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Tournament Overview

The CS4341 Game Referee includes a powerful tournament system for organizing and running competitions between AI players. This system allows for multi-round tournaments with different formats, automated match scheduling, and comprehensive results tracking.

Introduction

The tournament system is built as a separate Rust application that integrates with the game referee. It provides:

  • Multi-round tournaments: Progress through preliminary, quarterfinal, semifinal, and final rounds
  • Group management: Organize players into groups for round-robin play
  • Match scheduling: Automatically schedule matches between players
  • Result tracking: Record and analyze match outcomes
  • Statistics: Calculate standings, win rates, and other performance metrics
  • Reporting: Generate detailed tournament reports

Tournament Structure

The tournament system supports a flexible competition structure:

Rounds

A tournament typically consists of multiple rounds:

  1. First Round: Initial group stage with all participants
  2. Second Round: Qualified players from the first round
  3. Third Round: Qualified players from the second round
  4. Fourth Round: Final qualifying round
  5. Final Round: Championship and placement matches

Groups

Within each round, players are organized into groups:

  • Each group contains a set of players who compete against each other
  • Players in a group typically play a round-robin format (everyone plays against everyone)
  • Top performers from each group advance to the next round
  • Group assignment can be predefined or randomized

Matches

Each match consists of:

  • Two players competing in a specific game
  • The referee managing the game rules and determining the winner
  • Result recording for tournament standings

Advancement

Players advance through the tournament based on performance:

  • Typically, the top 2 players from each group advance to the next round
  • Tiebreakers can be used when multiple players have the same number of points
  • The final round determines the overall tournament rankings

Points System

The tournament uses a standard points system:

  • Win: 2 points
  • Draw: 1 point
  • Loss: 0 points

Players are ranked within their groups based on total points earned.

Tournament Runner

The tournament runner is a Rust application located in the tournament/ directory. It manages the entire tournament process:

  1. Configuration: Reads tournament settings from a TOML file
  2. Initialization: Sets up groups and schedules matches
  3. Execution: Runs matches using the referee
  4. Progression: Advances players between rounds
  5. Results: Records and reports tournament outcomes

Key Features

Automated Match Execution

The tournament runner automatically:

  • Starts referee processes for each match
  • Provides player commands to the referee
  • Captures and parses match results
  • Handles timeouts and errors

Randomization

The tournament supports randomization for fair competition:

  • Random group assignments
  • Random player order within matches
  • Random color/symbol assignment

Comprehensive Reporting

The tournament generates detailed reports:

  • Match results for each round
  • Group standings
  • Player statistics
  • Tournament progression
  • Final rankings

Error Handling

The tournament system includes robust error handling:

  • Recovery from failed matches
  • Logging of errors and exceptions
  • Continuation despite individual match failures

Visualization

While the tournament itself runs in the console, individual matches can use the referee's web visualization:

  • View real-time match progress
  • Analyze player strategies
  • Understand game outcomes

Usage Scenarios

The tournament system is designed for various scenarios:

Classroom Competitions

  • Organize competitions between student AI implementations
  • Evaluate relative performance of different algorithms
  • Provide a fair testing environment

Algorithm Testing

  • Compare different AI approaches in a structured environment
  • Measure performance across multiple matches
  • Identify strengths and weaknesses

Research

  • Run experiments with different AI techniques
  • Collect comprehensive performance data
  • Analyze strategic patterns

Example Tournament

Here's an example of how a tournament might progress:

  1. First Round:

  2. 32 players divided into 8 groups of 4

  3. Round-robin play within each group

  4. Top 2 from each group advance (16 players)

  5. Second Round:

  6. 16 players divided into 4 groups of 4

  7. Round-robin play within each group

  8. Top 2 from each group advance (8 players)

  9. Third Round:

  10. 8 players divided into 2 groups of 4

  11. Round-robin play within each group

  12. Top 2 from each group advance (4 players)

  13. Fourth Round:

  14. 4 players in a single group

  15. Round-robin play to determine rankings

  16. All players advance to final placement matches

  17. Final Round:

  18. 1st vs 2nd: Championship match
  19. 3rd vs 4th: Third-place match

The result is a comprehensive tournament that tests players against multiple opponents and provides a clear ranking of their performance.

See the Tournament Configuration and Running Tournaments guides for more details on setting up and running tournaments.