How To: Compute Prize Distributions

WinTD can calculate the distribution of monetary prizes, even for fairly complicated prize lists. In order to do this, you need to create an external table (usually done with a spreadsheet program), which shows the prizes and eligibility. Each row describes a prize. See Prize Calculations for a description of the method of calculation.

Monetary prizes are almost always in one of the following categories:

a.Available to all players ("Overall")

b.Restricted to all players with ratings below a certain level ("Under" prizes)

c.Restricted to all players with ratings limited on both ends ("Class" prizes)

d.Restricted to unrated players only

e.Restricted to all players in a specific group not defined by rating, such as woman, youth or senior.

The file describing the prizes can have the following fields (columns):

Value	Prize value
Lower	Lower bound on rating range (bound is included)
Upper	Upper bound on rating range (bound isn't included)
Unrated	Non-zero value shows that unrated are eligible
Group	One or two character string showing the value for the "Gr" field
Special	Single character showing the value for the "Sp" field
Description	Text string describing the prize

The only field that is required is Value. If all you have are overall prizes, a single column with a header of "Value" and the prize values listed under it will suffice. The other fields are used to restrict eligibility.

Under and Class Prizes

The "Lower" field is needed only if you have class prizes. Put the lower boundary in the "Lower" field and the upper boundary in the "Upper." Note that the lower boundary is included in the class and the upper isn't. So Lower=2000, Upper=2200 will include all ratings from 2000-2199. If the "Lower" field is absent or blank, the prize is an under prize defined by the upper bound.

Unrated Eligibility

For a special prize available only to unrateds, put a 1 or "true" in the "Unrated" field. Leave the other eligibility fields blank. If you have a prize available to either unrateds or players within a rating range, fill in the "Lower" and "Upper" as described above, then make "Unrated" 1 or "true."

Group or Special

You're given two options for coding special prize eligibility. Note that the prize is restricted to a single value, and it has to be an exact match. If a prize has both group/special and rating restrictions, a player must fit both in order to be eligible.

Description

This is included in the prize distribution to show which prizes were included. While not required, it's very useful.

Order of listing

The order in which prizes are listed is important. If there are two prizes with an identical value, the one listed first will be taken if possible. This has no effect on the money won by the score group which actually receives that prize, but might affect lower groups. Overall prizes should be listed first. These should be followed by rating group prizes from highest rating to lowest. Group prizes should come last.

Examples

Overall 500-300-200-100

Under 2000 or unrated 150-75

Under 1800 100

For this prize distribution, use the following file:

Value	Upper	Unrated	Description
500			"1"
300			"2"
200			"3"
100			"4"
150	2000	1	"U2000-1"
75	2000	1	"U2000-2"
100	1800		"U1800"

Overall 400-300-200-100-50

2000-2199 100

1800-1999 100

1600-1799 100

Woman 100

Value	Lower	Upper	Group	Description
400				"1"
300				"2"
200				"3"
100				"4"
50				"5"
100	2000	2200		"Expert"
100	1800	2000		"A"
100	1600	1800		"B"
100			"W"	"Woman"

For this to work properly, all players eligible for the "Woman" prize should have their Prize Group field set to "W".