The Pentamind World Championship was one of the Mind Sports Olympiad’s original events. It is a unique meta-event, which celebrates the best all-round games player in the world. Any event at Mind Sports Olympiad can count towards that year’s Pentamind, and the player with the highest Pentamind score is crowned the Pentamind World Champion.
The Pentamind Formula
The Pentamind formula has been updated slightly for 2021 which will impact tournaments that either include a high luck/variance factor and tournaments with over 100 participants. This adjustment has been made to reduce the strength of the largest events which proved too powerful without an adjustment factor. The full formula is as follows:
For events with 100 or less players:
- Event Score = 100 x ((N + 5)/(N + 6)) x ((N – P)/(N – 1)) x DF
For events with over 100 players:
- For P <= 10, Event Score = 100 x ((105) / (99 x 106)) x (100 – P) x DF
- For P > 10, Event Score = 100 x ((105 x 90) / (99 x 106)) x (N – P) / (N – 10) x DF
where N is the number of players, P is the player’s finishing position in the event and DF is the dilution factor explained below. If a player finishes tied for position with another player or players then P is the average of the finishing positions they tied for (eg 6 players finishing tied for positions 10 to 15, P = 12.5)
In 2021 the updated formula means that for tournaments with 100 or more players the scores for the top 10 are fixed and no longer increase with the total number of entries. Players finishing 11th onwards are still awarded evenly spaced points all the way down to the last player.
A dilution factor has been introduced for 2021 which will apply a multiplying factor of 0.95 to selected events, thereby reducing the Event Score awarded. The dilution factor is applied to events which are considered to be heavily influenced by luck such that there will be considerable variance within the results. It is also applied in instances where the organisers consider it to be unfair for an event to influence the Pentamind. This allows us to include some great games that our players want to play without lowering the considerable level of skill required to achieve a high Pentamind Score.
Events with the dilution factor applied in 2021 are – Tichu, Creative Thinking, Can’t Stop, Cryptic Crossword, Lucky Numbers, Speed Reading, Quizzle, Letter Tycoon, Sushi Go, Flaming Pyramids and Marrakesh.
In the (unlikely) event of a tie for the best Pentamind score, then the Pentamind World Championship title will be shared.
As usual, we are also awarding a Junior, Senior, and Women’s Pentamind World Championship. Junior is defined as anyone that is under 18 as of the first tournament day. A senior is anyone that is 60 years old or over as of the first tournament day.
Note that Junior medals are awarded in all events. However, in order to be eligible, a junior must be at the top half of the final standings.
Additional Restrictions
Although all tournaments are eligible to be counted towards a Pentamind score there are some restrictions which must be taken into account:
- Scores must be taken from 5 different games. If a player plays in multiple variations of the same game then only one can be counted towards their Pentamind score. There is a list below giving examples of games which cannot be combined.
- A maximum of 3 Eurogames and 3 Modern Abstract tournaments can be used within a Pentamind score.
- Meta event scores such as the Amateur Poker World Championship or the Eurogames World Championship cannot be used as part of a Pentamind score.
- If a player withdraws from an event without completing at least 50% of the rounds then their Pentamind score in that tournament is automatically included as one of the 5 in their final score. (This may be overturned at the discretion of the Tournament Arbiter or Head Arbiter and does not apply to online events).
- In 2021 there will not be a requirement for long session tournaments as many online events will be quicker.
- As 2021 will be played entirely online we are allowing players to compete in more than one event simultaneously. However participation in multiple events will not be accepted as a reason for playing too slowly or being late for a new round.
Examples of variations on the same game include:
- All Chess events [Note: Xiangqi and Shogi are considered different to Chess for this rule]
- All Backgammon events (including Nackgammon)
- All Poker events
- All Draughts events
- Go 19×19, Go 13×13, Go 9×9
- Marathon Memory, Natural Memory, Speed Memory
- Stratego Duel, Stratego Classic
- Settlers of Catan, Cities and Knights, Catan Variants, Catan Bullet
- Dominion, Dominion (Expansions)
- Cribbage Singles, Cribbage Doubles
- Sudoku, Puzzles
- Hive Base, Hive Expansions
- Hex 11×11, Hex 14×14
- Lines of Action WC & Blitz
- Scrabble, Scrabble Blitz
- Xiangqi (Chinese Chess) UKC & Blitz
- 7 Wonders, 7 Wonders Duel
- Gomoku, Pente
This list of variations is not fully extensive and included to give examples of tournaments which from which only one could be used towards a full Pentamind score.