Ladder systems for the main game systems

[PaleKing]

At the last committee meeting, on Donalds suggestion we talked about implementing an ongoing ladder system within the club for the main games that are played. The idea would be to have a permanent and ongoing ladder that people could move up and down on depending on their results. What we would like to do is to see if other clubs would like to run ladders of their own so that every couple of months the top few players on each club ladder for a certain game could meet up for a day of friendly competetive gaming.

Anyway – this got me thinking about different ladder systems and I’m looking for suggestions or advice as to what system to use. I anticipate a variation on a system where you can challenge anyone on the ladder to a game and where you climb the ladder by beating someone above you, while dropping if beaten by someone below you.

A couple of aspects to bear in mind. What would happen in a situation where someone at the top of the ladder stopped playing or dissapeared for a while? How would those below him reach the top of the ladder if the leader was not available for games? In the same vein, what should happen if someone refuses a challenge?

Another example of something to think about - if someone beats an oppponent who sits ten places above them, should they move up one space or ten? I.e – should beating the top guy be worth more “climbing points” than beating the bottom guy?

How about - if you beat someone who ranks above you, you move up one while they move down one? This means that the winner swaps position with whovever is above them, while the loser swaps position with whoever is below them.

It would be great to run a ladder for 40K and for WFB at the very least so if anyone has any suggestions or experience of running this sort of ladder please add your suggestions. We should probably aim to have something running that is low maintenance in terms of complexity so that the players themselves can sort out their position son the ladder without needing to report games to an administrator.

In the long term, if ELG and DWARF are up for running their own ladders we could get together with the top four positions from each club on a certain day to play out a mini tournament for a certain system for club points. At the end of a 12 month season the club with the most wins could be awarded a trophy.

[GlossFinish]

Great idea....I know I'm Very new to the club...(heck Ive just been let outa the wrapper..(No longer MIB)).

Years ago I used to run a Squash ladder for lads at HMS Petrievie.

Anyhow brief idea was.

Ladders first set up totally Random....Any number of players, the more the better really.....(names in a hat or something like that)

Once uve got ur spot, you can challenge anyone up to 3 slots ahead of u in the Ladder....if u win u take their slot and they take ur's.....ie..say I'm 10th place i can challenge 9th,8th and 7th place....if i win i can get there slot, so Ive won against the player in 7th place, this gives me his slot he drops to my old slot of 10th as he lost....
This can run in conjunction with a point system like the pools or some such win, draw, lose system.

if u refuse a challenge u lose ur place to the challanger..(this is canceled out if u have already accepted a challenge from another player)....if u go say 3 weeks without playing a ladder game u drop out of the ladder at the point u were at and rejoin at the bottom...(harsh but necessary as it promotes active play). This way everyone moves up the ladder should that happen..

Once per month the Person needs a free week in which to adjust the rankings and reset the board for no-activity etc.

u can only play one challenge match per week, otherwise who ever is running the ladder will get swamped...and all challenges must be registered say by the Monday of that week....(allows for people to post and accept challenges)

this all sounds complicated but once its up and running it kinda ticks along fine....initial set-up is the pain in the rump though.


that was how I ran the Squash ladder....
thats one way I'm sure there are others.

Oh and.........

A simple T-Card system with everyones name on a T-card and a T-Card Holder...(A long metal Bar with slots in it for the cards), can work just as well as doing it on-line. This can be Kept at the club and Ladder Matches sorted out for the up coming week ahead, if there's a no show, u lose ur challenge and either don't move or lose ur spot. A List of won and Drawn, lost games can be noted on the back of ur Card.

Bil...

[Asurya]

This would be nice and I would recommend that if we do this system to simply approach the ladder scoring/ranking using the ELO system (Chess etc)

In short, each player will start with 50 points, and depending upon who you play and the difference between your ratings will determine how many points your rating goes up by (i.e. If you beat someone next in the ladder you gain a small bonus in points, but if you beat someone at the top when your at the bottom, then you gain a large bonus, and they lose large as well).

It also has the added function in that you don't have to really worry about the player at the top of the ladder not playing anyone, as the second player in the ladder will continue to rise in points regardless of who he plays (he just doesn't get that many points from beating someone at the bottom of the ladder).

I have an Excel spreadsheet which is capable of handling the calculations and we can maybe explore the option of having it ported onto the website (buts that a job for someone with proper web dev skills).