Starting games in Ladder formats
Use Start Games to generate groups and matches for Up and Down the River, Ladder League, Humpty Dumpty, Crazy 8's, and Cream of the Crop.
Start a round
Tap the admin button.
Select Start Games.
Choose a sorting method.
Optional: enable One group per court.
Tap Continue.
Review the generated groups in the editor.
Tap Save & Start Playing.
The group editor opens automatically so you can fix assignments before play begins.
Choose a sorting method
From Previous Round Results: continue ladder progression from the last round.
Random: distribute players randomly.
By Event Rank: each player carries a single rank number that moves based on finishing position (1st = +3, 2nd = +1, 3rd = −1, 4th = −3). Week 1 is random; subsequent weeks use results. Requires player counts in multiples of 4. See How to run a ladder league with "By Event Rank".
By Standings: group players using current standings.
By DUPR Rating: group by DUPR skill level.
By VAIR Rating: group by VAIR skill level.
By Anchor Rating: group by Anchor rating.
Knockout: run a single-elimination bracket. Choose how many players take part; the app seeds them best-versus-worst and handles uneven bracket sizes automatically. Winners advance and losers are eliminated.
Cream of the Crop always groups from standings, so the sorting method has no effect there. See Generate rounds in Cream of the Crop.
Round 1 versus later rounds
For Round 1, use Random, By Standings, or a rating-based method. For Round 2 and later, use the previous round's results when you want the ladder to progress naturally.
The number of players moving up and down each round — 1 or 2 — is set in Event Settings → Ladder League Configuration. See Ladder League Configuration settings.
Knockout rounds
When you choose Knockout as the sorting method, you can run a single-elimination bracket inside a ladder league round. Choose how many players take part, and the app seeds them best-versus-worst — top seed against the lowest, and so on. Winners advance and losers are eliminated. The app automatically handles uneven bracket sizes.
This is a useful way to finish a season: run the league as normal, then use a knockout round to crown a winner.
Per-format generation
Each ladder format has its own generation article with the details specific to it:
What to do next
After groups are generated, review them in Editing groups in Ladder formats. If you want later rounds to start automatically, turn on Auto-generation in Ladder formats. For one-court-per-group setup, see Court management in Ladder formats.