@kaner: while I think your question is aimed at looking at the legality of the issue more than interest in actually participating, I will answer your question for the sake of any argument among the disapproving crowd ^^
The tournament is designed to bring the experienced of FtF tournaments we have around the globe to the internet community. In these tournaments, it has been clearly identified that it is acceptable and legal to collect money to (a) pay for a venue and (b) purchase awards and (c) purchase catering to the event in one facet or another. The issue becomes illegal when one or more individuals profit from the competitions since this is, in essence, Hasbro losing money as a result of a tournament.
This tournament is setup in a similar fashion. We have collected the lowest amount possible ($10) based on the number of entrants into the competition. Money is collected to (a) pay for the venue and (b) pay for awards.
Here, the 'venue' is the site itself. Money goes to the site in the form of a donation. This donation helps keep the site running and pays for the coding necessary to setup a page in recognition of the award winners. This is equivalent to playdip's collection of $1 to pay for site maintenance and upkeep and gives users access to their 'stats' page.
The awards are as follows: 1 'Champion' plaque for 1st place, a 2nd place and 3rd place plaque for the two runner-ups, and 7 'best country' awards which are all common to FtF tournaments. In addition, if we can garner the necessary numbers, we can also purchase a 'best stab' plaque which is voted on by all entrants.
The tournament consists of 3 rounds of play. Talent will be fairly distributed among all games to ensure fair results. Games are setup October 11th (3 days from this post). The bet is 5
or another fairly decided-upon value that is agreeable by all in a particular board. New rounds start November 1st and December 1st. Pauses are granted for those traveling as long as the time does not exceed a 'fair' amount. In terms of long-term absences (typically longer than a week), a player should request the presence of a 'sitter' to play their account until that person's return.
The official scoring system used for this tournament is called "better than averages" in which players score points by center count based on the country in which they are playing and compared to the outcomes of all players playing that country to that point. Players that do better than others playing the same country earn points while those doing worse lose points. Each player begins with 50
and scores are updated at the completion of all boards for any particular round.
A thread will be setup for the forum at large to follow along with the tournament. Placing is based on points at the end of the tournament with a tie being broken by highest center count across all three games. Best Country awards will be given to the players with the highest center count for each respective country.