Welcome to the Tournaments Room
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Art by Pissog.
Introduction
If you're a Pokémon fan with a competitive spirit, then you'll be delighted to know that a Pokémon Showdown! room is designed especially for you: the Tournaments room! The Tournaments room and its subrooms, Tours Plaza and Tours Minigames, are the perfect places for anyone who loves tournaments and enjoys playing regularly. The Tournaments room is known for its 24/7 tournaments and has won two separate PSPLs in 2020 and 2022. It's a unique room that caters to all players' preferences and offers something for everyone. Within the main room and two subrooms, there are plenty of opportunities to find a niche that fits your playing style. If you're a fan of classic formats like OU, UU, or Ubers, then the main room is a perfect choice. On the other hand, if you prefer more obscure tiers and mashups, then you'll find the Tours Plaza subroom more to your liking. But that's not all! If you enjoy minigames such as Catch and Evolve, then the Tours Minigames subroom will be right up your alley! This subroom offers an exciting and engaging experience for players who love a challenge and want to put their building skills to the test. As you can see, there is enough for all tastes and all skill levels!
The rooms and their characteristics
As mentioned earlier, the Tournaments room operates with two additional subrooms that offer players even more opportunities to compete and engage with their fellow competitors. The main room is the central hub for players seeking to compete in various formats and challenges. Here, players can participate in tournaments as well as discuss strategy-related topics and other aspects of Pokémon gameplay. From formats such as LC to Random Battle, players of all levels and interests can find a challenge that suits them. Tours Plaza was the first subroom created and has an interesting backstory. Initially created under the name Indigo Plateau, the room had a specific goal in mind: to provide a space for top-tier players to engage in high-level discussions and participate in tournaments. Invitations were sent to individuals who were known in the community for their skills and expertise, including those from the main room, Best Leaderboarder Tournament participants and other forum tournaments, and those who had achieved a certain number of points on the leaderboard. In addition to battling, the daily activity in the room consisted of teambuilding and discussing metas and ongoing tournaments. This allowed players to learn from each other and improve their skills and create a sense of community and camaraderie. However, there were not enough players in the room to keep it active, and as a result, the room staff decided that anyone who had reached a certain level on the leaderboard was allowed to join. This decision helped to keep the room populated and ensured that there was always someone to battle or chat with.
Despite these efforts, there were times when the activity in the room would decline. To address this issue, a new strategy was implemented where the room became a designated chat space for all BLT teams. This helped to reinvigorate the space and give players a renewed sense of purpose and community. Looking back, it is clear that the room was much more than just a place for Pokémon battles and discussions. It was a gathering place for some of the most skilled and dedicated players in the community, a space where friendships were formed and strengthened, and a hub of activity and excitement that brought players together from all corners of the community. Due to the lack of activity, the room was rebranded and was later renamed The Dojo and was intended to be less exclusive and offer access to all players. Nowadays, the room is called Tours Plaza and allows players of all backgrounds to participate in tournaments with fun and offbeat rules.
Tours Minigames is the latest subroom to have emerged. Even after the scripted tours were up and running, users on the platform were still able to host Challonge based user-hosted tournaments in the tournaments room. In the past, before scripted tours became prevalent, there was a type of tournament called "Catch and Evolve" that emerged due to the use of Challonge for tour hosting and the desire for a more accessible format of interacting among the less-competitive playerbase. These tournaments rapidly gained popularity among the user hosting community, dominating the Tours room until the advent of scripted tours, which reduced the prominence of C&Es and eventually resulted in their current status. Initially, official formats like OU, UU, and Ubers used to be mainly hosted. As the simulator grew, people started to host Other Metas tours as well, eventually leading to OM Mashup tours. Due to the rise in demand for such tournaments, they were coded into our bot Lady Monita, which led to the establishment of "Lady Monita Scripted Tournaments." This allowed for an even wider variety of tournament formats to be available for players, as well as a more streamlined and automated process for hosting tournaments. Originally organized in the main room alongside regular tournaments, the minigames were mixed in with the chat and did not receive enough visibility. In addition to this, the interface and rules were not very user-friendly for new players, which could discourage them from participating. With the increasing number of resources and regular players, we decided to create a dedicated subroom called "Tours Minigames" to organize the scripted tournaments and a more in-depth dedicated section on our official website. This would simplify the organization of tournaments and give the mini-games greater visibility and a more central place on our platform. New players would also feel more comfortable with a clearly displayed tournament structure in the subroom. We are confident that this new organization will be beneficial for the entire community, and we hope that players will appreciate this new subroom dedicated to minigames.
The main room at first was created because of the growing hype around user-hosted tours, which are tournaments organized by players, usually in the most played tiers on the server. The tournaments room has since evolved to now being the primary destination for single-elimination tournaments for the "classic" tiers from LC to Ubers.
The purpose and function of the rooms
Although the rooms are different, they all have a similar way of functioning. All rooms operate on a points system, the points being awarded to the winners, runners-up, and semi-finalists of every tournament or minigame organized. These points are tracked to create a leaderboard of the top players. The rooms work on a cycle system, with each cycle lasting 15-16 days, resulting in two cycles per month. At the end of each cycle, the player with the highest number of points is rewarded with a special rank in the room called the room prize winner until the end of the next cycle, unless they also win that cycle, in which case they keep the rank. Points are reset to zero at the end of each cycle, but they still count towards the annual leaderboard. At the end of the year, the player with the most points is promoted to the rank of room prize winner for an entire year.
The points system is a fundamental aspect of how all rooms function, and it encourages players to participate in tournaments and mini-games regularly in order to climb the leaderboard and earn rewards. Despite the different types of rooms available, this shared system ensures a sense of community and friendly competition across all rooms. The cycle system, which awards temporary ranks based on points, also adds a layer of excitement and motivation for players to perform their best every cycle. As the annual leaderboard approaches, players are encouraged to compete even harder to become the room prize winner, as this is the ultimate reward for a year's worth of dedication and success in the rooms. In addition to the points system and cycle structure, we have also created a trainer card system to provide more utility to the points earned beyond just appearing on the leaderboard. The trainer card is similar to the profile system in Pokémon games, where players can select an avatar, choose their preferred tier and six favourite Pokémon, and even display the total number of points they have earned throughout the year. To complement the trainer card system, we also opened a points shop where players can use their points to add modifications to their profile, such as a bio, badges, and ribbons. This added layer of personalization and customization allows players to showcase their achievements and individuality within the community. Feel free to visit our shop here! When it comes to discussing all the features of our chat rooms, it's impossible to leave out Lady Monita. This bot, created by SirDonovan, is the backbone of our rooms, allowing staff members to manage tournaments and leaderboards while giving all users access to valuable resources related to specific formats. You can find a list of helpful bot commands in the room's FAQs or on our official website, covering everything from checking your own points to finding resources for a particular format. During your stay in our chat rooms, Lady Monita will be your trusty guide. Overall, the points system, cycle structure, trainer card system, and points shop work together to create a comprehensive and engaging experience for players in the rooms. It is clear that these features have become a crucial aspect of the community, fostering a sense of camaraderie and friendly competition while also providing players with unique ways to express themselves and showcase their accomplishments.
Events related to the rooms
The rooms host major events throughout the year, such as the Tours Plaza Winter Seasonal, Tours Plaza Classic, Tours Plaza Spring Seasonal, Best Leaderboarders Tour, and Tours Plaza Premiere. One of the most beloved events in the community and a true cornerstone of the room is the BLT (Best Leaderboarder Tournament). The tournament's catchy name, which brings to mind the famous sandwich, is just one of the many reasons why it has become such a fan favorite. The tournament is a team event, with each team vying for the chance to win a custom avatar featuring their team's mascot. The qualification phase takes place in the room and lasts for four cycles of 15 days each. At the end of each cycle, the top 12 players on the leaderboard automatically qualify and join the pool of guaranteed players, while other players who have reached a certain fixed number of points join the pool of qualified but not guaranteed players. Once the qualification phase is over, the bidding begins. The players in the guaranteed pool are all selected, and then it's the turn of the players in the pool who didn't make the top 12 but still reached the required number of points to participate in the tournament. BLT has become so popular among players that the past two editions have seen a generous donor contribute $1,000 to reward the champions. Some of these events offer exciting and competitive gameplay opportunities for players of all levels, and we encourage everyone to participate and showcase their skills. The room also hosts smaller-scale events such as CCAT (Community Create a Team) and Profile Contests. The Profile Contests involve selecting a theme and creating a trainer card that matches the theme. The winner receives a ribbon that can be added to their trainer card.
Final Thoughts
No matter your preference, our rooms provide a fun and engaging experience for all players, whether you're a seasoned veteran or just starting. We welcome players of all levels and skill sets to join us and try to reach the top of the rankings and engage in our community.
So, what are you waiting for? Come and join us today in the Tournaments room and experience the thrill of competitive gameplay with like-minded tournaments fans!
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