This IAP, we're making some new maps for Blizzard StarCraft 2. Map and level design, like game design in general, requires a lot of playtesting and feedback. So if you'd like to end your IAP wreaking some terrible, terrible damage, just drop by the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab above Legal Sea Foods in Kendall and play a couple of matches against other folks who show up. This event is open to the MIT Community.

Free Play will run from 3pm to 5pm on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, January 24-26, 2011. On Thursday, January 27, shit will get real: from noon to 6pm, we'll have a tournament with all the new maps, so if you want to compete, you'll probably want to show up for Free Play to get in some practice. Everyone's also welcome to join us at 4pm on Tuesday and Wednesday (Jan 25 & 26) for pro-gamer analysis of the new maps with a livestream discussion with Sean Plott a.k.a. Day[9], the 2007 WCG Starcraft Pan American Champion and host of the Day[9] Daily online show.

There is no need to sign up in advance for Free Play. However, we do have a limited number of computers and licenses, so if you're a laptop StarCraft 2 player, you might want to bring it along in case we run out of seats.

This will be a 2v2 tournament. We're hoping this will be attractive to a wide range of players at different skill levels, but it does mean that you need to enter the tournament as a 2-player team. Similarly, we're organizing it as a Swiss system tournament so that everyone participating will have plenty of matches to play, instead of getting eliminated in the middle of the day. If you can't find a teammate, showing up for Free Play earlier in the week will undoubtedly help you meet that special someone.

Joining the tournament will require advance sign-up as a two-player team. To join, just email philip@mit.edu with your Battle.net character name/character code for both you and your teammate before Wednesday, January 26. Both you and your teammate will receive and need to accept Battle.net friend requests from the tournament referees (Philip and Illykai), which will allow us to set up matches and webcast some of the matches on the day of the tournament. If you do not have a StarCraft 2 license but still wish to participate, just show up for Monday's or Tuesday's Free Play, let me (Philip) know, and we'll figure something out. For any other questions, email generoso@mit.edu.

The format for the tournament are below. We reserve the right to update the rules and format of the tournament, particularly if we have more people entering than our rules and equipment can accommodate. Tournament entrants may wish to bookmark this page for future reference.

Good luck and have fun!

Tournament Format

The tournament format will be 2v2 played entirely on maps made during GAMBIT's map-making course in IAP 2011. Teams will progress through the tournament using the Swiss system. All teams will play for all rounds of the tournament; there is no elimination.

The seeding for the first Swiss round will be decided in one of two ways depending on the number of entrants.
a) If 4 or fewer teams enter, there will be an initial 2v2v2v2 match to decide the seeding, with the winning team playing against the third-place team and the first team eliminated playing against the second place team. Results of this first round will only determine seeding and will not affect a team's tournament score.
b) If there are more than 4 teams, the seeding will be based on the highest world wide Battle.net ranking between the team's members according to sc2ranks.com. The teams will be ordered by this ranking, split in half, and seeded so that the highest ranking team of the top half plays the highest ranking team of the bottom half, and so on.

Each Swiss round will consist of a Best of 3 match. The game mode will be 2v2 Melee and the game speed will be Faster. Teams begin the tournament with a score of 0. Each team that scores 2 wins in a Best of 3 match will have their tournament score incremented by 1. For subsequent rounds, teams will be paired against other teams that have the same score, whenever possible. Teams cannot play against teams that they have played against in previous rounds.

If there are an odd number of teams, a random team each round will receive a bye, i.e. a free point without playing a round. That team will not receive a bye in any other round.

The map pool will consist exclusively of 2v2 maps designed at MIT during IAP 2011, which will be made available the afternoon before the tournament. Both teams may pick one map to remove from the map pool, with the highest-ranking team picking first. The first map of the match will then be chosen randomly from the remaining pool and each subsequent map will be chosen by the loser of the previous game.

There are no other restrictions on game settings or gaming devices. Players are free to bring their own equipment, but the tournament organisers cannot offer support for equipment from outside of GAMBIT. Players may chat freely during games, but must show courteous and sportsmanlike behaviour in chat.

Players may not look at their opponents' screens, give or receive coaching for a game that they are not playing in, or intentionally disconnect from a game. If there is an unintentional disconnect, the referees will decide the winner or arrange a rematch if the winner is unclear. No in-game observers are allowed other than the tournament referees. Players who have completed the matches are free to quietly watch other matches still in progress.

Players who wish to noisily watch matches may do so from the observer screen in the GAMBIT TV lounge. In every round, the match with the highest cumulative score of both competing teams may be webcast, barring technical difficulties.