2024 General Info / How to Enter

Welcome to the home of the 8th Boardgame Players Association Twilight Struggle remote play tournament. (For a history of prior BPA Twilight Struggle tournaments, click here.)

Eligibility: All entrants are required to be members of the Boardgame Players Association at the Associate level ($10 USD) or higher – see the BPA website for details about joining. (Note, the 2024 Registration for will be posted on the BPA website starting December 1, 2023.) All entrants must have the Twilight Struggle Playdek application, distributed via Steam, iTunes, or Google Play.

Prizes: BPA will award a plaque to the tournament winner, and BPA laurels to the top 6 finishers.

Entry: Sign up by January 5th, 2023 by sending an email to the GM at twilightstrugglegm@gmail.com. (The earlier the better. If you are late, check with me and I will try to work you in.) Entries must include:

  • Your REAL NAME (necessary for eligibility verification by BPA),
  • Your Playdek name. Please make sure the spelling is accurate.
  • Email address at which the GM and your opponents can contact you.
  • Please indicate if you are already a BPA member for 2023 (so I won’t pester you to get that done).

Note: Entry into this tournament is free, but membership in BPA and acquisition of the Playdek app do entail modest costs if you do not already have these.

Security and Privacy Policy: To join this tournament, you agree to submit your real name and valid email address to allow the GM or Assistant GM to communicate with you, and to have your game results communicated to supporting organizations, such as the AREA rating system (to calculate and update the AREA ratings of you and your opponents), and, if you qualify for an award, those who may be providing such awards (e.g. BPA).

In order to protect players’ online security, the following practices and precautions will be adhered during the tournament, and on this tournament website:

  • Your email address will not be used for any purpose other than to communicate with you about the tournament. Other than the GM, his assistant, BPA, and AREA, your email will only be provided to your opponent in each round.
  • On the tournament website, players will only be identified by first name and last initial. (In a few cases where initials are identical, the first two or three letters of the last name will be used.)
  • Your Playdek ID will only be given to your opponent in each round, and only by direct email from the GM on which you will be copied.
  • Participants will automatically be added to the AREA rating system, however you may request that your real name be withheld by emailing the GM or AREA. (In this case, you will be identified an AREA rating lists only by your AREA ID#.)
  • If you wish to have your name and other information expunged from the tournament website, or any other list or database maintained by the GM, simply email the request to TwilightStruggleGM@gmail.com. The GM will strive to maintain compliance with Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for players protected by this law (and frankly, everyone else).

Schedule: Projected start date is early January, 2023. Initial rounds will have a time limit of 5 weeks for game play (both players combined), with subsequent rounds beginning as soon as all contending players have finished the current round. The GM will typically start each new round within 48 hours of the conclusion of the previous round. As the tournament progresses and the field shrinks, the GM may shorten the round length, with a goal of completing the entire tournament prior to the end of 2024, if possible. Players are requested to complete and report their games to the GM as soon as practical in order to keep the tournament moving briskly.

The official end date for each round will be posted on the tournament website at the top of the “Round” page for that round. Any game not reported by the formal deadline, and without notification to the GM of a problem, may result in a loss for both players. If a game is reported as not completed, and neither player concedes, a very brief inquiry will be made by the GM and Asst. GM, and one (or both if necessary) player(s) will be credited with a loss. Depending on the situation, the non-losing player may also be credited with a win or a bye. (A bye will typically be used in the case for a no-show situation or a game with trivial progress made at the time a player defaults. In these situations the GM will attempt to re-pair or arrange an Eliminator pairing for the non-defaulting player rather than assign a bye. Please report no-shows as early as possible for potential re-pairing.)

Questions to GM / Updates: Questions or issues (i.e. need for a GM ruling) can be emailed to twilightstrugglegm@gmail.com. Response will be made by email to one or both players (as appropriate) as expeditiously as possible. Responses of general interest, and any other tournament news or updates, may be posted on an appropriate tournament website page. However, whenever possible, resolutions to issues reached by the players in mutual agreement are preferable.

Tools: The Playdek Twilight Struggle application is available at: