Divisions and tiers

A ladder is made of divisions stacked into tiers. Div A is tier 1 (the top), Div B is tier 2, and so on down. Players or teams compete within their own division; cycles move them between tiers.

Ratings are isolated per division

This is the key mental model: a rating belongs to a division, not to a person across the whole ladder. Two players in different divisions aren't on the same numeric scale — Div A's ratings and Div B's ratings are separate pools.

Why it's built this way:

• It keeps each division's standings internally fair and comparable.
• When you move divisions, you get a start rating appropriate to your new division rather than dragging a number across tiers that wouldn't mean the same thing. See Start ratings when you move.

Seeding players into divisions

When you set up the ladder, you place each player or team into a starting division based on your read of their level. New arrivals mid-season get added to a division and start at that division's default rating until they've played enough games to settle in.

You don't have to get seeding perfect — that's what promotion and relegation are for. After a cycle or two, players naturally migrate to the tier where their games are competitive.

Don't use DUPR-style numbers as ladder seeds

Type your read of a player's level into the placement decision, not into the rating field. DUPR-style numbers (a 3.5, a 4.2) don't work as ladder ratings — because each division is a skill tier with its own isolated scale, the same player would need a different number in every division (roughly a 3.0 in the top division and a 4.5 two tiers down would describe the same player). There is no single DUPR number that means the right thing across the ladder, and promotion/relegation assumes the shared internal scale, so a DUPR number entered as a seed just skews the math. Ladders deliberately don't offer the "calibrate to a DUPR scale" shortcut that standard groups have. Instead, keep the DUPR figure in the Skill / DUPR note field (it shows as a badge and never touches ratings), or leave the seed blank and let the division's default rating plus a few games find the player's level.

Adding an existing player to another division starts fresh

Because ratings are isolated per division, adding a player who already plays in one division to a second division starts them at the new division's default rating — their earned rating does not carry over. That's intentional: a number that means "mid-pack in Div B" wouldn't mean the same thing in Div A. When this happens, the dashboard shows a short notice explaining why the rating didn't follow. (This is different from moving a player between divisions, which takes them out of the old one — see Running a cycle → manual moves.)

How many divisions?

There's no cap. A practical rule of thumb:

• 2–3 divisions for a small club (roughly 12–30 regulars).
• More divisions as you grow, so each one has enough players for good matchups and meaningful movement.

Each division needs enough active players that a cycle can move people without emptying it — the system always keeps at least one qualifying player in a division after a cycle, so very small divisions simply move fewer people.

Next

See Promotion and relegation for how a cycle decides who moves.