Before the real bracket games, everyone plays a few quick “sorting” games. They help us find out how strong each player is that day, so we can build fair, close brackets. Here’s the whole idea in plain English — tap Show details on any step to read more.
The warm-up that decides your bracket.
When you check in, the sorting rounds begin. You play a handful of short games, one right after another. Nobody is knocked out yet — these games are just to find the right bracket for you.
Win, it goes up. Lose, it goes down. Who you played matters most.
Each player carries a Strength number. Win a game and it goes up; lose a game and it goes down. The most important part is that who you play matters more than the score:
So you climb by beating tough opponents — not by running up the score. A win is a win: winning 15–2 counts the same as winning 15–13.
Fair matchups, close games, and few repeats.
Your first game is a fair, random matchup. The system makes sure you don’t get a lopsided game, and it won’t stick two brand-new players together. After that, you play someone close to your own Strength, so your games stay close and fun — and it tries not to make you play the same person twice.
Highest Strength on top, next to your wins and losses.
During the sorting rounds, the standings list everyone by their Strength number, highest on top, right next to their win–loss record. Because who you played counts, a close loss to the best player can leave you ahead of someone who blew out the weakest player. This list is exactly the order you’ll be seeded by.
Two fair rules working together.
When sorting ends, we split everyone into brackets. Two things decide where you land:
1. How many people showed up sets the number and size of the brackets — from a fixed chart, not from where the score gaps happen to fall. That way a better sorting run can only lift your spot; it can never hand someone below you a better one.
2. Your Strength decides which bracket you’re in — the strongest players in the top bracket, and so on down. A great day can never bump you down a bracket.
Then, inside your bracket, your win–loss record that day decides your seat. The best record gets the #1 seat — and if the bracket has a bye (a free pass past the first match), the top seat gets it.
Win the match, take the place.
Each bracket is its own little knockout for 1st and 2nd place. Every match starts fresh at 0–0. The player who wins the match places — not the one with the higher Strength or the better record. Seeded lower? Win your games and you can still win your bracket.