How to start a league with your friends

Pick one game for the whole season, so every result counts the same. Good league games take 20 to 45 minutes, work with 1 to 4 people a side and don't need a referee: cornhole, bocce, darts, ping pong, pickleball or kubb. Card and board games work too, as long as two teams or two players face off.

Decide how a game is won before anyone plays: first to a score, best of a few games, lowest score wins, or just who won. That choice decides how you'll break ties later.

Weekly works best: often enough to build a rivalry, rare enough that people show up. Pick one night and a start time, then count the weeks. Six to ten weeks fits between holidays, and skipping a holiday is easier before the schedule goes out than after.

Short on weeks? A one-day tournament gets the whole thing done in an afternoon.

Teams of two suit most lawn games; darts and ping pong often go one-on-one. Four to eight teams keeps a season easy to run, with enough opponents to stay interesting. Name a captain for each team, and agree whether subs are allowed.

Pick a commissioner, too: one person who makes the schedule, settles disputes and has the final say. Usually it's whoever suggested the league.

A weekly season

Teams play a set number of games over the season, and the standings rank them. End with playoffs for the top teams (with 6 teams, the top 4 play semifinals and a final), or let first place take the title.

A one-day tournament

A knockout bracket in one day: lose and you're out. When the number of teams isn't 4, 8 or 16, the top seeds get a bye in the first round. Add a 3rd-place game so the semifinal losers play once more.

A bit of both

Open the season with a kickoff day for bragging rights, then end it with a finals day for the top teams.

Everyone plays everyone

A round robin pairs every team with every other team once. With an even number of teams, it takes one week fewer than you have teams: 6 teams play 5 weeks, one game each a night. Got more weeks? Start the cycle again.

Odd numbers and byes

With an odd number of teams, one team sits out each week, which is called a bye. The round robin then takes as many weeks as you have teams: 5 teams need 5 weeks, and each team sits out once.

Small groups and short nights

Not everyone can come every week? Try triangle nights: three teams come, and each plays the other two, so every team gets two games and the night stays short. If you have two sets of boards or two courts, play side by side and the night ends sooner.

Rank teams by win percentage rather than total wins, so a team with a game still to make up isn't behind just for that. When teams are tied, go down this list:

1. Head-to-head: the results between the tied teams, if they've all played each other.
2. Point differential: points scored minus points allowed. In a game where the lowest score wins, lower is better.
3. Still tied? Flip a coin before the playoffs, not after.

Agree on who records scores, too. The simplest rule: one team enters the score right after the game, the other team confirms it, and the commissioner settles any disagreement.

Make-ups

Keep one extra night after the last week for games that got moved. When a team can't make it, propose a new night and give the other team a couple of days to object.

Rain dates

Playing outside? Hold a backup day a week after finals. If a whole night gets rained out, move its games to new nights rather than cancelling them.

Subs and forfeits

A team that's short a player can bring a sub instead of forfeiting, if your rules allow it. A game still unplayed after the make-up night is a forfeit for the team that couldn't make it. Score a forfeit as a win to the target, like 21–0 in cornhole, and decide how many forfeits keep a team out of the playoffs.

Every crew plays a little differently. Before week 1, write down:

• How a game is won, and how long it can run
• Who goes first, and what happens when time's up
• The calls that start arguments, like a bag that bounces onto the board or a dart that falls out
• Who can sub, and who brings what

Put them where everyone can read them before the first game, not in a message from three weeks ago.

One place for the schedule, scores and standings beats a group chat everyone scrolls past. Send the full schedule before week 1, a reminder a few days before each night and another on the day, and post results the night they happen. Friends and family will want to follow along, too.