In
gameA game is a structured activity, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more concerned with the expression of ideas...
s and
sportSport is an activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively. Sports commonly refer to activities where the physical capabilities of the competitor are the sole or primary determinant of the outcome , but the term is also used to include activities such as...
s, a
tiebreaker or
tiebreak is used to determine a winner from among players or teams that are tied at the end of a contest, or a set of contests.
In some situations, the tiebreaker may consist of another round of play. For example, if contestants are tied at the end of a
quiz gameA quiz is a form of game or mind sport in which the players attempt to answer questions correctly. Quizzes are also brief assessments used in education and similar fields to measure growth in knowledge, abilities, and/or skills....
, they each might be asked one or more extra questions, and whoever correctly answers the most from that extra set is the winner.
In
gameA game is a structured activity, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more concerned with the expression of ideas...
s and
sportSport is an activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively. Sports commonly refer to activities where the physical capabilities of the competitor are the sole or primary determinant of the outcome , but the term is also used to include activities such as...
s, a
tiebreaker or
tiebreak is used to determine a winner from among players or teams that are tied at the end of a contest, or a set of contests.
In matches
In some situations, the tiebreaker may consist of another round of play. For example, if contestants are tied at the end of a
quiz gameA quiz is a form of game or mind sport in which the players attempt to answer questions correctly. Quizzes are also brief assessments used in education and similar fields to measure growth in knowledge, abilities, and/or skills....
, they each might be asked one or more extra questions, and whoever correctly answers the most from that extra set is the winner. In many sports, teams that are tied at the end of a match compete in an additional period of play called "
overtimeOvertime is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring the game to a decision and avoid declaring the contest a tie or draw...
" or "
extra timeExtra time is an additional period played in some sports codes if the score is tied at the end of normal time. In score notation, it is often denoted by the letters ET or AET, the latter of which stands for "after extra time"....
". The extra round may also not follow the regular format, e.g. a tiebreak in
tennisTennis is a sport played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a strung racquet to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court....
or a
penalty shootoutPenalty shootouts, properly named kicks from the penalty mark, are a method sometimes used to decide which team progresses to the next stage of a tournament following a draw in a game of association football...
in
football (soccer)Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players using a spherical ball...
.
Penalty shootoutA penalty shootout or simply shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to penalty shots, with a single player...
s in
football (soccer)Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players using a spherical ball...
usually occur in knock-out tournaments, such as cup competitions. In football contests there are 3 methods of deciding a winner.
The usual method is Normal Extra Time where each team will play two 15 minute period of extra time. The team who leads at the end of 30 minutes wins the tie, or the tournament. If at the end of Extra Time no winner can be decided, the match goes to a
Penalty ShootoutPenalty shootouts, properly named kicks from the penalty mark, are a method sometimes used to decide which team progresses to the next stage of a tournament following a draw in a game of association football...
. Occasionally, in matches such as the Community Shield in England, the match can go straight to a penalty shootout after 90 minutes play has been completed.
Alternatively, in tournaments such as the English
FA CupThe Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football, run by and named after The Football Association. The name "FA Cup" usually refers to the English men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also held...
, the match is replayed in its entirety, going through the aforementioned stages of Extra Time and penalties if the second match is drawn. This method is not used in the Semi Finals or Final.
If a
baseballBaseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The goal is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot square, or diamond...
game is tied at the end of the usual nine innings, the game continues into
extra inningsExtra innings is the procedure by which a tie is broken in the sports of baseball and softball.Ordinarily, a baseball game consists of nine innings , each of which is divided into halves: the visiting team bats first, after which the home team takes its turn at bat...
until an inning ends with one team ahead. Although games are occasionally ended as ties on account of weather or darkness (the latter happened much more often before lights were installed on most professional baseball fields in the 1940s), and some leagues (including Nippon Professional Baseball) allow only a limited number of extra innings before a game ends as a tie, professional baseball in the United States has no such limit. The longest Major League game in history (on 1 May 1920) lasted 26 innings, and a
minor-leagueMinor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in North America that compete at levels below that of Major League Baseball. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses, and many are members of Minor League Baseball, an umbrella organization for leagues...
game in 1981 lasted 33 innings. In some venues, including
international baseballThe International Baseball Federation is the worldwide governing body for the sport of baseball. It sanctions play between teams sponsored by the national baseball federations of member countries through competition tournaments including the Baseball World Cup, the World Baseball Classic , the...
, an extra inning may begin with a runner already on base, in order to increase the chances of a resolution.
At season end
In sports including
baseballBaseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The goal is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot square, or diamond...
,
American footballAmerican football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, and often as Gridiron or Tackle football outside North America, is a competitive team sport known for combining strategy with physical play. The objective of the game is to score points by advancing the ball into the...
, and
basketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of 5 players try to score points against one another by placing a ball through a
10 foot high hoop under organized rules...
, the "regular season" consisting of several months may end with one or more teams tied for a spot in the
playoffThe playoffs, postseason, or finals of a sports league are a series of games played after the regular season by the top competitors, to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. The term and concept are most widespread in North America.In the U.S...
s. In this case, a
one-game playoffA one-game playoff or pennant playoff is a tiebreaker in certain professional sports to determine which of two teams, tied in the final standings, will qualify for a post-season tournament...
(or occasionally a best-of-three series) may be played to break the tie.
In tournaments
In some sports and
tournamentA tournament is a competition involving a relatively large number of competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:...
s, the tiebreaker is a statistic that is compared to separate contestants who have the same win-loss record, particularly for the purpose of awarding prizes to the top players. Some competitions, such as the
FIFA World CupThe FIFA World Cup, occasionally called the Football World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...
, the
EuroleagueThe Euroleague , also known as Euroleague Basketball is the highest level and most important professional basketball competition in Europe, with teams from up to 18 different European countries. The competition is operated by ULEB, a Europe-wide consortium of leading professional basketball leagues...
and the
National Football LeagueThe National Football League is the largest professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing its name to the National Football League in 1922. The league currently consists of...
, have a whole set of tiebreaking rules in which a group of statistics between the tied teams are compared, one at a time, to determine the seeding in their respective
knockout tournamentA single-elimination tournament, also called a knockout, cup or sudden death tournament, is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match is immediately eliminated from winning the championship or first prize in the event...
. In many of these tiebreaking rules, if the teams remain tied after comparing all of these statistics, then the tie is broken at random using a coin toss or a drawing of lots.
Swiss system tournamentA Swiss system tournament is a commonly used type of tournament in chess, go, bridge, Scrabble, squash, Quiz Bowl, Magic: The Gathering, Eve Online and other games where players or teams need to be paired to face each other...
s use a variety of criteria not found in other types of tournament which exploit features specific to the Swiss system: see
tie-breaking in Swiss system tournamentsTie-break systems are used in chess Swiss system tournaments to break ties between players who have the same total number of points after the last round. If the players are still tied after one tie-break system is used, another system is used, and so on, until the tie is broken...
.
In Field Target
Field TargetField Target is an outdoor air gun discipline originating in the United Kingdom, in the late 1980s, but gaining popularity worldwide.-UK Rules:...
— a precision air rifle shooting sport — uses either a sudden-death or shot count tiebreaker. The sudden-death tiebreaker (usually used to determine a single place such as 3rd when 3 awards are to be given or between two shooters) consists of each tied shooter (order dictated or decided by coin-toss or other technique) shoots at a target (typically a difficult shot such as ½" at 35 yards). If all shooters in the tie fail, then the target is moved closer. If one shooter hits, then the next shooter(s) who miss are out of the competition. If a round is complete with multiple ties remaining, the target is moved out (made more difficult) and the same procedure is repeated until only one shooter remains. This procedure can then be repeated to determine further placings among the losers of the previous round.
In cases where multiple places are to be determined (as in five people tied for first place), one approach is to have each shooter make several shots (n-1 or more with n being the number of tied shooters). If all shooters miss all shots, the target is moved-in (made easier); similarly, if all shooters hit on all shots, the target is moved-out (made more difficult). If some variation in hits exists after a round, the top score gets the highest placing while those with identical scores can have a sudden-death shootout or a repeat of the multiple shot shootout (typically with a more difficult target) to determine other placings.
See also
- Extra time
Extra time is an additional period played in some sports codes if the score is tied at the end of normal time. In score notation, it is often denoted by the letters ET or AET, the latter of which stands for "after extra time"....
- Overtime (sport)
- Tie (draw)
To tie or draw is to finish a competition with identical or inconclusive results. The word "tie" is usually used in North America for sports such as American football...
- Tiebreak in tennis