Qualities of a Judge Foundry Judge

For the game you’re judging, how familiar are you with the comprehensive rules? Can you explain what will happen if a player takes a given action?

We won’t test for rules knowledge at every level – there’s not such a granular difference in rules proficiency that we see a need to maintain five rules tests for each supported game. However, we do expect judges of all levels to keep their rules proficiency current, and to take regular update exams.

A Level 1 judge should understand common keywords and fundamental rules of the game. Higher-level judges will be tested on complex interactions and eternal formats.

Much like rules, this is a check on knowledge. Do you know how to fix a situation where a player drew an extra card? What happens if a player is late to their match? Also similar to rules, we’ll determine if a judge is proficient using an exam. Tournament Policy Application is mostly about right and wrong answers – the game’s policy documents prescribe what you’re expected to do, so are you correctly identifying an infraction, issuing the correct penalty, and applying the correct fix. 

Policy Knowledge Application won’t be tested at every level either, and will focus more on casual policy at Level 1, with competitive policy woven in at Level 2 and onward.

A Level 1 judge should be able to explain how to resolve common issues and serious problems at a casual event. Higher-level judges should be able to identify infractions and apply prescribed remedies at competitive events, even when multiple problems occur in sequence.

In addition to expecting judges to know what policy applies, they need to be able to explain why it applies. Unlike rules, policy can’t be comprehensive – it often requires some level of extrapolation from the documents to the situation at the event. When confronted with a situation that isn’t prescribed in policy, can you determine how to resolve it in a consistent and fair way? Can you explain to a player why this penalty is appropriate for this infraction?

Level 1 judges should understand that policy at casual events is there to educate and to get games back on track, and that they shouldn’t devise harsher penalties just because they prefer stricter play. Higher-level judges should be able to understand when it’s appropriate to deviate from policy and the implications of doing so.

Most judge tasks, when boiled down to their purest form, sound simple: take a piece of paper from the printer and put it on a board. See if this pile of cards matches this list of cards. Go find out why this table hasn’t told us their results yet. The art of doing these things and doing these things well is where judges demonstrate our value, ensuring that tasks are performed smoothly, consistently and effectively to minimize downtime, avoid errors and provide players with a seamless experience.

A Level 1 Judge can launch a Prerelease tournament, ensuring that all players receive their packs and can start building on time. Higher-level judges can accomplish more complex logistical feats, even at tournaments with thousands of players or with unexpected restrictions.

To solve novel logistical problems, judges need to first deeply understand similar problems. While many judges are good at rote repetition of tasks they’ve seen performed before, exceptional judges can examine why we’re performing tasks in a given way, and can propose ways to optimize those tasks or to adapt previous methods to new problems. Judges grow in this quality through seeing different ways of handling common tasks, allowing them to find the best tool for each job.

A Level 1 Judge should be able to evaluate how to prioritize tasks at a casual event to get the event started. Higher-level judges can be expected to come up with a plan on the fly to handle software crashes, fire alarms and internet outages.

Judges at all levels need to be able to determine what happened in a game prior to their arrival in order to make correct rulings. This can include cases where judges are determining which infraction occurred (such as whether a player knowingly made an error) or it can include cases where a judge needs to help cooperating players determine the correct game state. Judges use evidence and deductive reasoning to gather facts and come to a conclusion in a timely manner.

A Level 1 Judge should be able to explain the basics of logical reasoning and suggest ways to test the veracity of a player’s claims. Higher-level judges should be able to differentiate between premeditated and opportunistic cheating, conduct card counts in increasingly complex situation and to weigh the time cost of pursuing more information with the value of the information available.

Leadership Skills

Players look up to judges to lead their events. Judges don’t need to be in a position of authority to be leaders – when they see a problem that’s in their remit to solve, they start working toward a solution, weaving in others who want to help. Judges understand the difference between leadership and management, and use effective techniques that treat people around them with respect.

At Level 1, we’ll want a judge who demonstrates the charisma to encourage others to follow. At high levels, we expect a judge who can get the best work out of every member of their team and to leave them wanting to apply to work another event.

The other side of the leadership coin is the ability to help a peer grow into the best judge they can be. Mentorship implies a connection – you’re personally invested in another judge’s success and taking active steps to reach your hand down to help them up. We don’t expect every judge to be able to mentor infinite judges at once and we don’t expect every judge to have all the answers – some problems are beyond any mentor’s capabilities and sometimes you have to find the right mentor to get through to a given judge. Mentorship doesn’t have to be strictly from higher- to lower-level, and it doesn’t have to be just from head judge to floor judge – judges can use their skills to mentor anyone.

For a Level 1 Judge, mentorship takes the form of being someone approachable for a player who wants to know about becoming a judge. For a higher-level judge, we expect you to be invested in the success of your team at an event and to sherpa a protégé toward their next advancement interview.

The nature of judging lends itself to conflict – many times, a judge is called to a table because the players are having a conflict between themselves. Judges are expected to intervene in conflicts they see brewing. Judges get into conflicts with each other at times, not out of malice, but with differing viewpoints on how to best solve a problem. Conflict management is about more than just finding compromise – it’s about finding the right solution to a dispute and helping everyone involved come away satisfied that it was fair, even if they’re unhappy with the outcome.

We expect a Level 1 Judge to be able to resolve a simple life total disagreement with both players feeling like the judge acted fairly. A higher-level judge might be expected to resolve conflicts at games for high stakes or mediate between team members who have a difficult time working together. The highest-level judges will also be proficient in balancing coming to a decision with external constraints, such as time.

Diplomacy is related to conflict management, and is about how you resolve interactions more than the ability to come to the correct conclusion. Because we work events that are designed to be fun, the employment of tact and courtesy are critical in interactions with both players and judges. Even if a head judge is, by definition, correct, they need to demonstrate diplomacy when resolving an issue, so people will want to work with them again.

A Level 1 Judge might have to tell a player that the language they are using is not appropriate for a family oriented environment. A higher-level judge might have to disqualify a player for inappropriately determining a winner, but do so in a way that that player doesn’t want to quit the game afterward.

The path to personal development starts with understanding your strengths and weaknesses. No judge is going to be an exemplar of every quality, all the time, and the best judges recognize their weaknesses and find ways to mitigate or improve on them. Judging has been called “the cult of self-improvement,” and many judges have found themselves bringing the skills they honed improving their work and personal lives.

A Level 1 Judge should be aware of the qualities their mentor suggested for improvement during their promotion interview, and be working on improving them. A higher-level judge should be looking back on the feedback they received at events a month ago, a year ago and a decade ago to see how they have changed and what they still need to improve.

A mature judge is a judge with whom it’s easy to work and who takes responsibility for their actions instead of blaming others. They show up on time, don’t spend all day complaining, hustle to calls and don’t mind pushing in the same chair for the seventh round in a row. Maturity is a quality that’s often quantified by its absence – you rarely notice the judges who are making your life easier as much as those who are making your life harder.

Maturity is measured by asking whether a judge represents Judge Foundry’s core values. A Level 1 Judge should be someone on whom the LGS owner can rely. A higher-level judge is a rock of calm in the chaotic ocean of a convention center.

Everyone experiences stress. Even the best judges feel it from time to time, especially in high-stakes events or when they make a mistake that could cost time, money or reputation. This quality isn’t about not feeling stress, it’s about what happens when you do. Judges need to be able to keep that stress from deleteriously affecting their work or their interactions with other judges, players or staff, and to have healthy coping techniques that let them stabilize.

A Level 1 Judge should be able to make opening announcements at an LGS without being paralyzed by discomfort. Higher-level judges should be able to handle more severe situations and to demonstrate patience and grace even while under pressure. Higher-level judges also need to be able to handle multiple stressful situations at once and to triage without getting overwhelmed.

Good teamwork means knowing how to follow instructions, and the appropriate time and place to question a leader’s instructions. It means being a good sharer, taking on a fair portion of unpleasant tasks and being willing to step back to let others have a chance to shine. Being a good team member means understanding the team’s goals and working toward accomplishing those goals, together.

Unlike the other Personal Skills, this quality won’t be tested specifically at low levels, as most in-store judging for casual events doesn’t require a team. As a judge levels up, their teamwork skills will become more important as they work on larger and more varied team environments at large events.

Judges need to communicate constantly with other tournament participants. It’s critical that judges are experts not only at being understood, but also understanding, and being able to recognize and use both verbal and non-verbal communication techniques to convey and receive the appropriate message is important. Judges also communicate frequently in writing, especially with each other – writing reviews of other judges, discussing policy on forums, sharing tournament reports and applying to events all require judges to be strong communicators.

A Level 1 Judge can explain clearly how drafting works to a new player, without resorting to jargon or making the player feel foolish. Higher-level judges are experts at tailoring their communications to their audience, can communicate competently with players for whom English isn’t their first language, and understands the value of carefully-chosen language.