all honesty, I don't see much that needs to be changed with the first post of rules.
You might want to add in: "Team Attack: On"

And, when you say 'players take turns striking 4 stages each' how do you determine who strikes first? Or maybe it could be 2 strikes, then the other team strikes 2, repeat (two from Team-1 and two from Team-2)?

Team Attack: ON would be for 2v2, those rules are strictly for 1v1. So maybe I'll do a 2v2 ruleset next.

I didn't go into detail as to who strikes first because I wanted to start off with the bare basics that everyone agrees on and then everyone can sort out the details, because I don't want to go there.

I went ahead and put the team attack ON rule in there anyhow. I also formatted it a bit and added nice little pictures.

You might as well get rid of the part saying we are gonna play out the sudden death as a "standard," and put it as an alternative. The standard should be the 1 stock rematch.

Is there a reason for that, Yugo? I understand that it is the norm currently, but sudden death can save a lot of time as far as ties go. The situation isn't frequent anyways.

It's a good point to bring up, Yugo, and something I should address here:
One of my major points is to show how the game is competitive as-is without any additional out-side rules or behind-the-scenes politics. The game was designed and intended to resolve ties through the Sudden Death tie-breaker, and as such that why it should be the default standard. If every single tournament wants to use a 1-stock rematch option there is ALWAYS that option, but we have to remember that it is an option and not part of the game. When we remember this, we will remember the game comes first when it comes to rules so we don't jump to excessive rulecrafting which has been a blight on our community (LGLs, suicide rulings, air time vs ground time, character bans, AT bans, etc.)

Remember how hard I fought to support the 1-stock rematch option? Because it was a better option... but it is still an OPTION.

It's odd how PS1 is in extended 1, but Halberd and Castle are in extended 2 haha

^ I swore I typed that somewhere else, but I can't find it anywhere

Isn't this list supposed to be the rule set for Oregon. I don't think we should offer so many options. It should just be one standardized thing. Both Me and Yugo questioned something and it was responded with "just another option" haha

No, the coin-flip isn't optional. It is what a referee will do if the two players cannot come to an agreement on ports. I said you can ask your opponent for RPS when you are trying to come to an agreement.

However, there are options listed for tie-breaking. Is it confusing having options? Should I just remove the options for tie-breakers? (I don't think I should).

Well if the Tie Breaker is decided by the coin flip. I don't see why it should show other things.

I still think that RPS should be the default on the decision. Since I've asked people to do RPS and then they so no and I lose my chance at port decision because of luck

Why would a referee favor something that you have an advantage with? Referees are (or should be) completely unbiased; the only way they can decide an unbiased outcome is through luck (coin flip). This is why it should be the official standard.

And if it's any consolation to you, there's always the possibility that you can use mind-over-matter techniques to gain an advantage in a coin-flip situation.
If that's too much to try to do, work on your coercion skills to get your opponent to agree to let you have whatever port you want (if you're applying psychology to RPS then apply it to coercion).