HubThis weekendPastRulesRecord

Rulebook

Thursday to Sunday, straight knockout. Here is the whole shape of it.

1

Entry

Open to anyone with a Skycave or Bluesky account. Sign up during the week; entries close at noon Pacific on Thursday (3 PM Eastern), or when the field is full, whichever lands first. Guests cannot enter, because every fixture tags real handles.
2

The draw

Random pairing, single elimination. Lose your series and you are out. The whole bracket, every fixture and its three games, goes up the moment entries close, so you know what you face and can practise.
3

The schedule

The tournament runs across four evenings, Thursday to Sunday. Each round has its own window with a fixed open and a fixed deadline. Two anchors never change: nothing opens before 8 AM Pacific, and each night's decisive round closes at 10 PM Eastern, the latest timezone, so no one is ever asked to play past their night. On the two days that carry two rounds, there is a one-hour break between them; when a round is the last of its night, the break is simply the rest of the evening and the whole next morning. The final is always Sunday night.

Entries close Thu, 12 PM PT (3 PM ET). Full 64-player shape below; smaller fields need fewer rounds and start later in the week. Your bracket shows every time in your own zone.

  • R1
    Round of 64Thursday
    5-10 PM ET · 2-7 PM PT
  • R2
    Round of 32Friday
    5-10 PM ET · 2-7 PM PT
  • R3
    Round of 16Saturday
    11 AM-4 PM ET · 8 AM-1 PM PT
  • 1-hour break
  • R4
    QuarterfinalsSaturday
    5-10 PM ET · 2-7 PM PT
  • R5
    SemifinalsSunday
    11 AM-4 PM ET · 8 AM-1 PM PT
  • 1-hour break
  • Final
    FinalSunday
    5-10 PM ET · 2-7 PM PT
4

Windows open on time, not early

A round opens at its published time even if the round before it finished early. Win with hours to spare and you rest until the next window opens; a countdown shows exactly when. This is deliberate: it means a match can never go live while you are asleep, and both players meet on a level, scheduled footing. Every round that ends is posted with the next window's countdown, and each new day's play is announced an hour before it opens, so you are never caught out.
5

Show up, not just check in

Checking in only confirms that you intend to play. It does not guarantee that you will advance. If your opponent does not show up, or does not get ready to play within the time, you receive the win, even if they were the one due to make the first move. What matters is being present and ready to play, not whether you managed to make a move.
6

Best of three

Each fixture is best of three. The three games are drawn up front from the pool, and they are the same three for both players. First to two wins goes through; at two nil the third game is not played.
7

A drawn game

If a game ends level it is replayed, as the same game, up to twice. After that the draw stands and the series moves on, falling to total points if it has to, so a fixture can never stall the bracket.
8

Hosting

The host arrives with a slightly warmer connection, so hosting swaps from game to game across a series. Over three games it evens out, and nobody holds the host seat the whole way.
9

Stay active, or you forfeit

Once a game has started, you are expected to stay active and take your turns within the time allowed. If it is your turn and you do not make a move before the timer runs out, you may forfeit that game. If you disconnect, you have a short window to return before it is forfeited. This keeps a whole match from being held up because one player has stopped playing.
10

How a fixture is decided

Most fixtures end on the board: first to two game wins takes it. When they do not, here is how the seat is settled.

If the series runs out of games

When every game is drawn and replayed to its cap, nobody reaches two wins. The series then goes to whoever won more games, and if that is level, to whoever scored more points across the three.

If the deadline arrives with the fixture still open

The seat is awarded by the first of these that separates the two players:

  1. 1Whoever won more games.
  2. 2Whoever showed up and got ready to play when the other did not.
  3. 3If both played, whoever scored more total points.

Check-in order never decides a match

Being the first to check in gives you no advantage. Fixtures are settled by games played and legitimate forfeits, never by who clicked “check in” first.

If neither player shows up to play

The match is a no-contest. Neither player advances, and the next-round opponent receives a walkover. If it happens in the final, no champion is crowned.

11

The play-in

When the field is not a clean bracket size, the last players to register play a play-in: a quick qualifier for the final main-draw seats, held before Round 1. Win it and you are in; lose it and that is your run. Everyone who signed up earlier goes straight into the main draw. So there are no byes, and a real reason to enter early.
12

Keep it good-natured

Play hard, stay kind: everyone in the draw is a real person, and this is a small room. To reach an opponent, use the nudge, which posts a friendly poke to them from your own account. Keep the back and forth on the timeline rather than in DMs, so it stays public, easy to follow, and good-humoured for everyone watching.

Knocked out early? Your weekend is not over: the leaderboard runs all weekend, and there is another tournament next week.