Start ratings when you move

When a cycle moves you to a new division, you need a rating that fits there — because ratings are isolated per division. PickleFriend doesn't reset you to zero or drop you in at the top. It uses a swap that keeps each division's overall strength stable.

The swap rule (cycle moves)

At every division boundary, players move in both directions: some get promoted up out of the lower division, and some get relegated down out of the higher one. The swap pairs them:

• Promoted into a division → you inherit the rating vacated by someone who was relegated out of that division this cycle — a spot near the bottom of your new, higher division.
• Relegated into a division → you inherit the rating vacated by someone promoted out — a spot near the top of your new, lower division.

Movers are matched by strength: the strongest promoted player takes the highest of the vacated bottom slots, and so on down.

Why a swap?

It's mass-conserving. When the number promoted equals the number relegated at a boundary (the usual case), the division's total rating is unchanged — no inflation at the top, no deflation at the bottom. You land in a competitive position: tough but winnable in your new division, rather than starting from scratch or arriving over-rated.

Manual moves are different

When you (the organizer) move a player by hand — a correction or a roster change rather than a cycle outcome — the swap rule doesn't apply:

• No prior history in the target division → the player starts at that division's default rating.
• They've been in that division before → their previous rating and record are restored, exactly as they left it.

The reasoning: a manual move is an organizer decision, not a competitive result, so it shouldn't anchor to a boundary the player didn't earn.

Returning to a division you've played before

Whether by cycle or by hand, if you come back to a division where you already have a history, that history is restored rather than overwritten — unless you never actually played a game there, in which case you simply take the fresh start rating.

Next

See Inactivity decay for how time away affects your standing.