FAQ general faq

Little Golem is a turn-based game server! A turn-based server allows you to play games against players who may not be online at the same time you are. Games usually take several days or weeks to complete. In fact, games lasting many months are not uncommon. Most of the games available are two-player abstract strategy (perfect information) games.
You can:
  • send an invitation to a specific player
  • accept an invitation sent to you from another player
  • accept a rated of unrated challenge from someone in the Waiting Room
  • post your own rated or unrated challenge in the Waiting Room
  • enter a tournament (Championship Tournament, Mini Cup Tournament, Infinity Tournament or User Tournament)
  • Members have 30 days of vacation instead of 15.
  • Possibility to create own tournaments, including private tournaments (password protected).

A Championship Tournament consists of different leagues. Each league usually consists of nine to eleven players. The ratings of the players in each league will usually be similar. Every player plays one game against every other player in that league. After all games have finished, the player with the most points wins that league. The player winning the top league, League #1, is crowned the champion!

Generally...

...players who finish 1st or 2nd in their league will advance and compete in the next highest league in the next Championship Tournament.

...players who finish 3rd, 4th, or 5th compete at the same level in the next Championship Tournament.

...players who come in 6th place or lower, will compete in next lowest league in the next Championship Tournament.

Each Championship Tournament begins one week after all games from all leagues have been played in the previous Championship. There is no notice given when a new Championship Tournament is about to start. Once you register and play, you're automatically signed up for the next one, whenever it may start, unless you remove yourself. (To remove yourself, click on REMOVE ME from the Championship section of that game's page.) It's possible you may sign up for a Championship Tournament, and that tournament might not start for many months! Again, the next tournament will begin one week after all games from all leagues have played in the previous Championship!

As mentioned above, if you finish 1st or 2nd in your league you will compete in the next highest league in the next Championship. However, if you decide to skip and not play in that next Championship, you will probably not advance to the next highest league when do decide to resume the Championship Tournament. Skipping a tournament results in "starting over again" if and when you ever do wish to resume.

If you're entering a Championship Tournament for the first time, the league you are seeded in initially is based upon both your rating and the needs of that particular tournament. For example, a player may be initially seeded in League #2 and yet have a higher rating than some of the players in League #1. The reason is these players with the lower rating in League #1 may have earned their right to be there by placing high in League #2 in the previous Championship.

Because some games move along faster than other games, (because the average number of moves per game is less) some games have had more Championship Tournaments than other games.

Infinity tournament is ...