Martial Arts Tournament

The Martial Arts Tournament is an annual festival that takes place on Friday the 12th and Saturday the 13th of Summer from 9:00-19:00. The player can earn awards by participating in the tournament, guessing the outcome of upcoming matches, or both.

If the player wishes to fight in the festival, he or she must on one of the two days preceding the festival. Registration is not necessary to participate in betting on the winners of tournament matches.

Opening speech
Starting early in the morning participants and spectators gather around the arena outside of the Central Plaza gate. The festival begins at 9:00. Gale gives a short opening speech before the first match starts at 9:30:

Betting
Before each match, the player has the option to place a free bet on the winner of each match by interacting with the registration War Drum near the stage. Interacting with it shows the tournament bracket. The player can place bets regardless of participation in the fighting aspect of the tournament, and can vote for himself or herself if they participate in the tournament. By interacting with the War Drum, the player can change their bets at any time before a match's outcome is determined, other than during their own matches, because the War Drum is not reachable from inside the arena.

The player can inform their betting decisions by sparring with characters prior to the tournament and learning their levels and fighting styles. Generally, lower-leveled characters are more likely to lose due to dealing less damage and having lower, but some higher-leveled characters may have a slower fighting style or deal hits less often (such as Russo, who attacks slowly and can be overwhelmed by a quicker fighter, as long as the other fighter has leveled up enough to take enough damage). Participant base levels are listed in the section.

The on the winner increase with each of the 3 successive stages of the tournament. There are no costs or downsides to betting, so it is recommended that the player always at least make a guess on every match.

Registration
To enter the tournament, the player must sign up on either of the registration War Drums, one located inside Town Hall and the other located just outside of the Central Plaza gate. Registration must be done on Wednesday the 10th or Thursday the 11th of summer. Because the letter informing the player of registration arrives on Monday, when registration is impossible, a calendar reminder is recommended.

During the tournament
On the first day of the tournament, four elimination fights are held, with half of the original fighters being eliminated. On the second day, the winners of the previous day's elimination matches take part in two semi-final matches, and the two winners compete in the final match.

If participating in the tournament, the player will be alerted when his or her match is about to start. The player must enter the glowing tournament stage boundaries before the official start time. Failing to arrive on time will result in a forfeit, and the character will be unable to continue further in the tournament. This rule applies to both the player and other characters; if the player's opponent does not arrive on time, this results in a win for the player by default. If neither the player nor the opponent are in the ring, it counts as a forfeit for the player and the opponent wins.

Once both participants are within the boundaries, the fight will begin at the scheduled time. To win the match, the player must either K.O. their opponent by depleting their health to zero or end the match with more health left than their opponent. There can be no draw during this event. If the player and their opponent both finish the match with either the same health or full health, the match is considered a loss and the opponent takes the victory. This means that if the player manages to damage their opponent once and avoid getting hit before the time runs out, then the game will consider the match a victory for the player.

Possible opponents
The following characters may participate in the tournament, ranging from very low levels to very high levels.

Please note that the levels listed are the base levels that each character is at the beginning of ; their actual levels are likely to be higher than listed because NPCs level up over time.

Betting rewards
If the player correctly predicted the winner of a match, Gale will immediately send them a letter with a prize attached to their mailbox. The player can retrieve their prizes during or after the tournament and at the Gift Exchange at any time during summer.

Tournament rewards
The player will only earn rewards if they win at least one round of the tournament. Rewards are mailed on the event day after the last match the player loses or forfeits or after they win the final match of the tournament.

Gift exchange
Martial Artist's Badges earned at the event can be used to purchase items at the cash register near the stage on the event day or at the Gift Exchange inside the Commerce Guild during summer.

Trivia

 * As with all festivals, scheduling a playdate or date during the tournament will cause the date to fail, since the tournament takes priority over dates.
 * If the player guesses all of the match winners correctly (4 preliminaries, 2 semi, 1 final), and wins the tournament themselves, it is possible to get up to 78 Badges per year.
 * The player can feasibly obtain all of the Kung Fu clothing set in their first year if they win the tournament, correctly predict all of the matches, and have the Custom Discount skill.
 * The back of the Kung Fu Sam top has a golden dragon if the player is male, or a golden phoenix if the player is female. (Pictures are available on the item's page.)
 * Most of the adult humans in Portia will attend the tournament except Isaac (sitting in the park),Lee (following his normal schedule), Lucy (can be found in the school), Liuwa (standing outside the Haunted Cave), Merlin (following her normal schedule) and Sophie (working at her ranch). Even Ginger can be found nearby, standing under a tree with her brother Gust. Toby is the only child who attends the tournament (skipping school to do so!). Siwa may wander into town during the tournament (if the bridge is complete), but does not participate.
 * Registration for the tournament is quite buggy. If the game is quit and/or reloaded after registering, but before the tournament starts there is a good chance that the player will no longer be allowed to participate.