Tournament Rules and Format

Rules for Toronto Tournament:

TORONTO: REGISTER HERE STARTING JULY 1, 2023

Updated June 10, 2023

Scroll to the bottom for the King of Griffey rules

TOURNAMENT FORMAT (NHL'94)

(Formats are subject to change to ensure the best competition based on the number of participants and amount of equipment available)

1. Players will play a minimum of 6 games (4 Round Robin ("RR") and at least 2 playoff games).

2. Each player will play 2 home and 2 away games in their round-robin group.

3. Round Robin groups will be determined by the tournament organizers. Every effort will be made to balance groups between new and veteran tournament players.

4. NEW - A top 5 group will be created and will be guaranteed the top 5 seeds in the King of 94 bracket. The group will be decided on historical performance from their last three King of 94 tournament placings.

5. Once the round Robin is completed, players will be seeded** and will move into a double-elimination bracket.

6. NEW - A maximum of 16 players will qualify for the King of 94 bracket (The Top 5 seeded players + up to 11 qualifying players) Players who win 4 games in their round-robin will be placed into the King of '94 bracket. 3-1 RR records will qualify for the King bracket or (at a minimum) qualify for a play-in game. The King of ’94 is a double-elimination format. Series are best-of-3, until you lose a series and move to the "loser's-side" of the bracket. The loser's-side series are single games. The Championship Final will be a best-of-5 series with the winner’s side finalist starting with a 1-0 series lead vs. the loser’s side finalist.

7. Non-qualifying players will be split between the Duke of ‘94 bracket and the Valeri Zelepukin bracket (aka the Puke of '94). Both brackets are a best-of-1, double-elimination format.

8. **Seeding for all brackets will be determined in the following order:

Wins
Total Goal Differential
Fewest allowed goals
The player who registered for the tournament the earliest. (Hey, it's better than a coin flip!)

TOURNAMENT RULES (NHL'94)

1. In-Game Settings

5-minute periods, No offsides, Penalties on, No line changes, Manual goalie.

(Manual goalie: You can let the AI control the goalie if you wish, but the option must be enabled even if you won't be taking control of the goalie)

2. Selecting Teams:

Round Robin: You will play 4 games (2 home and 2 away). The visitor will call two teams that will play in the game, the home team will select their choice of those two teams Example: the Away team calls CHI vs DET. The Home Team decides they will select CHI, and as such Away uses DET.

You must call two unique matchups for your Away games (i.e. you may not repeat team selections). Example: If you call CHI vs DET in your first game, you may not call CHI OR DET in your other away game.

As the home team, you can pick any team from the called matchup regardless if you've used that team in a prior match.

Playoff Bracket:

NEW - The higher-seeded player is the home team for the first game, and game three in a Best of 3 series. The only time this does not apply is for the Championship Final. The winner's side finalist will choose whether they want to be home or away for the first game, regardless of their seeding, and home/away will then alternate each game.

For all series: Different teams must be used in each game for the entire series regardless of who is calling them.

Example: The AWAY player calls NYR/BOS for game 1. For game 2, the players switch and the AWAY player must call two other teams (they can’t pick NYR OR BOS). They call CHI/DET. If there's a game 3, the AWAY player can call any matchup that doesn't include NYR, BOS, CHI or DET.

3. If there is a system malfunction, the players will restart the game and play the number of periods that were remaining (a partial period would count as a full period). The score of the game at the time of malfunction carries over as well.

Example: The score is 3-1 for Player A and the game malfunctions halfway through the 3rd period. The game is restarted, with the same teams, and 1 whole period is played. The score in the new game is 1-0 for Player B. The total score is 3-2 for Player A, so Player A wins. If the total score is tied, use the next period(s) as the overtime period.

4. No ties! If a game finishes tied after overtime, the players will start a new game where the next goal wins (i.e. continue OT). Penalties and player injuries will not carry over.

5. Pulling The Goalie:

The goalie can be pulled at any time, obeying the following situations, the spirit of which is to not use pausing the game to gain an advantage by disrupting the opponent's coordination on attack or defense:
If the puck is in your defensive zone, you must have control of the puck to pull the goalie. (Ex. if the other player is on a breakaway, you can't pause the game and pull your goalie, because it can mess up the other player's timing which is not allowed)
If the puck is in the offensive zone and you have the puck, you need to give the defending player enough time to re-set. (Ex. pausing the game, pulling the goalie, then unpausing and scoring a quick one-timer is not allowed). Exiting the zone with the puck is considered a reasonable amount of time for the defense to re-set.
If the puck is in the neutral zone, you can pull the goalie.
Once the goalie is pulled, you can only put the goalie back in after a whistle (before a faceoff).
The spirit of this rule is that the player who pauses the game doesn't gain an advantage from the pause itself.

6. Controllers will be provided. You may bring your own original or knock-off controller so long as it works with an original Sega Genesis or Super Nintendo Console, as long as it has no turbo options.

7. Editing lines: Player changes are allowed before the game and during stoppages. Please be respectful and fast when making changes.

8. 6-goal mercy rule:

NEW - All round-robin games will be completed in full, but games will cap at a 6-goal score. Ex. an 11-3 score will be recorded as 9-3 for seeding calculations.
Playoff games will continue to have a mercy rule and will end by the 6-goal spread at any point.

9. All types of goals and scoring methods are valid.

10. We encourage players to resolve any dispute amongst themselves. Halifax and Smozoma will resolve any disputes if the players cannot come to an agreement.

KING OF GRIFFEY TOURNAMENT FORMAT and RULES

(Played on Ken Griffey Jr Presents MLB - Super Nintendo)

We acknowledge that some of the rules below are unconventional to baseball. We can appreciate the purists preferring standard baseball rules and playing 9-inning games. However, here are the factors behind having these rules in place.

A. Time constraints. We want to ensure we finish on time since it’s difficult to gauge how long a playoff game could go.

B. More competition. We’d like to ensure you have the opportunity to get more games and play with more people.

C. The game is designed almost too perfectly. Pitchers are very strong, between slow and fast pitches, plus the ability to make the ball curve in an ‘S’ shape. The fielders never drop a fly ball, never misplay a ground ball, and never throw the ball away. So offence can be hard to come by in player vs player mode.

1. There will be a 4 game round-robin followed by a single-game, double-elimination playoffs. Players will be seeded after the round-robin**

2. In order to keep things moving along quickly, games will end after 6 innings. For playoff games, players will continue playing until there is a winner.

3. Round Robin - Two points will be awarded for a win. If tied after 6 innings, the game is over, and each team will receive one point. You must earn at least two points to make the playoffs.
Playoffs - If tied after 6 innings - players will play extra innings until there is a winner. (you are treating the 7th inning as an “extra-inning”, and so on)

4.. In-Game Settings - Manual Fielding Turned On. For National League home games, the pitcher will bat.

5. Pitcher Rules

 A. After the match-up call, a die will be rolled to determine the starting pitchers. Numbers rolled between 1 to 5 will correspond to where the starters are on the roster depth. A #1 die roll would be the default starting pitcher.

B.#6 roll - To add something unique, if you roll a 6, you can only use relief pitchers in the game. Relief pitchers can be replaced at any time with other relief pitchers. Use your relief pitchers wisely as they cannot be replaced with a starting pitcher regardless of how many innings the game goes. You have 5 relief pitchers and they typically last 2-3 innings before getting tired.

C. The starting pitcher can be replaced once he reaches the 6th inning, or he allows 5 runs, whichever comes first. He can only be replaced with a relief pitcher. The same rule applies here as in B, where relief pitchers can be replaced at any time with other relief pitchers.

6. Selecting Teams: The "visiting" team must select two different teams that will play. You can select any matchup regardless of which league they play in (Ex. Toronto (AL) vs Montreal (NL) is acceptable.) The "home" player picks their team from the choices provided for that game. Once you call those two teams in your matchup, you cannot call the same matchup for the rest of the tournament. (Ex. You call MTL vs TOR in one game, you can call MTL in a matchup again but it would need to be vs a team other than TOR).

7. You can substitute any reserves into the lineup, but no batting lineup changes. We're taking a bit of a "line up the way Griffey intended" approach here.

8. A "10-run mercy rule" after any completed inning will end the game. The maximum score is 10 run difference. Ex. If a game finishes 15-1, the final score will be recorded as 11-1.

9. 5th Inning and beyond. In order to increase offence, reduce long games, and create exciting finishes, you can choose to put either or both of your first two batters of the inning on base. You must advise the other player that you wish to have your player walked. You will then move the batter in a position to be hit by a pitch.

10. We encourage players to resolve any dispute amongst themselves. Halifax (1st option) or Bobkudelski26 (2nd option) will resolve any disputes if the players cannot come to an agreement.

**Seeding will be determined in the following order:

1. Points
2. Wins
3. Total Run Differential
4. Fewest runs allowed
5. The player who registered for the tournament the earliest. (Hey, it's better than a coin flip!)