How to Handle Dead Heats?

Dead-heat is the situation when multiple players have the same results (e.g. scores, time), so there is no clear winner. This might turn out to be fine on many occasions, however, there are some situations where a single winner is required. 

Here we show a few techniques to avoid dead heats and to manage them. 

This topic is closely related to the Scoring System of Duelbox.

Preventing Dead Heats

You can drastically reduce the chances of dead heats with the proper scoring settings. The main goal here is to diversify the scores. If the players always win 100 points or lose the same amount, then all scores will be the multiplicands of 100. There is not much room left for variations. 

Games with Diverse Scores

Some of our games reward diverse enough scores on their own. E.g. the Runner. If you have all players play with such a game, the chances for dead heats will drop drastically. 

Introduce Accuracy

Some of our Games award scores with accuracy. This means that some answers from the Players are considered mostly correct. Not 100% correct, but still, rather correct than wrong. Check out the Trivia Question Types for examples. 

Faster = Better

Some games can reward faster players. In the scoring settings of the Trivia, you may enable the Decrease setting. This will cause slower players to get fewer points. The Solo Trivia has a setting to weight scores by time, with which you can create awesome fast-paced games besides diversifying the scores. 

Also, the previously mentioned Runner works this way by default. 

Floating Points Save the Day

Duelbox handles scores as decimal fractures (more precisely: floating-point numbers) instead of integers. It is possible that two players with the same (rounded) scores have different scores when we turn off the rounding. 

Go to the settings of the Leaderboard, and change the number of decimal digits there. This on its own might resolve a seemingly dead heat situation. 

Managing Dead Heats

Have a Plan

The most important thing about dead heat is to have a plan. Facing a dead heat when no one expects it (just like the Spanish inquisition) may be the worst. Especially at a live show, in front of hundreds or thousands of people. So, even if you've made the proper preventions and the chances are minuscular:

Have a plan

One Extra Question

The easiest way to resolve a dead heat is to have an extra question (or two) prepared, which is shown only if there is a dead heat among the players. This won't disturb the flow of the event, doesn't require significant preparation, and is quite easy to be managed. 

While this is completely reasonable during a Trivia game, it might sound less convincing for something else. Furthermore, it's not the most exciting way to resolve a dead heat. 

Fortune's Favor

You might involve something completely luck-based to decide the ultimate winner. This is more interesting and can be done in quite the 

This might be a bit more i

Empower the Audience

You can involve the Audience as the 3rd party to make their decision. 

The simplest—and in some ways, the most intense—approach is the Spartan way: vote by shouting. Although a Christmas Party may bear some shenanigans, this is less likely true for a more formal event. In the latter cases, consider using the Conference Tools in Duelbox.

Something Crazy

Depending on the context of the event, you might have something completely unexpected and crazy in your sleeves. Consider this rock-paper-scissors tournament: it's deadly serious and crazy at the same time.