View source for Preliminary round makeup fights

We are making a small tweak to the January 2023 event, to make sure as many people fight in the preliminary round as possible.

Let’s say we have the following fights:

* Bot A vs. Bot B
* Bot C vs. Bot D

Let’s say Bots B and D forfeit their preliminary round fight, either because they withdrew from the competition after final brackets came out, they weren’t ready to fight in time, or they felt that forfeiting their preliminary fight gave them a tactical advantage.

This leaves bots A and C with a bye through the preliminary round. But it also deprives them of their one “free” loss. If they lose their next fight, they will be eliminated after only a single fight.

We also have the case of a #1 seed who gets a bye in a preliminary round with an odd number of competitors. They may also be eliminated after a single fight.

So, we are arranging makeup fights. This way, everyone who wants to fight in the preliminary round will, and most of those fights will be meaningful.

== Will the fights count? ==

Most of these makeup fights will affect your stats and ranking, calculated after the event. A small number of them will be straight-up grudges, and will not affect your stats or ranking.

'''None''' of these fights will affect your bracket placement. You will already have received a favorable bracket placement when your opponent forfeited. It’s important to keep the bracket predictable to keep the competition fair for the rest of the competitors.

== Who can request a makeup fight? ==
* If your opponent forfeited your preliminary fight, you may request a makeup fight. It will count for your stats and ranking.
* If you forfeited a fight because you were seeded against your own bot (e.g. you registered multiple bots under exactly the same builder name, and two were seeded against each other), you may request makeup fights for both. Either fight will count for your stats and ranking. 
** Note that this does not apply to teams fighting their own bots, only individual builders!
* If you were the #1 seed in a preliminary round with an odd number of competitors, you will be allowed to '''arrange a grudge fight''' with another willing competitor. This fight will not count for your stats or ranking, but will occur during the preliminary round.
* If you forfeited a fight and your opponent is not your own bot, you '''may not''' request a makeup fight.

== How will it work? ==

When you pass safety, you will be given a '''seeding token'''. Keep it somewhere safe and handy!

If your opponent forfeited your fight, or if you were seeded against your own bot and needed to forfeit, you may request a makeup fight. Please make sure your bot is ready to fight before you do this!

To request a makeup fight, go to the pit desk, tell them you want a makeup fight, and give them your seeding token.

At certain intervals, the pit desk staff will randomly arrange fights from the seeding tokens given to them, per weight class. They will announce when these fights have been arranged. At that point, as far as the process of getting to the cage goes, it works just like any other fight.

If you forfeit your makeup fight, it counts as a preliminary round forfeit. It would go down in your stats as a loss, and you would lose your opportunity to request a makeup fight. Your opponent would be matched up with someone else.

== Are these grudge fights? Can I fight a grudge fight in the preliminary round? ==

Most makeup fights will not be grudges. They will count towards your stats and rankings.

There are two specific situations where we will allow you to arrange a grudge fight during the preliminary round.

* If you are the #1 seed and got a preliminary round bye because of an odd number of competitors in the bracket.
* If there were an odd number of competitors who requested makeup fights, and there is no one left to match you up against. In this case, the pit desk staff will inform you that you may arrange a grudge fight. 

In both cases, your opponent must agree to the fight.

Since these are grudge fights arranged by competitors, they will not count for stats or rankings.

For any other grudge fight, please wait until the pit desk staff announces that freestyle fights are open.

== How will the makeup fights be determined? ==

Makeup fights will be determined randomly, from the pool of seeding tokens we’ve been given. We will not use bot levels to determine these fights, as we can’t predict when we will get makeup fight requests relative to when we assign them at various times during the preliminary round.

== What happens if I forfeit my makeup fight? ==

If you forfeit your makeup fight, you will get your seeding token back, but you will not be allowed to request another makeup fight. Like any other preliminary round forfeit, your forfeit will count as a loss in your stats.

== Should I hang onto my seeding token? ==

Yes! If you want to fight freestyle fights, we will use these to determine some of the grudge fights. Of course, during the freestyle fights, you may also arrange a fight with other competitors.