Byes in Humpty Dumpty
Courts hold four players, so any remainder sits out. Bye Mode decides who, and you choose it when you generate.
When a bye group appears
Divide the players who opted in by 4. Anything left over forms the bye group.
In the set-partners variant the same applies to pairs — courts take two pairs, so an odd pair out sits.
Where you set it
Bye Mode appears in the generation settings, alongside auto-generation configuration. Pick a mode and it is saved to the division, so later rounds keep using it.
By Position — "Bottom-ranked players/teams sit out" By Rotation — "Everyone takes turns sitting out evenly"
Bye Mode exists for Humpty Dumpty and Up and Down the River only. Other ladder formats use flexible court sizes and do not offer the choice.
By Position (the default)
The bottom of the ladder sits out.
This interacts with Humpty Dumpty's fall rule in a way worth understanding: players arriving at the bottom court — either by losing on the top court, or by losing on the bottom court and staying — are exactly the pool the bye is drawn from. The bottom of the ladder is busy, so the bye moves around naturally rather than settling on one person.
By Rotation
Everyone sits out roughly the same number of times, regardless of court.
Instead of taking from the bottom, the app selects whoever has taken the fewest byes so far, counting each player's bye history and picking from the lowest. Players returning from a bye take the court positions of the players going out.
Use this for a social league where sitting out should be shared evenly rather than earned.
What counts as a bye
A bye is a round you were present for but did not play — not simply any round you have no match in.
Someone who joined in week 4, or was checked out earlier, has no matches in those early rounds, but those are absences, not byes, and they do not count.
If early absences counted, a late joiner would look like they had already sat out several times and be shielded from future byes — pushing extra byes onto players who have been there all season.
The great fall and the bye group
When a top-court loser falls to the bottom, they land in the bottom court, not the bye group. The bye is drawn separately according to your mode.
That means a dramatic fall does not also cost you a game — you fall, and you play again next round from the bottom.
Choosing a mode
You want | Use |
|---|---|
Sitting out to follow being at the bottom | By Position |
Everyone to sit out about equally | By Rotation |
A competitive ladder | By Position |
A social league with mixed commitment | By Rotation |
You can change it between rounds. Rotation then balances from the bye history already recorded.