Sudden Death

When the Tie/Sudden Death game rule is enabled, players may tie the game if both teams explode their enemies’ portals within 4 seconds of each other. This initiates a Sudden Death period, in which the following occurs:

• The portals are relit, but the bases keep the same level of damage.
• Items are given twice as fast as before (if the Minute Mix modifier is not enabled).
• A red tint is applied to the screen.
• Players start with a fresh inventory.
• All previous TNT entities are killed.
• The Swap timer in Swap Mode is shortened to 20 seconds (known as a “Quick Swap”).

The outcome of Sudden Death determines the actual “winner,” so to say, in tie scenarios. However, in the event of multiple successive ties, multiple Sudden Death periods may occur, with the effects of each stacking (i.e. item delay is continually halved until it reaches a minimum delay of 2 ticks).

Since Sudden Death determines the true outcome of the game, some achievements are only rewarded once the 4-second tie window has passed (although, the Premature Celebration achievement is rewarded for the team that initially won before a tie!).