New Year's Duel Tournaments. Regulations, Rules.

And then what?

The first player chooses one of the castles. Then the second player.
Therefore, 2 castles are inactive.
You can leave 3 castles... or 5... or even all 8... but I personally stopped at 4; if you don't like it, suggest how many can be left. :)

I would replace it with:
... points, the result of reaching the next stage is determined by the games played between them.
(Each plays three games against each other, there can be no draws, which reduces the hassle considerably)

Hmm... let me think...
I'm still in favor of resolving controversial situations through gameplay; if there's so much randomness here, it could have just been bad luck in a head-to-head match. ;)
But I might change it.