Official rules of The First Watch Tournament
The binding text. If anything on the tournament page differs from this, this prevails. If the English and Spanish versions differ, the Spanish one prevails.
THE LONG WATCH · Demo · LONE TORCH GAMES Version 1.1 — October 22, 2026. This is a translation. If the English and Spanish versions differ, the Spanish version prevails (section 17).
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Taking part is free. You don’t have to buy anything, wishlist any game, follow anyone or write reviews. This is a contest of skill: the best score wins. It is not a sweepstakes or a raffle and chance does not decide who wins.
1. Organizer
The First Watch Tournament (the “Tournament”) is organized by LONE TORCH GAMES, an independent video game studio owned by Tomas Masiero, Argentine tax ID (CUIL/CUIT) 20-39533876-6, based in Maipú, Mendoza, Argentine Republic (the “Organizer”).
2. What the Tournament is
2.1. A skill competition on the world ranking of the free demo of THE LONG WATCH (Steam, app 5300940, the “Demo”), with two categories, each with its own table and prizes: SCORE (the best score within the Tournament dates wins, as described in section 6) and SPEEDRUN (the fastest win on THE LONG WATCH difficulty wins, as described in section 6 bis).
2.2. Taking part is free and requires no purchase. The Demo is a free download on Steam. No prize depends on buying the full game, adding it to a wishlist, writing or rating reviews or following social accounts. The only requirement besides playing is joining THE LONG WATCH Discord server, which is also free (section 5.1 bis).
2.3. The Tournament is not a sweepstakes, raffle or game of chance: winners are not chosen by any random method. Demo runs have variable elements (the map, the cards, the events), but the score depends on how each participant plays.
2.4. Steam and Valve Corporation do not sponsor, endorse or administer this Tournament and are not associated with it. Neither is Discord Inc. All questions about the Tournament go to the Organizer only.
3. Tournament period
3.1. The Tournament starts on Monday, October 26, 2026 at 15:00 UTC and ends on Sunday, December 13, 2026 at 23:59:59 UTC (the “Window”).
3.2. Only watches that the ranking server receives and records within the Window count. The date and time that matter are those recorded by the Organizer’s server, not those of the participant’s computer. A watch played offline that reaches the server after the close does not count, even if it was played earlier. Likewise, a watch that reaches the server after the start counts by its arrival date.
3.3. The ranking shown inside the game (RANKING → WORLD, “Demo Season”) shows the whole season, not just the Window. The official Tournament standings are calculated by the Organizer at the close, using only watches from the Window, and are published as described in section 8.
4. Who can take part
4.1. Any individual with their own valid Steam account, of at least the minimum age Steam requires to hold an account in their country (13, or higher if their country’s law says so).
4.2. Cash prizes (Steam Wallet credit) are only for people 18 or older, or the age of majority in their country of residence if higher. Full-game keys and the credits mention can also go to participants between 13 (or Steam’s minimum age in their country) and the age of majority. A minor needs the consent of a parent or legal guardian to share their details and to receive any prize; in that case, the adult provides the details and the authorization.
4.3. If a minor finishes 1st, 2nd or 3rd, they receive the key, the credits mention and (if 1st, with their guardian’s authorization) the prize in section 10, and the cash part of their prize goes to the next adult in the standings who doesn’t already have a cash prize.
4.4. One person = one captain = one prize. Each person takes part with a single Steam account. The ranking already merges every game profile on the same Steam account into one entry. Using multiple accounts, sharing an account between several people, or playing on someone else’s account disqualifies every account involved. If the same account makes the podium in both categories, it gets the higher-value prize and the other goes to the next player in that table.
4.5. Not eligible for prizes: the Organizer, anyone who works or has worked with LONE TORCH GAMES on THE LONG WATCH (for example testers with access to non-public builds, translators, musicians or designers), their immediate family (spouse or partner, parents, children and siblings) and people living in the same household. They may play and appear on the ranking, but are left out of the official Tournament standings.
4.6. Void where prohibited or restricted by law. The following cannot receive prizes: (a) residents of countries or regions under international sanctions (United Nations, United States or European Union) that prevent sending money or services from Argentina or through Steam (currently, for example, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria and the Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk regions), and anyone on those bodies’ sanctions lists; and (b) residents of the province of Quebec (Canada), which has its own registration regime for contests with prizes.
4.7. Each participant is responsible for making sure that taking part and receiving a prize is allowed in their country.
5. How to take part
5.1. Download the Demo for free from Steam and play it with Steam running and signed in.
5.1 bis. Join THE LONG WATCH Discord server (free, invite: https://discord.gg/zJS7FfbZ6) and stay a member until the prizes are delivered. The weekly tables, announcements and Tournament changes are posted there, and winners are contacted there. To receive a prize, the winner must be a member of the server when the results are announced; anyone who is not has 7 days from the email notice to join, otherwise the prize passes to the next in the standings (section 11).
5.2. Keep the POST MY WATCHES TO THE RANKING option on (Settings → GAME). It is on by default. If it is off when a watch ends, that watch is not sent to the server and does not count.
5.3. Play complete watches on any difficulty (FIRST LIGHT, THE LONG WATCH or DEAD OF NIGHT). Watches that end in victory or defeat are sent to the ranking; abandoned watches (restarting, returning to the menu or closing the game mid-watch) are not.
5.4. You can play as many times as you like: for the Tournament, each Steam account’s best watch within the Window counts.
5.5. If there is no connection or Steam isn’t running when a watch ends, the watch is saved on your computer (the queue keeps up to 20 pending watches) and is sent automatically the next time you open the game with Steam and an internet connection. Section 3.2 applies: it counts if it reaches the server before the close.
5.6. Play the current public version of the Demo downloaded from Steam, unmodified (see section 7).
5.7. Before the Window opens you may practice as much as you like: those watches count for the Demo Season, but not for the Tournament. Until the start, the Organizer may release Demo updates (fixes, balance or new content) and announces them on Steam and on the Discord channel.
5.8. During the Window the Organizer only releases bug fixes (hotfixes): no new content and no changes to the balance or the score formula, unless needed to fix a bug that breaks the score or the game. Watches already recorded keep their score, except those that exploited that bug (section 7). Each fix is announced on Steam and on the Discord channel.
6. Score
6.1. Each watch’s score is calculated by the Organizer’s server from the run data (the game never sends a score). It is the same score shown on the game’s end screen in the SCORE OF THE WATCH sheet: the wave reached, the boss defeated, gold (counted at half) and the bonuses for playing well (base health, perfect waves, nobody crossing the gate, the camp and Josh, Stillwater, the refugees, the orders completed, champions defeated and burned, special plays, the flames kept lit, among others), each bonus with its own cap.
6.2. The total is multiplied by the chosen difficulty: FIRST LIGHT ×0.75 · THE LONG WATCH ×1 · DEAD OF NIGHT ×1.30.
6.3. How long a watch takes neither adds nor removes points (time is the SPEEDRUN category, section 6 bis).
6.4. The Organizer will not change the scoring formula during the Window, except to fix a bug that allows impossible or unfair scores. If that happens, it will be announced in the Tournament channel on Discord and on Steam, and affected watches may be recalculated with the corrected formula.
6.5. The server automatically rejects watches with impossible data (for example more perfect waves than waves played, or a duration or gold total that doesn’t match the wave). A rejected watch does not count.
6 bis. Speedrun
6b.1. The SPEEDRUN category measures how long it takes you to win the Demo starting from scratch, over several watches in a row: a run. It is played from the game’s SPEEDRUN MODE (RANKING → TOURNAMENT), which also holds the full guide (HOW IT WORKS).
6b.2. Start: when you press START RUN, the profile’s Workshop is emptied and left with no Blood (what you had is saved and comes back when you leave speedrun mode) and a new run with its own number begins. With an empty Workshop it’s almost impossible to win: the idea is to lose, gather Blood, buy upgrades and try again. The Blood bonuses that depend on the profile’s history (first watch, record, feats and apprentice) are counted from the start of the run, so everyone starts equal.
6b.3. Watches of the run: every watch that ends, won or lost, is a watch of the run; they are numbered 1, 2, 3… An abandoned watch (restarting, going back to the menu or closing the game) doesn’t count as a watch and can be redone, but its time is still added to the run.
6b.4. Time: the run adds up the time of all its watches and of the abandoned ones. Each is measured in real time, including pauses, card choices, cutscenes and tutorials. Time in the Workshop and in menus between watches does not count.
6b.5. End: the run ends with its first win (wave 20 of 20) and its time is the run’s total. It enters the table only once the server has received all its watches, from 1 to the win, within the Window. If the server rejects a watch because it doesn’t meet the ranking rules, the run is voided: the game shows why and you have to start another.
6b.6. Run rules: all its watches are played in the DEMO on THE LONG WATCH difficulty; a watch finished on another difficulty or mode voids the run. RESTART (in the same SPEEDRUN MODE) begins a new run from scratch, with a new number; the previous one stays as it was. Each run counts separately and, for the table, each Steam account’s best one counts.
6b.7. Registration: after each watch, the game shows whether the server registered it: on the end screen and in SEE MY WATCHES, inside SPEEDRUN MODE, watch by watch. If a watch stays uploading (no connection, or a Steam or server delay), it retries by itself: wait for it to upload; if it doesn’t, restart the game, and if it still doesn’t, write to us on Discord. Checking that every watch shows as REGISTERED is the player’s responsibility.
6b.8. The lowest time wins. On equal time, whoever reached the server first wins.
6b.9. Video required: the top 3 of the speedrun must send the full, uncut video of the whole run: from pressing START RUN (with the empty Workshop on screen) to the final screen of the win, with every watch, the abandoned ones and the Workshop in between. No video, no prize, and the place passes to the next one. We recommend recording every run that goes well.
7. Fair play, verification and disqualification
7.1. Not allowed: modifying the game, its files or its memory; editing or fabricating watches, the upload queue or the history file; intercepting, altering or forging what the game sends to the server; using third-party software that gives an advantage (trainers, cheats, macros that play for you); using multiple accounts; playing on someone else’s account or letting someone else play on yours; and deliberately exploiting game bugs to inflate your score. If you find a bug that breaks the score, report it privately to the Organizer (section 14) and don’t use it: reporting it never disqualifies you, quite the opposite.
7.2. Manual review: before announcing results, the Organizer manually reviews the top 20 watches of the each Tournament standings (score and speedrun): each account’s watch history, the consistency of the data, the duration and the Steam account’s standing (age and activity).
7.3. The Organizer may ask any participant near the top, via Discord or email, for:
- the
historial_guardias.txtfile the game keeps on their computer (on Windows:%USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\Lone Torch Games\The Long Watch\historial_guardias.txt); - an uncut video recording of a complete watch played after the request, on a difficulty and with a score reasonably comparable to the winning watch;
- their Steam profile to be visible to the Organizer during the verification. The participant has 7 calendar days to respond. If they don’t, or if the verification is not satisfactory in the Organizer’s reasonable judgment, they are removed from the standings and the next participant takes their place.
7.4. The Organizer may disqualify anyone who breaks these rules at any time, even after results are announced, and ask for a delivered prize back if a violation is proven later. Disqualified watches are hidden from the ranking. The participant is told the reason.
7.5. The Organizer does not have to disclose the details of its anti-cheat checks.
8. Standings, tie-breaks and results
8.1. At the close, the Organizer builds the standings with each Steam account’s best watch received within the Window, excluding ineligible or disqualified accounts: SCORE standings (highest to lowest score) and SPEEDRUN standings (lowest to highest time, under the rules in section 6 bis).
8.2. Tie-break: with equal scores, whoever reached that score first (the watch recorded earlier on the server) wins. If still tied, the watch on the higher difficulty wins; if still tied, the higher wave reached.
8.3. Results are announced no later than Sunday, December 20, 2026, after the review in section 7, in the Tournament channel on Discord and in a Steam announcement. The profile name shown on the in-game ranking (already public) and the score are published.
8.4. During the Window the Organizer may post a weekly podium for information only. It is not final: the only valid standings are those in section 8.1, after the review.
9. Prizes
| Category and place | Prize |
|---|---|
| Speedrun 1st | USD 35 in Steam Wallet credit (two digital Steam gift cards of USD 25 + USD 10) + a full-game key for THE LONG WATCH + their name or nickname in the full game’s credits + they join the game as a character with the personality and voice they choose (section 10) |
| Speedrun 2nd | USD 15 in Steam Wallet credit (two digital gift cards of USD 10 + USD 5) + a full-game key |
| Speedrun 3rd | A full-game key |
| Score 1st | USD 25 in Steam Wallet credit (one digital gift card) + a full-game key + their name or nickname in the credits |
| Score 2nd | A full-game key |
| Score 3rd | A full-game key |
9.1. Total cash prizes: USD 75, as digital Steam gift cards (“Steam Wallet credit”), and six full-game keys.
9.2. Steam Wallet credit is sent as a digital Steam gift card to the winner’s Steam account. Steam credits it converted to the currency of the winner’s account at Steam’s exchange rate at that moment; the Organizer is not responsible for exchange differences. Steam Wallet credit is subject to Steam’s terms (for example, it cannot be withdrawn as cash).
9.3. 3-day friendship: Steam only allows digital gift cards to be sent to accounts that have been friends with the sending account for at least 3 days. To receive the credit, the winner must send or accept a friend request with the LONE TORCH GAMES Steam account, whose link or friend code the Organizer sends to each winner by private message (it is not published, to avoid mass requests), within the period in section 11. We recommend doing it as soon as results are announced.
9.4. If the region of the winner’s account can’t receive the gift card, the Organizer will offer an alternative for the same value in US dollars (for example PayPal or Wise), if it is legally possible from Argentina to that country; the Organizer pays the transfer fees. If no method is possible, the cash prize goes to the next participant in the standings who can receive it.
9.5. Full-game keys are Steam keys for the full game THE LONG WATCH (app 5300500), delivered by private message on the full game’s launch day or in the following days. The full game has no release date yet and the Organizer does not commit to one.
9.6. Credits: the name or nickname of the speedrun 1st place and the score 1st place appears in the full game’s credits, in a community section (for example “Captains of the First Watch”). The winner chooses the name or nickname, subject to approval under section 10.3, and may decline to appear.
9.7. Prizes are personal, non-transferable and cannot be exchanged for cash or other goods (except as described in section 9.4). Prizes are not delivered to third parties or to Steam accounts other than the winning one.
9.8. If a winner declines, is disqualified or doesn’t claim in time, the prize goes to the next eligible participant in the standings. If there are no more eligible participants, the prize is left void.
9.9. Besides these prizes, everyone who beats the Demo gets the DAWN FLAME and the title “OF THE FIRST WATCH” in game, as already happens outside the Tournament. The “surprise” the Organizer announced for the best captain of the Demo Season is defined by this Tournament: it is the prize in section 10 for the speedrun 1st place.
10. The speedrun 1st place joins the game: a character with the personality and voice they choose
10.1. In the full game of THE LONG WATCH, the SPEEDRUN 1st place winner will have a non-player character (NPC) with the personality and voice they choose, carrying their nickname. The personality (who they are, how they talk, what they care about, what they tell) and the voice are agreed between the winner and the Organizer.
10.2. They must fit the game’s world and tone: dark, medieval, fantasy. Trademarks, references to real people (celebrities, politicians, content creators or others), offensive, discriminatory or sexual content, or anything that breaks the setting are not accepted. The Organizer has the final say and may adapt the personality, lines and voice to fit the game’s story, design and technical possibilities. The Organizer decides the character’s look, where and how they appear and what they do. If a proposal doesn’t fit, alternatives are sought together; if there is no agreement within a reasonable time, the Organizer builds a version that respects the winner’s idea as much as possible.
10.3. The nickname must be approved by the Organizer, under the same criteria as 10.2 (no trademarks or names of real people other than the winner). The winner’s face, real name or other personal data will not be used.
10.4. The voice, at the winner’s choice:
- they record it themselves, with the lines and technical directions the Organizer provides (a regular microphone is enough; the Organizer may edit and process it); or
- they don’t record it: an actor or actress, or the Organizer with its own tools, creates it from the winner’s description. The voice will never imitate a real person. The game’s voices are in English with subtitles in all its languages; the character’s lines are recorded in English unless the Organizer agrees otherwise.
10.5. Authorization and license. The winner (or their parent or guardian, if a minor) signs a written authorization (form or email) granting the Organizer a free, non-exclusive, worldwide license for an indefinite period to use: (a) their nickname; (b) the personality and ideas they contribute to the character; and (c) if they record their voice, those recordings, edited or processed, in THE LONG WATCH, its updates, versions for other platforms, sequels and promotional material. The winner states that the recorded voice is their own and that nothing they contribute infringes anyone else’s rights. The authorization is given on a signed form (a scanned or digital signature is fine), under sections 53 and 55 of the Argentine Civil and Commercial Code. As section 55 allows, the winner may revoke it in writing at any time: from then on the Organizer stops using their voice in new content and may replace it with another voice, but is not required to change game versions or material already published or distributed before the revocation.
10.6. No additional payment: the winner receives no payment, royalties or share of sales for the character, its nickname, personality or voice, beyond the prizes in section 9.
10.7. When it appears: in the full game, not the Demo. If more time is needed to write, record and integrate it, it may arrive in an update after launch. Once published, the Organizer is not obliged to remove it.
10.8. Timing: the authorization is given within the period in section 11. The personality, lines and recording are coordinated afterwards, on timelines agreed by the winner and the Organizer; if the winner stops responding for more than 60 days, the Organizer may finish the character with what it has or cancel it.
10.9. Minors: for this part of the prize (not for cash, which doesn’t apply to minors) the written consent of whoever holds parental responsibility (both parents, if both hold it) or the guardian is required; they sign the authorization in 10.5 and, if the minor records their voice, authorize the recording. The minor’s opinion is taken into account according to their age and maturity.
10.10. If the winner doesn’t give the authorization in time or prefers not to have a character, this prize is left void and is not replaced with cash or passed to another participant.
11. Claiming and delivering prizes
11.1. When results are announced, the Organizer contacts the winners through the Tournament channel on Discord and/or the contact each of them provided. Winners can also write to the Organizer themselves (section 14).
11.2. Each winner has 14 calendar days from the results announcement to reply and provide the details in section 12. Otherwise they lose the prize and it passes to the next participant (section 9.8).
11.3. Steam Wallet credit is sent within 30 days after the winner provides their details, completes the 3-day Steam friendship and passes the verification in section 7.
11.4. The Organizer will never ask for passwords, Steam Guard codes, card details or payments of any kind to deliver a prize. Any message that does is a scam attempt and does not come from the Organizer.
12. Taxes and costs
12.1. Any taxes, fees or charges that apply to the winner in their country for receiving the prize are the winner’s responsibility.
12.2. The Organizer pays for the gift cards and the costs of buying them in Argentina. The Tournament is a free contest of skill with no draw, so the Organizer understands it is not subject to the Argentine Prize Tax (Law 20,630); if an Argentine authority determines that a withholding applies to the prizes, the Organizer bears it without deducting it from the prize.
13. Personal data
13.1. No new data is collected to take part: through the POST MY WATCHES TO THE RANKING option, the ranking already receives the game profile name, the numbers of each watch and the Steam account identifier (no real name, email or password), as described in the game’s privacy notice.
13.2. Only winners (and top-20 participants asked to verify) may be asked for: the link or ID of their Steam profile, the name or nickname for the credits and the character (and, for 1st place, the description of the personality and, if they want, the recording of their voice), country of residence, an age confirmation (no documents, unless there is reasonable doubt), an email or Discord username to contact them and, for minors, their guardian’s contact details and authorization; plus the file and recording in section 7.3.
13.3. This data is used only to check eligibility, enforce fair play, deliver prizes, meet legal or tax obligations and, with the corresponding authorization, put the name in the credits and create the character in section 10. It is not sold or shared with third parties, except with Steam/Valve or the payment provider as strictly needed to deliver the prize.
13.4. It is deleted no later than 90 days after the last prize is delivered, except for the name or nickname in the credits and in the game and the voice recordings used for the character (public and permanent, with the authorization in section 10) and whatever the law requires to be kept.
13.5. The data subject may request access, correction, update or deletion of their data at any time by writing to the contact in section 14. Data is processed under Argentine Personal Data Protection Law No. 25,326; the Argentine Agency for Access to Public Information (AAIP), as the supervisory authority under that law, handles complaints from anyone whose data protection rights are affected. For participants in the European Union and the European Economic Area: data is processed to run the Tournament and deliver prizes (legal basis: performing these rules and, for the publicity in 13.6, consent); Argentina has an adequacy decision from the European Commission; and participants also have the rights to data portability and to object, and may complain to the data protection authority of their country.
13.6. By accepting a prize, the winner authorizes the Organizer to publish their profile name, score and place in the results announcement, on Discord, on Steam and on the studio’s social channels, without compensation, during the Tournament and for up to 2 years afterwards. They may ask for only their nickname to be used.
14. Contact, questions and complaints
14.1. Questions and complaints go through THE LONG WATCH Discord server, in the Tournament channel #tournament-help (invite: https://discord.gg/zJS7FfbZ6), or by email to [email protected].
14.2. Complaints about the standings are accepted until 7 calendar days after the results announcement. The Organizer replies within the following 7 days.
14.3. Cheating reports and bugs that break the score are sent privately (direct message to the studio’s Discord account or by email), never in the public channel.
15. Liability
15.1. The Organizer is not responsible for failures, outages or delays of Steam, the internet, the ranking server, the participant’s equipment or third parties that prevent playing, sending a watch or receiving it in time. If a failure of the Organizer’s server prevents recording watches for a significant part of the Window, the Organizer may extend the Window by the same amount of time, announcing it through the channels in section 8.3.
15.2. The Organizer is not responsible for how the winner uses Steam Wallet credit or keys once delivered.
16. Changes, suspension or cancellation
16.1. The Organizer may change these rules, extend the Window, or suspend or cancel the Tournament only for a justified reason (for example massive fraud that can’t be controlled, a serious technical failure, a legal change or force majeure), without altering the essence of the Tournament or harming those who already took part.
16.2. Any change is published on the Tournament page, the Discord channel and Steam, with the date of the new version of the rules. If the Tournament is cancelled after the Window for a reason not attributable to participants, the Organizer will deliver the prizes according to the valid standings at that moment. If it is cancelled during the Window, the Organizer will still deliver the prizes according to the valid standings at the moment of cancellation.
17. Acceptance, language, governing law and jurisdiction
17.1. Taking part in the Tournament means accepting these rules.
17.2. These rules are published in Spanish and English. If the two versions differ, the Spanish version prevails.
17.3. They are governed by the laws of the Argentine Republic. Any dispute is submitted to the ordinary courts of the First Judicial District of the Province of Mendoza, Argentine Republic, without prejudice to any consumer rights the participant has under the law, including the right to sue in the courts of their own domicile where the law so provides.
THE LONG WATCH is a game by LONE TORCH GAMES. Steam and the Steam logo are trademarks of Valve Corporation, which does not sponsor and is not associated with this Tournament.