Create your first ladder league
Walk through the Create Ladder modal — divisions, mode, promotion rules, spares, and decay — so you start with the right settings.
One thing to understand first: each division rates on its own scale
Every division you create gets its own isolated rating pool. A player's rating in Div B tells you where they stand among Div B players — it is not on the same scale as Div A, and it never carries over between divisions. If the same person plays in two divisions, they hold two separate ratings, one per division.
Why it's built this way:
- Ratings converge on true skill faster. A rating sharpens by comparing you against the people you actually play. Inside a division everyone plays everyone at a comparable level, so each result is informative and the numbers settle quickly.
- Standings stay honest. A single ladder-wide number would be distorted by tiers that rarely intermix — "mid-pack in Div B" and "mid-pack in Div A" aren't the same thing, and pretending they're on one scale makes both less accurate.
When a player moves divisions they get a fresh start rating appropriate to the new division. For the full model, see Divisions and tiers.
Open Groups from your dashboard and click Create Ladder League. The modal walks you through every setting — here's what each one does.
1. Name and mode
Ladder Name is the name of the ladder as a whole — the umbrella over all your divisions. "Tuesday Night Ladder" or "Club Championship" are the kind of thing players will recognize. You can rename it later from group settings.
Mode is the most consequential choice you'll make here:
- Individual — each person has their own rating and moves between divisions alone. Partnerships rotate every session. Best for open clubs and drop-in groups.
- Team (Fixed Partners) — a specific pair is the rated unit. "Alice & Bob" has one rating, separate from any other Alice pairing.
This shapes everything downstream — how ratings are stored, how movement works, and how the mixer is run. See Individual vs team mode before deciding, especially if you're unsure. You can't flip modes mid-season without essentially starting over.
2. Division structure
Number of Divisions (2–10, default 2) sets how many tiers you start with — A at the top, then B, C, and so on. You can add more later. Starting with more than you need leaves some empty, so most new ladders do fine with 2–3. Remember: each division keeps its own rating pool (see above), so every division you add is another separate ratings scale.
Promote / Relegate N controls how many players move at each cycle. The top N from each lower division are promoted; the bottom N from each upper division are relegated. Default is 2. Adjust based on how often you play — a very active group can handle a higher number because ratings stabilize quickly.
3. Eligibility
Min Games for Eligibility (default 3) sets a floor: players below that game count in the current cycle window are excluded from promotion and relegation, so brand-new players don't move before they've settled. Set it to 0 to skip the gate.
Include inactive in relegation (on by default) means players who didn't play in the latest session can still be relegated. This discourages no-shows — sitting out the session to protect your position won't work. The flip-side option, Include inactive in promotion, is off by default — promotion is tied to active play, so a player who sat out the session is not moved up.
4. Auto-invite scope
These two checkboxes control which divisions a player is automatically invited to when you use scheduled events.
Auto-invite to lower divisions simultaneously — a player in Div A also gets an invite to Div B (and further down). Turn it on when you want higher-tier players to fill gaps in weaker divisions.
Auto-invite to higher divisions simultaneously — a player in Div B also gets a Div A invite. Useful for surfacing talent quickly.
Neither is on by default. You can adjust these later in ladder settings. See Spares for the full picture on cross-division play.
5. Spare promotion and protection
When a player fills in for a session in a division that isn't their home tier, two settings control what happens:
Spare-up promotion (3 options):
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Never (default) | Sparing up never affects which division you belong to. Movement only happens through standard cycle runs. |
| Defer | A player who spares up is promoted at the next cycle. |
| Instant | The first game a player plays in the higher division moves them there immediately. |
Spare-down demotion (2 options):
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Protected (default) | A player filling in a lower division can't be relegated by that division's cycle result. |
| Relegate at cycle | A bottom-of-table finish while sparing down can drop the player a division when the cycle runs. |
Most leagues leave both at the defaults (Never / Protected). Adjust once you've seen how spares behave in your group.
6. Rating decay
Enable rating decay between cycles (on by default) applies a rating reduction to inactive players each cycle. The visible rating dips — the underlying matchmaking score is never reduced — so active players naturally float above inactive ones in the standings, preventing the ladder from calcifying around people who've stopped coming.
Per-cycle decay rate (default 1%) is the base percentage applied each cycle a player misses. Leave it at 1 to start; you can tune it from the group's Ratings settings later.
Decay curve — Exponential (default) applies the base rate to the first missed cycle, then doubles the increment each subsequent cycle of inactivity, so a long absence accumulates faster than a single missed cycle. Linear applies the same flat rate every cycle.
After you create
Clicking Create Ladder sets up the ladder and all its divisions in one step. Go into each division and add your players to their starting tiers. If you use scheduled play, create your first event through the scheduler. Run a few sessions and record scores so ratings have time to build — then trigger a cycle from the ladder dashboard when you're ready for promotion and relegation.
The ladder dashboard shows standings for each division side-by-side. You can move players manually at any time, regardless of where the cycle algorithm would have placed them.
Not sure you want divisions yet? A lighter alternative
You can get a ladder-like feel without creating a ladder league at all: run a normal rated group and apply the mixer's Rating Isolation or Ladder preset. Similar-rated players group onto the same courts — a soft, emergent "court ladder" — and as scores come in, players drift up or down court by court. Everyone shares one rating pool, so there are no divisions, no promotion/relegation cycles, and none of the multiple-isolated-pools bookkeeping described above. It's a great way to feel out ladder competition before committing to a full ladder league.
What's next
- What is a ladder league? — the big-picture overview if you want to understand the model before diving in.
- Individual vs team mode — deeper coverage of the mode decision and what it changes.
- Promotion and relegation — how cycles work and how to run them.
- Spares — full detail on cross-division fill-ins and the spare promotion settings above.
- Inactivity decay — how the decay schedule works and when it runs.