Currently Boxerjam's Puzzle Zone has 3 different styles of tournaments. Each type is based on how fast you can finish a puzzle, but differs in the length or style of the tournament. You can play in tournaments for all of the puzzles in Boxerjam's Puzzle Zone. So, pick your favorite style of tournament (or try them both) and play!

In response to user feedback, and our own experiences in the Speed Tournaments, we have optimized tournament play by slightly modifying how they are formed and by including a limited number of automated players in the tournaments. We have play tested this feature quite a bit at Boxerjam, and feel it makes for a much more rewarding experience. We've worked hard to make games you play head-to-head against an automated player as fair as possible, and their skill will vary based on which round you are in, your own skill and the overall skill of all Puzzle Zone players. We would love to hear your feedback and suggestions on this new feature via our feedback form.

Types of Tournaments in The Puzzle Zone

Super Tournaments are limited-entry, single elimination tournaments in which players are placed into brackets and then play one puzzle a day in competition. The winners in each round advance to the next round (played the following day) and a tournament winner is determined after 6 days.

Super Tournament brackets are constantly forming throughout the day because a single tournament closes when 32 players fill a tournament bracket, and a new tournament is then started. As fast as tournaments fill up, new tournaments are formed, so you'll never have to wait to join one. Tournaments start forming at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time each day and play must be completed by midnight Eastern time that day.

Players join a Super Tournament by clicking on the Play button in the Super Tournament area of a particular puzzle's home page.

1. When you first click Play to join a new Super Tournament, you will start playing the puzzle immediately in a play-in round to determine seeding and opponent pairs. You are not playing head-to-head against an opponent in this round, but still must finish the puzzle with a valid time to advance.
2. Each person in the play-in round plays the same puzzle and posts a time. The fastest time gets the highest seeding in the tournament. In the event that two or more players post the same time for the puzzle, the person who completes their puzzle and receives their score first gets the higher seed.
3. The tournament will then proceed using standard single-elimination rules: the winners move on to the next round while the losers are eliminated. If a bracket is not completely full, some players may not have an opponent in certain rounds, and will get a BYE for that round and automatically advance to the next round.
4. At 12:01 a.m. the next day, the next round will begin. To play the next round of a Super Tournament, click the My Tournaments link and select an Active tournament to play. NOTE: A player can participate in more than one tournament simultaneously (for different puzzles), but cannot play in more than one tournament for the same puzzle at the same time.
5. During tournament play, if a player doesn't finish a puzzle, exits the puzzle page before they have finished, or clicks the Quit button in the puzzle, they will be disqualified from the tournament and QUIT will be shown in the bracket instead of their time.
6. A player concedes their turn if they do not finish their puzzle by midnight Eastern time, and QUIT will be shown in the bracket instead of their time.
7. If a player has started a round, but has not finished the puzzle yet, they will be shown as PLAYING in the live bracket.

8. In tournament play, if you don't complete a puzzle you will get a partial score (which will appear in the bracket as 4:00+), that will always be higher than someone who completed the puzzle. If two people fail to complete the puzzle, the player who was "more complete" will advance in the tournament.

Speed Tournaments are limited-entry, single elimination tournaments in which players are placed into brackets and then play up to four rounds of puzzles to determine the winner of the bracket - the entire tournament lasts about an hour, depending on the length of the particular puzzle. The winners in each round advance to the next round (usually within 10 minutes) and a winner is determined within one (1) hour.

Speed Tournament brackets are constantly forming throughout the day because a single tournament closes when 8 players fill a tournament bracket (or 3 minutes passes from when it was formed), and a new tournament is then started. As fast as tournaments fill up, new tournaments are formed, so you'll never have to wait to join one.

Players join a Speed Tournament by clicking on the Play button in the Speed Tournament area of a particular puzzle's home page.

1. When you first click Play to join a new Speed Tournament, you will start playing the puzzle immediately in a play-in round to determine seeding and opponent pairs. You are not playing head-to-head against an opponent in this round, but still must finish the puzzle with a valid time to advance.
2. Each person in the play-in round plays the same puzzle and posts a time. The fastest time gets the highest seeding in the tournament. In the event that two or more players post the same time for the puzzle, the person who completes their puzzle and receives their score first gets the higher seed.
3. The tournament will then proceed using standard single-elimination rules: the winners move on to the next round while the losers are eliminated. If a bracket is not completely full, some players may not have an opponent in certain rounds, and will get a BYE for that round and automatically advance to the next round.
4. To play the next round of a Speed Tournament, you can watch the tournament bracket page, which has a timer to show when the next round will start. When the timer expires a "Play Next Round" button will appear; click the button to play your next puzzle. You can also go to the My Tournaments page and select an Active tournament to play. NOTE: A player can participate in more than one tournament simultaneously (for different puzzles), but cannot play in more than one tournament for the same puzzle at the same time.
5. During tournament play, if a player doesn't finish a puzzle, exits the puzzle page before they have finished, or clicks the Quit button in the puzzle, they will be disqualified from the tournament and QUIT will be shown in the bracket instead of their time.
6. If a player has started a round, but has not finished the puzzle yet, they will be shown as PLAYING in the live bracket.
7. If a player finishes a puzzle, but does so after the Puzzle Timer (the timer in the puzzle itself, not below it) has expired, their time will be shown with a plus symbol next to it, for example: 4:00+. Times with a plus symbol will qualify in a play-in round, and can also win in a head-to-head round, but only if the player's opponent also has a score with a plus symbol, and the opponent submitted their time later.

8. In tournament play, if you don't complete a puzzle you will get a partial score (which will appear in the bracket as 4:00+), that will always be higher than someone who completed the puzzle. If two people fail to complete the puzzle, the player who was "more complete" will advance in the tournament.

9. If a player has joined a tournament, but has not started playing their puzzle yet, their time will show as -:-- in the live bracket.
10. When playing in a tournament, you must finish each puzzle before the Round Timer expires. Once the Round Timer expires, you can keep playing the puzzle but your score will not count in the tournament, and you will not be able to advance. In this case your time will be shown as OVER TIME.

3. Swiss Tournaments 

Swiss Tournaments are limited-entry, ranked tournaments in which players are placed into brackets and then play four rounds of puzzles to determine the winner of the bracket - the tournament takes five days to complete (one round each day) with Saturday, Sunday and Monday counting as one day so that playing on the weekend is optional. The winners in each round are given a point for each win and a winner is determined after 5 days of play (one of those days may be Sat., Sun. & Mon. combined).

Swiss Tournament brackets are constantly forming throughout the day because a single tournament closes when 16 or fewer players fill a tournament bracket, and a new tournament is then started. As fast as tournaments fill up, new tournaments are formed, so you'll never have to wait to join one.

Players join a Swiss Tournament by clicking on the Play button in the Swiss Tournament area of a particular puzzle's home page.

1. When you first click Play to join a new Swiss Tournament, you will start playing the puzzle immediately in a play-in round to determine seeding and opponent pairs. You are not playing head-to-head against an opponent in this round, but still must finish the puzzle with a valid time to advance.
2. Each person in the play-in round plays the same puzzle and posts a time. The fastest time gets the highest seeding in the tournament. In the event that two or more players post the same time for the puzzle, the winner will be determined by fractions of a second, and the faster player gets the higher seed.
3. The tournament will then proceed using basic Swiss tournament rules: players' tournament record (i.e. 2-1) determines their ranking, with the highest ranked players playing each other (1 vs. 2, 3 vs. 4, etc.). If a bracket is not completely full, some players may not have an opponent in certain rounds, and will get a BYE for that round and automatically advance to the next round. Generally, the lowest ranked player in a round gets a BYE. At the end of the tournament, the player with the highest rank (and best tournament record) wins.
4. To play the next round of a Swiss Tournament, you can watch the tournament bracket page, which has a timer to show when the next round will start. When the timer expires a "Play Next Round" button will appear; click the button to play your next puzzle. You can also go to the My Tournaments page and select an Active tournament to play. NOTE: A player can participate in more than one tournament simultaneously (for different puzzles), but cannot play in more than one tournament for the same puzzle at the same time.
5. During tournament play, if a player doesn't finish a puzzle, exits the puzzle page before they have finished, or clicks the Quit button in the puzzle, they will be disqualified from the tournament and QUIT will be shown in the bracket instead of their time.
6. If a player has started a round, but has not finished the puzzle yet, they will be shown as PLAYING in the live bracket.
7. If a player finishes a puzzle, but does so after the Puzzle Timer (the timer in the puzzle itself, not below it) has expired, their time will be shown with a plus symbol next to it, for example: 4:00+. Times with a plus symbol will qualify in a play-in round, and can also win in a head-to-head round, but only if the player's opponent also has a score with a plus symbol, and the opponent submitted their time later.
8. In tournament play, if you don't complete a puzzle you will get a partial score (which will appear in the bracket as 4:00+), that will always be higher than someone who completed the puzzle. If two people fail to complete the puzzle, the player who was "more complete" will advance in the tournament.
9. If a player has joined a tournament, but has not started playing their puzzle yet, their time will show as -:-- in the live bracket.
10. When playing in a tournament, you must finish each puzzle before the Round Timer expires. Once the Round Timer expires, you can keep playing the puzzle but your score will not count in the tournament, and you will not be able to advance. In this case your time will be shown as OVER TIME.

Tie breakers in Swiss Tournaments (when two or more players have the same record at the end of the tournament) are determined using four methods in the following order:

1. Head-to-head results of the tied players
2. Fewest number of byes
3. Average margin of victory
4. Ranking from previous round