How to Play Matcha Competitively

When playing Matcha competitively, follow these additional rules to ensure fair gameplay.

Starting the Game

1. Shuffle all the chips face down.

2. Flip a coin to determine who will place the ring.

3. If using the official Matcha game holder/flipper, a player (or someone nearby) rolls the chip at the center of the holder. The player who sees the number wins the toss. If both players can see the number, roll again.

4. The winner of the toss flip one random chip and place the ring.

5. They decide if they start the round or let the opponent start.

6. For consecutive rounds, the players who lost the previous round decides if their start to play or if the opponent does. If previous round was a draw, flip a coin again.

 

Scoring

On round win, points are awarded as follows:

Win with a full set: 1 point

Win with one set of three identical chips: 1 point

Win with a full set and one set of three identical chips: 2 points

Win with a full set and two sets of three identical chips: 4 points

TIming

Although not required, tracking player time using a Chess clock is recommended. A competitive gave should be set at 16 min per round, or 8 min for each players.

If the time runs out on a player, 1 point is awarded to the other player and the round ends.

Use of mat

Although not required, an official Matcha mat should be used to keep the game visually clear to both players as well as the audience. Chips need to be collected on their given markers on the board. 

Winning the match

A match consists of three rounds. The player with the most points at the end wins.

If scores are tied after three rounds, a fourth round is played as a tiebreaker.

Multiplayer Competition (More than 2 Players)

Each player competes against every other player.

All points earned throughout the matches are counted to determine the overall winner.