Points -vs- Elimination

[algorhythm]

The problem with elimination tournements is that the true second place contestant can be eliminated in the first round. A double elimination tournement would help but would take too long and might confuse the audience.

I think the early rounds should be by points so that half the contestants advance and half are eliminated. This would keep the top contestants for the later rounds. If you had enought time you could eliminate a smaller fraction in the early rounds, survivor style. Winning a battle could be part of the points to keep an elimination flavor.

The later rounds could be seeded, for example the final four would have the high point contestant battle the low point contestant and the two middle point contestants battle, then the two winners battle for first and second, the two losers battle for the consolation.

I believe a point style survivor elimination would be a fairer contest and provide a greater entertainment value to the audience with the same time constraint as the single elimination tournement.

What do you think about this proposal?

Thanks,
Jeff Sandys

[krismoon]

i like this idea alot. i have to admit, i've never been a fan of sports, so when it came time to set this up, i chose the easiest way to go about it, which was the single elimination method.

here's a question...what are the points awarded for? 1-10 i'm assuming...

[algorhythm]

I think the goal is stated on the LaptopBattle home page, Sound Design, Composition, and Stage Performance. If five judges scored these three categories with 1 to 10, you would get enough deviation to separate the winners.

By writting up an anchor scale the judges would have a common scale to rank the performances. An anchor scale for sound design might say (1) my 20 year old casio had better tones, (5) common sound design heard in most modern acts, (10) Oh my gaud, I've never heard anything like that before. I hope you get the idea.

The anchor scale would allow judges around the country to use the same scale, you would have a better idea of the capabilities of all the finalist competing in the national contest. You could give the judges a fourth catagory of overall where the judges can just say (1) I hated it, to (10) I loved it, for outer factors not captured in the other 3 scales.

For the audience you can use a sound pressure level reading.