Tournament rules - Number of players per table

One reading of the tournament rules reveals:

"Tables of 4 & 5 players are required by the tournament rules and no other quantity is allowed, in fact all other quantities are prohibited in standard constructed tournaments."

Specifically, 3.1.2.
vekn.net/index.php/tournament-rules

3.1.2 wrote:

The judge will randomly and impartially assign players in groups of five. In the event that the number of players is not evenly divisible by five, the judge will assign players in groups of four and five, such that as many groups as possible contain five players.

What is the official interpretation of this document?

Thanks for asking this!

This is the confusing paragraph in my opinion. The "may use" part.

"If the players cannot be divided into groups of 4 and 5 (i.e., there are 6, 7, or 11 players), then the judge may elect to use a seating arrangement in which some players sit out each round (while still ensuring that every player plays the same number of games, usually equal to one less than the number of rounds)."

Azazel wrote:

Thanks for asking this!

This is the confusing paragraph in my opinion. The "may use" part.

"If the players cannot be divided into groups of 4 and 5 (i.e., there are 6, 7, or 11 players), then the judge may elect to use a seating arrangement in which some players sit out each round (while still ensuring that every player plays the same number of games, usually equal to one less than the number of rounds)."

What I gather of these quotes, a player who sits a game out has to be given a chance to play his game still. In a 11 player tournament that would mean that there would need to be 11 rounds so that everyone gets to play exactly 10. That's not exactly reasonable, since we hardly find time for 3R+F in our local tournaments. 2R+F has been found sufficient, fun and reasonable for everyone.

It's not exactly fair that a random player sits a game out, nor is it exaclty fun for anyone either. In Tampere, I heard, they used a mechanic that the leading player sits the table out if there's need. In smaller, local tournaments like ours, it might be an okay idea, since that 2+GW (which will be the minimum to qualify as a 'leading player' in most cases, I believe) might still be enough for finals, but anyone sitting games out diminishes his chances of getting into finals considerably.

No one likes 11 player tournaments, or tables of 4, not to mention 3, or the occasions that someone needs to leave for a reason or another which messes up the tables, but what's really the BEST way to deal with these issues?

Yes it does, but as the rules say it´s optional to use that seating.