Ok I'll start it off here with a question. With the exception of DQ's, is there ever a time you would give a trackable penalty at reg REL? For example if a player is constantly giving adise to other players even after you told them to stop and you want to issue a game or match loss to the player. Is there any way to set that up in reg REL so it could be tracked? Thanks.

Cris Plyler
Level 1 Judge
Rockford, IL

Not that I can think of. There is a saying that my L3's told me- “If you have to give a game loss at Reg REL, then you're doing it wrong” Most of the things that fall in this category are indicators of a larger problem. Since Reg REL is emphasized for fun, rather than rules enforcement, I have found that these situations are handled better through customer service avenues rather than the IPG.

We all walk the fine line of being forceful at an event that is supposed to be fun. Impressing the “Golden rule” usually works.
“You wouldn't want other people telling you how to play during your matches would you?”

The one place I think the JAR document should be stricter is tardiness. Most FNM events I have played and judged have a large number of matches going to time for two big reasons: the matches themselves are slower because the players are less experienced, and Regular REL events are more likely to use the minimum 40:00 match time.

It is not fun at all having to draw because the match went to time, through no fault of your own, but because your opponent showed up 9 minutes late, took the standard 3 minutes to shuffle and get ready to present, and you only had 28 minutes to play the match. This is, I feel, the sort of bad customer experience we should be seeking to avoid.

Tardiness can get be very much eliminated through social contract -
even unspoken. At our local events, when the postings go up for the
next round, someone usually runs down and outside to get the smokers.
People will also ask how much time they have, before running of to the
local grocery store.

Adam

Yes. You absolutely can give Game Loss penalties at Regular REL for Outside Assistance. Same thing applies to Tardiness.

From the “General Unwanted Behaviors” section of the JAR:

“Players continuing to exhibit specific unwanted behavior after being instructed otherwise should be issued a Game Loss.”

The way you handle this is to Caution the player when he makes a serious mistake (or constantly makes the same less serious one). If he makes the same mistake again, tell him that this is becoming a major problem for the tournament and that if he does it again you will give him a Game Loss. (Be sure to specifically tell him next time it will be a GL.) Then, if he does do it again, give him the Game Loss.

Edited Joshua Feingold (Aug. 10, 2012 08:08:38 PM)