This year's participants are:

(Team captains are underscored. Eliminated teams in grey.)

Final

Semifinals

Qualifying round scores

Tournament format

League games should finish by the end of the evening following the meeting of Wednesday 28th February.

The tournament format will either be a round of leagues followed by a knock-out semi-final round and final, or a straight knock-out tournament, depending on the number of teams involved.

The following is the format from 2017, for reference:

• The nine contesting teams have been split into three leagues.
• Each team will play a match against each of the two other teams within their league.
• Each pairing within a team will play each pairing of the opposing team; pairings must be fixed for all the games within a match.
• The end of the qualifying round has been extended to 0:00 on Thursday 2nd of March - that is, play on Wednesday 1st is allowed, play on Thursday 2nd is not.
• Qualifying leagues will be decided on a points-per-game basis.
• If a team has turned up to a match and another team has cancelled at short notice (as decided by the umpire) then the cancelling team is awarded 0 points for that match. The team which has turned up will be awarded the same number of points as those won in their other league match. (Since leagues are decided on a points-per-game basis, this has no effect on the team who turned up, and will not be recorded in the score table to avoid confusion.)
• Teams failing to organise a match within the allotted time frame will be awarded 0 points for that match. The teams are reminded it is better to play with a substitute or a reduced number of players than not at all.
• After each team has played both matches, the three teams who won their leagues as determined by game score points per game will pass through to the knock-out stage, along with the highest-scoring runner up team.
• In the event of a draw, if team A beats team B but A and B end up on the same total score, team A will be considered the winner for the purposes of determining qualifying.
• In the event of a tie for the winner of a league or the winningest runner-up team to go through to the rounds which cannot be resolved using the rules above then the Team Captains will play a potting race to decide on the winner.
• The three league winners and winningest runner-up will then be randomly drawn into a four-team knock-out tournament, the winner of which will be the overall winner.

Teams are competing for the first prize kindly sponsored by Chase Distillery: four bottles of Williams Gin worth £140 and the coveted Cuppers Trophy.

The Rules of Tiddlywinks Cuppers

1. Tiddlywinks Rules:
   1. All matches will be played to full ETwA rules. Games must be held in the presence of a CUTwC Umpire whose decision on all matters of play is final. ETwA rules can be found at https://etwa.org/.
2. Equipment:
   1. Teams must bring their own squidgers. CUTwC-approved felt mats, winks and pots will be provided by the Umpire at each match.
   2. 2 suitable tables will be required in the chosen match location (see 3.v) for the matches to be played upon.
3. Format:
   1. Tiddlywinks Cuppers takes the format of a knock-out competition.
   2. Each match will consist of four doubles games. Each pair plays both pairs from the opposing team. In the event that a team has fewer than four players, any games played by a single player will earn the team half the tournament points won in that game. The availability of substitute players to avoid this situation is strongly encouraged.
   3. The competition will be filled by a random draw. Team captains may attend this draw. It will take place on Wednesday the 31st of January 2018 at a CUTwC meeting at 7.30 in the Tower Room, Selwyn College, Cambridge.
   4. CUTwC will try to arrange for the final match to be played in a central and neutral location.
   5. Matches will be carried out in a suitable mutually-agreed location and time. The room will require 2 tables, which should be 6' by 3' or as close as possible, and will need to be booked for an at least an hour and a half. If it is found impossible to find a suitable time and place the four games of a match may be split up and played at different times, provided that all games are played before the deadline for that round.
4. Entries:
   1. An entry consists of 4 team members representing a college, department or society, forming 2 fixed pairs. One member is nominated team captain with whom the cuppers organisers will liaise. Teams of 3 or 2 will be accepted but where possible teams of 4 are preferred. Joint teams of 4 will be made up from teams of 2 where possible.
   2. Entries should be submitted using the cuppers entry form by mid-day 31st January 2018.
   3. Entries may be made directly to the Cuppers Director, but ii) above is preferable.
   4. The Cuppers Director has the right to refuse any entry that is incomplete, or made after the publicised deadline.
   5. Colleges and departments may enter as many teams as they wish, and college captains may edit, withdraw or make additional entries up until the deadline.
   6. Note rules below regarding Eligibility and Substitutions.
5. Draw Organisation
   1. Ideally the team captain should submit the team with the names of all members. However, it is understandable that this information may not be known.
   2. Teams submitted for entry into the competition will be added to the draw in the following way:
      • The teams will be randomly assigned to slots in the first round, with first-round byes drawn randomly if necessary.
6. Deadlines:
   1. Deadlines for entry and round completion will be posted on the CUTwC cuppers webpage. The deadlines are considered to be midnight at the end of the stated day. The first two rounds will take place in the Lent term 2018, the final should take place in early Easter term 2018.
7. Arranging matches:
   1. During the rounds before the final arranging matches is the responsibility of both teams involved; the captains of teams to be playing against each other will be put in contact.
   2. The match location and time must also be agreed with a Cuppers Umpire so that they may be present and bring the equipment required.
   3. Matches that fail to be played, or whose results fail to reach the Cuppers Director by the deadline, will be decided on the toss of a coin. Either team may claim the match if they can demonstrate to the Cuppers Director that they have made reasonable efforts to arrange the match before the deadline.
   4. The winning side is responsible for notifying the Cuppers Director of the outcome of the match such that it is received before the deadline for results. The umpire will verify that the score is correct.
   5. Matches may be played at Ordinary Meetings of CUTwC (Wednesdays at 7.30 – check cutwc.org for room details) provided that no University tournament that may be taking place is disrupted as a result.
8. Eligibility:
   1. Team members must be members of a University.
   2. No member may play or have played in any other team in 2018.
   3. Disputes concerning eligibility are ruled on by the Cuppers Director in the normal way.
   4. Umpires may participate in the tournament; another Umpire, on neither competing team, must be present at matches where an Umpire is playing.
9. Substitutions:
   1. Any person, fulfilling Rules 8i - iii, who has not played for another team, may join a team and play for that team.
   2. The team captain is responsible for making the Cuppers Director aware of the name of the intended substitute before the relevant game takes place.
10. Time limits:
    1. Teams may practice for 15 minutes before the game.
    2. Games may be played to the appropriate time limit:
       • 20 minutes for singles
       • 22½ minutes for a single and a pair
       • 25 minutes for pairs
11. The Winner:
    1. A match consists of four doubles games (or in the event of a small team, 2 games of three persons or 2 pairs games where one pair plays twice; or otherwise, as appropriate or necessary, by mutual agreement beforehand).
    2. The winner of the match is the team that wins the most points.
    3. In the event of a draw a potting race between the captains shall decide the winner. Each captain shall take six winks and begin from the baseline; play shall take place as if there had been a pot-out in a normal game. The first captain to pot all six winks shall be the winner.
12. Matters of Dispute:
    1. Any matters of dispute can be referred to the Cuppers Director for clarification or arbitration. If the Cuppers Director has a link to any party affected by the dispute they must refer the matter to the CUTwC committee.
    2. The Cuppers Director's decision (or that of the CUTwC committee) is final.
13. Alterations to the Rules:
    1. These rules must be kept up-to-date by the Cuppers Director.
    2. Alterations to the rules may only be made by a consensus of CUTwC.

Last updated: 16.01.2018

Sponsored by Chase distillery