Rules of play

• A team carries 2 to 4 players on its roster. For the tournament, the captain nominates exactly 2 of them as playing.
• Only nominated players play. You cannot substitute during the tournament, which is why the roster is larger than the line-up.
• Each player belongs to at most one team and competes for at most one.
• The Epic name in your profile has to be the one you actually play on. Without it your opponent cannot find you.

• In every match, one of the nominated players per team must stream. Which one is up to your team.
• The channel goes in your profile. A duo without a stream cannot register.
• Both teams' streams run side by side on the match page. To watch, click the match in the bracket.
• The stream runs from kick-off to final whistle. A delay of a few seconds is normal and fine.
• The stream is our evidence. When the two reported results contradict each other, the organisers watch it back instead of picking between two claims. A team that did not stream is in the weaker position in a dispute.

• Check-in opens at the stated time and closes when the tournament starts. It runs on the clock, not on someone pressing a button.
• Any team member may check in, not just the captain. The window is short.
• No check-in, no place in the bracket. No exceptions.

Fortnite has no match codes the way other games do. The two teams meet through a shared party on the island:

1. Once the draw is made, you see your opponent on the tournament page, along with their Epic names.
2. The match page has a field under Coordination where all 4 nominated players can write to each other. Say briefly that you are there, and agree who sends the friend request. The organisers read along.
3. Add each other on Epic and join one party together. All 4 players in the same party.
4. Launch the Bolzplatzliebe map from that party.
5. Split into the two sides on the map itself, not beforehand.

Allow time for getting together. From our test runs: it usually takes five to ten minutes until everyone is in the same party, especially if someone is on console or has not used their Epic account in a while. Sort this out before check-in, not after.

• From the moment your round is released, a waiting time of 15 minutes applies.
• If a team does not turn up or does not respond within that time, the other team reports it to the organisers. They decide and advance the opponent.
• If neither team turns up, both are eliminated and the following match is decided by the organisers.
• Get in touch early if you can tell something is going wrong. A team that speaks up is treated differently from one that disappears.

• The map sets the format. Match length and rules are built in. There is nothing to configure and no side agreements. What counts is the result the map shows at the end.
• One game per pairing. Where a tournament states otherwise, for example a best of three in the final, that is simply several games in a row.
• Disconnect within the first two minutes and before the first goal: restart. After that the game counts as it ended. The stream shows when it happened.
• A disconnect mid-game is not grounds for a replay once goals have been scored. Otherwise every team that is behind would have a way out.
• Arranging the outcome of a match gets both teams disqualified.
• Outside help, a second account, or a player who is not nominated: the team is out, including retroactively.

• Both teams report through the tournament page. The fields carry the team names, not „us“ and „them“: enter the numbers against the names they sit next to.
• If both reports match, the result is confirmed and the bracket advances.
• If they contradict each other, the organisers decide. They look at both reports and at the streams.
• As long as your opponent has not reported, you can still correct your own entry.
• There are no draws. In a single elimination bracket, one side has to go through.

If the number of entrants is not a power of two, some teams advance from the first round without an opponent. Byes are drawn, not seeded: there is no ranking on which anyone would stand higher or lower. Byes only occur in round one; after that every pairing is played.

• Treat each other with respect, in the game, on stream and in chat. Insults, harassment or discriminatory remarks lead to disqualification.
• That applies to your stream as well: whoever streams is responsible for what can be heard and seen there.
• In the coordination chat on the match page, the organisers can remove messages from view. Nothing is deleted by this: what was written stays available for settling a dispute.
• A disqualification can extend beyond the tournament in progress.

• If something goes wrong during the tournament, open a ticket under Help. The reply appears in your ticket on the site, so there is nowhere else you need to check. On tournament day we look in continuously.
• Decisions by the organisers are final. They step in only where the rules do not settle the matter.
• Questions outside a running tournament go to service@bvb.de.