I like the idea of a two-phase game, where for the first phase (most of the game), you're motivated to play your hardest for the entire duration, because the sc

I like the idea of a two-phase game, where for the first phase (most of the game), you're motivated to play your hardest for the entire duration, because the score imbalance wouldn't mean you win, but would just mean you have that much more of a relative advantage in the second phase. And then the second phase could be evenly-matched, or it could be David and Goliath, but then still anything could happen.