Cactus Game Design Message Boards

So for the 8* of us who will be playing T2 MP at Nationals, I wanted to brainstorm some ideas for improving the gameplay from a time perspective.

Last year, I was in at least two games where "last round" was called after it had already begun which meant that at least one player had already taken (or was taking) his final turn, but did not have that knowledge going into the turn (thereby putting him at a disadvantage). This is by no means a shot at those who judged last year--T2 MP is a very difficult category for timing because some turns/rounds can be done really quick and some turns/rounds can take forever. John and Marcus did a really good job, but I think with more guidelines in place, we could improve the category in general.

What might be some ideas for improvement? Here's a couple off the top of my head.

*Each T2 MP table has it's own timer that sits at the table--the time starts when the first player actually begins his first turn (because of the nature of the category, resolving Lost Souls drawn in the opening hands can sometimes take quite a long time). With the expectation that there's unlikely to be more than 3 tables, I think it's viable.

*When the 30 minutes remaining mark passes, a judge will begin evaluating before each new round begins. Players will need to inform the judge each time a round completes.

*If there are 3 or fewer tables (12 or fewer players), only 3 rounds will be played instead of the traditional 4, but each game must go at least 7 rounds (unless someone wins before that obviously). Games can go beyond 7 rounds if they are still within the time limit.


Constructive feedback welcome even from those who aren't planning to play T2 MP or won't be at Nationals. 







*I have no idea how many there will be, I'm just hoping it's at least 8 and would be thrilled if we got to 12. 

On the other hand anyone playing T2 Multi has to be a glutton for punishment in terms of playing Redemption so we could just force all games to conclusion and play forever. Thats what we do in our free time anyways right? 

That thought did cross my mind as well...3 rounds...no time limits...but one step at a time. 

This can be relevant for teams as well.

Has there been an update on round times recently?  Just seems like in the last few sets there has been a large increase in the amount of repeatable searching, revealing and exchanging.  All of these effects are fun but have definitely increased the time it takes to finish an average game.

That's a great point--I don't think round times have changed since I started playing tournaments back in 2003-04.

I would suggest playing until zero seconds before last round is called. Seems to be the most objective way to call last round. Then to compensate put a reasonable time limit on the last round, because it's ridiculous when time is called in your game and you finish in 5 minutes while another table takes like 15 on their last round. But I'm not going to nationals so good luck haHAA o7