Despite a few proposals and motions to the contrary, there is no distinction between gold pigmented Masterpoints won online versus at a face-to-face tournament. That is, you need 50 gold points to achieve Life Master, and you can mix and match any combination including winning all 50 online.
Which Gold Points Are Easiest to Win?
It turns out, despite all gold points being equal, some events are much easier than others to accumulate lots of gold. For a typical non-life master, we rank the various ways to win gold points from hardest to easiest, online options first.
Online NAOBC + Online Individual NABC
The NOABC is likely the hardest way to win gold. You need to survive reasonably far in an online KO event against world class pros. During the pandemic, they had a 0-1500 version which paid generously, but the limited versions are no longer on the docket.
The online individual robot tournaments are still offered 3x a year with stratifications for 0-2500 and 0-500. However, you need to be among the top robot players in the world to win gold this way with any consistency. Titled events are NOT useful gold farms.
Online Regionals
As it turns out, the online gold rush regionals are NOT as generous as most people think. The infamous masterpoints formula is linear in the number of tables until you exceed 60 tables. Beyond 60, the award grows logarithmically (aka, very slowly). Also, the 20% online haircut eats away at both the amount and depth of awards (possibly an unintended bug).
The most recent online regional on July 27th, 2023, attracted 125 tables on Day 1 of the Gold Rush (250 pairs). Only the top 31 pairs out of 250 won overall gold points. A few others won gold by getting a section top, but that’s still only 13% of the field winning gold. Also, only the top few players are taking home any meaningful amount.
Gold Rush Face-to-Face
Face-to-face gold rush events at a regional are much more generous than online regionals. Take a look at the gold rush from our NYC regional. With 11 tables in the daily gold rush, the top 6 pairs out of 22 received gold overalls (27%). As the event size grows, so does the depth of the award, although the percent of winners gradually decreases.
Bracketed Teams
As we have mentioned before, Bracketed Teams pays more gold and also pays a more generous depth of winners. That is, brackets of 8 pay gold to 37.5% of the teams and brackets of 9 pay 44% (sure beats 13%). Even if 125 teams join the event, the director will still place you in a bracket of 8 or so, ensuring the generous 37.5% payout ratio.
NAP and GNT
We need to mention the two special grassroots events, the North American Pairs, and the Grand National Teams. Both are special events that only occur once a year, but for those who need gold points, they are among the most generous awards for limited players.