Across Connected Worlds
FFR x Z1R Archipelago Tournament
Rules and Guidance
Welcome to the Final Fantasy Randomizer x Zelda Randomizer Archipelago event. This event pits two-person teams against each other for a chance at immortality. FFR x Z1R is a five (5) week event, the first two (2) of which are Swiss qualifiers with a playoff gauntlet taking place in weeks 3-5. We invite all interested players to come and join the event, form a team, and get ready for an adventure with a friend!
Please make sure to have all members of your team read these rules, and the General Rules and Guidance for Tournaments and Leagues, before registering for this event.
About the Tournament
Players will form 2 person teams, with 1 player running FFR AP and the other running Z1R AP, that will compete in a multiworld setting. Players must join the FFR Discord for scheduling and announcements as well as having at least a working knowledge of how to use Archipelago (or the willingness to let staff help set it up).
Co-op Requirements:
- Archipelago: This is the system used by the games for communicating between players. Both players have to have AP installed on their machines for the system to work.
- A partner: If you're in need of a partner you can be added to and/or find one in the #ffr-z1r-general channel on the FFR Discord.
Important Dates:
- Signups Begin: October 19, 2025
- Reveal Stream: November 15, 2025
- Swiss Round 1: November 16 - 19, 2025
- Swiss Round 2: November 21 - 24, 2025
- Swiss Round 3: November 26 - November 29, 2025
- Gauntlet Round 1: November 30 - December 6, 2025
- Gauntlet Round 2: December 7 - 13, 2025
- Gauntlet Round 3: December 14 - 20, 2025
Scheduling:
Scheduling will be handled on the FFR Discord. Ideally these will be sync races; however, we do understand that due to the nature of scheduling 4 people across a world of time zones some of these will need to be asynchronous. If scheduling cannot be synced, please let a member of the event staff know so an asynchronous lobby can be set up.
- FFR x Z1R 2025 Tournament Scheduling Form
- FFR x Z1R 2025 Schedule (Sheets)
- FFR x Z1R 2025 Scores (Sheets)
Tournament Structure:
The first 2 weeks will feature 3 Best-of-1 (Bo1) Swiss matches where teams play each other. The top 4 qualifying teams will move on to the gauntlet in weeks 3-5.
Weeks 3-5 will feature Best of 3 (Bo3) matches in a gauntlet format natively rewarding higher qualifiers from the Swiss portion. Every team is guaranteed at least 3 head to head matches. Every top 4 qualifier is guaranteed at least 4 head to head matches with no more than 6 total head to head matches occurring for any team. See tiebreaker details in rules section #4.
- Swiss Round 1: Random Pairings for round 1
- Swiss Round 2: Traditional Swiss pairings ideally matching 1-0s vs 1-0s and 0-1s vs 0-1s
- Swiss Round 3: Traditional Swiss pairings ideally matching 2-0s vs 2-0s, 1-1s vs 1-1s, and 0-2s vs 0-2s.
- Gauntlet Round 1:
- Match #1 (Bo3) - Qualifier #1 plays Qualifier #2 for the right to move directly to match #4 and the loser goes to match #3.
- Match #2 (Bo3) - Qualifier #3 plays Qualifier #4 where the winner advances to match #3. The loser is eliminated.
- Gauntlet Round 2:
- Match #3 (Bo3) - Loser of match #1 vs winner of match #2. The winner advances to match #4. The loser is eliminated.
- Gauntlet Round 3: Match #4 (Bo3) - Winner is the champion! Loser is the runner up.
Flagsets:
- Final Fantasy Randomizer:
- FFR Flagset
- Note, the FFR Player will also need to load the Zelda 1 Overworld [JSON] (make sure to right-click and save) via the "Mode & World" tab, "Overworld Map" option, and select "Import Custom Map" option to generate the proper seed.
- Also note, in the spirit of the "Four Sword", FFR players must take four of the same characters (4x Fighter, 4x Thief, 4X Black Belt, or 4X Red Mage) as their party.
- Zelda Randomizer:
- Z1R yaml (make sure to right-click and save)
![Map for the Zelda 1 Overworld [PNG]](/guide/map_z1r_overworld.png){kind=link}
Archipelago Settings:
The following settings must be used when setting up a tournament Archipelago match:
- Release Permission: Disabled
- Collect Permission: Disabled
- Remaining Permission: Disabled
- Item Cheat: Disabled
- Spoiler Log: Disabled
- Hint Cost: 10%
Tournament Rules:
- Players may opt to play either FFR or Z1R each week but cannot play both (i.e. if they make it to the Bo3 matches, they must decide what game they will be playing, between FFR and Z1R, for all three matches). For example if Runner 1 wants to play FFR in Swiss 1 and Z1R in Swiss 2 that is perfectly fine as long as their teammate plays the opposite game each week. No player can play both sides in the same Swiss or gauntlet round nor is this feasible given the race environment (due to this being a two-person, co-op tournament).
- If for some reason your partner cannot make it during a week, a substitute will be allowed that week. If your partner is unable to play for more than one week, a permanent replacement must be found or you will be required to bow out of the tournament.
- The official time is when the second member of each team finishes. Winner is the fastest second-player completion time.
- If a race ends with both teams within 1 second of each other, the team that had the fastest finisher (i.e., whoever was the very first player across the finish line) will be considered the victors. This is the only impetus for finishing first. In the extremely unlikely event that both sets of finishers are tied the result will be enshrined in the hall of fame… and a heads-tails coin flip will be used to determine the winner. This coin flip will be administered by a member of the event team live streamed in the FFR discord to a public audience for full transparency.
- When cutting the Swiss groups down to the Top 4 for the Gauntlet, tiebreakers will be determined by strength of schedule. Due to the short time window the event is taking place in, and the high number of guaranteed matches per team, there isn’t time for extra tiebreaker games in order to finish before the holiday season. If enough teams join, we do realize this may make for some awkward tiebreaker situations that may be perceived as unfair due to matchup RNG. If multiple teams are tied for the same play-in with the same strength of schedule head to head matchup will be the second tiebreaker. If head to head tiebreaker is insufficient to determine a clear advancement then results against common opponents will be the third tiebreaker. If common opponent is insufficient to determine a clear advancement then a coin will be flipped. This coin flip will be administered by a member of the event team live streamed in the FFR discord to a public audience for full transparency.
- All matches must be live streamed to Twitch or uploaded to YouTube. You must stream your game window, your timer, and your AP window.
- In the event of a dispute for any rules listed in this document, the General Rules and Guidance for Tournaments and Leagues document, or any situation which has not been previously seen, the event staff’s decision will be final. Before any final statement is publicly made about any disputes there will be discussion by the event team so that a variety of perspectives can be considered and the best outcome can be reached. Please allow the event team 24 hours to render.
Registration:
Tournament Staff:
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to the @FFR x Z1R Planning on the FFR Discord.
¶ Previous Archipelago Tournaments