Humpty Dumpty

Humpty Dumpty is mechanically almost identical to Up and Down the River. Players are ranked and split into groups of four, one group per court, with one doubles match per round. Winners still move up one court. The difference is what a loss does. In Humpty Dumpty, losing does not send you down. Losers stay on their current court and get another chance to climb. The exception is the top court. If you lose on Court 1, you do not stay put and you do not slide down one. You fall all the way to the bottom. This makes defending the top court high-stakes, because a single slip at the summit erases your position in one round.

How it works

Players are ranked and split into groups of four.
Each group is assigned to one court.
Every round is a single doubles match.
Winners move up one court.
Losers on Courts 2 through bottom stay on their current court.
Losers on the bottom court stay on bottom.
Losers on Court 1 fall all the way to the bottom court.

Individual and Set Partners

Humpty Dumpty exists in both Individual and Set Partners variants.

Individual: Players register solo and get a new partner every round.
Set Partners: Two players register as a fixed pair and stay together all season. They move as a single unit.

Bye handling

Like River, Humpty Dumpty handles uneven player counts with a bye group. The Bye Mode setting is available:

By Position (default): the lowest-ranked players sit out.
By Rotation: everyone takes turns sitting out evenly over time.

For more on bye settings, see Bye Mode for Ladder Leagues.

Settings that apply

Player Movement — controls how many players or teams move up and down at each court boundary. Set to 1 or 2. Default is 2.
Group Size Priority — when the count is not a clean multiple of 4, decides whether groups of four or five sit on the top courts. Default: 4s on top.
Scoring Type — Match Wins (default) or Individual Game Wins.

When to choose it

Choose Humpty Dumpty when you want a fun, high-stakes "king of the hill" atmosphere where holding the top court actually feels like an accomplishment.

For a comparison of movement rules, see How court movement works in Ladder formats. To start your first round, see Starting games in Ladder formats.

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