How Up and Down the River works
Four players to a court. One match each round. Win and you move up a court, lose and you move down. That is the whole format.
Two variants
Up and Down the River | Up and Down the River (Set Partners) | |
|---|---|---|
Partners | New partner every round | Same partner all season |
Who moves | Individual players | The pair, together |
The movement rules are identical. The only difference is whether you are re-paired each round or stay with your partner.
Not the same as Ladder League
The names are similar and the mechanics are not. If you have run a Ladder League, this is the difference:
Ladder League | Up and Down the River | |
|---|---|---|
Each round you play | A round robin against everyone on your court | One match |
Court size | 4, 5 or 6 — deliberately uneven | Exactly 4 |
What moves you | Where you finish in the round robin | Whether you won or lost |
How far you move | Up to the movement setting, default 2 courts | Exactly one court |
Ranking | A persistent division-wide ladder rank | Your court, nothing else |
Up and Down the River is the simpler of the two. There is no ladder rank to reason about — your court is your standing.
A round
Players opt in for that date.
You generate the round. Everyone is split into courts of 4, and each court plays one doubles match.
They play; you enter scores.
You generate the next round. Winners go up a court, losers go down.
Movement is not a full wrap
Two exceptions catch people out:
Winners on the top court stay on the top court. There is nowhere above Court 1.
Losers on the top court drop to Court 2 — not to the bottom. Losing the top match costs you one court, the same as anywhere else. This is deliberate, and it is the rule hosts most often expect to work differently.
Losers on the bottom court stay on the bottom court, unless there is a bye group to swap with.
Courts are always 4
Unlike Ladder League, where uneven courts are normal, this format needs exactly four to a court so each court can play one doubles match.
When the numbers do not divide by 4, the leftover players form a bye group. Bottom-court losers swap with the bye players rather than being pushed to a court that does not exist — so the bye rotates through rather than stranding anyone.
If there is only one real court, bye rotation takes priority over everything else.
Related
Getting started with Ladder League — the round robin alternative