How does a season of play unfold?
Seasons of structured play, from enrolment to a final session, are refereed fairly and carry no stakes except honour. This page explains how each is arranged.
What happens from enrolment to the final?
Enrolment
A season opens with an enrolment period during which individuals and teams register through the join form or the chat server. Solo entries are welcome, and the organiser matches them with others in a way that mixes experience.
Forming the tables
Once enrolment closes, the organiser forms the tables and posts them on the wall by the window. Each table is given a mix of long-standing members and recent arrivals, so that no table is composed only of experts.
Fixtures
Each table plays a scheduled fixture every week, either in the house or, by arrangement, over the network. Absences are agreed in advance with the organiser, who notes them without any fuss and will rearrange a fixture where a roster requires it.
Refereeing
The league referee attends fixtures, hears any dispute privately and records the decision with its reasoning. No ruling is announced before both sides have been heard, and none is made in front of the room.
The final session
The leading tables meet for a final evening that the whole house is invited to attend, newcomers and long-standing members alike. Play is unhurried, spectators are quiet, and the closing round is followed by tea, which is the real ceremony. Members who cannot attend may follow the result in the chat server.
Honours
The winners receive a title for the following season, their names in the book of seasons and the privilege of choosing the opening game of the next. The runners-up are thanked by name at the closing round. No money or goods change hands, and no honour is awarded before the table has been tidied.
How are the weeks arranged?
What do members ask about a season?
Must I belong to a team in order to enrol?
No. Individuals are placed at tables by the organiser, and a considerable number of lasting friendships have begun in precisely that way, sometimes to the surprise of both parties. If you prefer to enrol with friends, please say so on the form.
What happens when a fixture cannot be attended?
Please inform the organiser through the chat server before the evening. Fixtures may be moved by a few days, and the season includes a rest week so that absences caused by rosters or illness can be absorbed.
Who decides a disputed result?
The league referee. Both sides are heard separately, any notes or screenshots are examined, and a decision is made with its reasons, which are written down and kept in the book. A replay is the usual outcome, and nobody is ever censured in public.
Is there a prize for the winners?
There is an honour, and no prize. The winners receive a title, a place in the book of seasons and the right to select the next opening game. No money, vouchers or goods are offered by the guild or by anyone else.
May newcomers take part in their first month?
They may, and they are encouraged to. A newcomer is placed at a table with a Guide, the opening rounds are deliberately gentle, and nobody's place in the season depends on early results, so there is no reason to wait.
What does the winner receive?
The winning table is named in the book of seasons, which sits on the shelf beside the library and is read aloud, in part, at the opening evening of each new season. The members of that table also choose the opening game of the next season, a privilege that is surprisingly well used.
I am sometimes asked why we do not offer something more. My answer is that we tried to imagine a reward that the guild would value more than a good story well played, and we could not. The book is read, the names are remembered, and the title is worn lightly. I have known a winning table to give its honour away within the hour, to a newcomer who had never won anything before.
