Rules of engagement

Join a table by scanning its code or picking the venue in the app. You have to actually be there — joining a queue requires you inside the venue's geofence.

• Winner stays on. The default at a busy table. The winner holds it and the next player in the queue steps up.
• The 30-second call. When it is your turn the app notifies you. Confirm within 30 seconds or you are moved down and the next player is called. Do not step outside when you are second in line.
• Leaving the queue. Drop out any time before you are called, with no penalty. Getting called and going silent is what costs you the slot.

Not every venue enforces the 30-second call — quieter bars leave the queue open-ended. The table's page in the app says which mode it is running.

No single player can enter a result on their own. Both sides confirm the same score from their own device before anything is written down.

• Report. Whoever is holding the phone enters the final score when the match ends.
• Confirm. The opponent gets the same score on their device and either confirms it or reports a different one.
• Commit. On agreement the result is written permanently: Elo moves, faction control points land on that venue, and the match joins the venue's public history.

Until both confirmations land, nothing about the match is visible on any ladder.

Two conflicting reports put the match into a disputed state. Disputes are deliberately expensive so that they stay rare.

• Ratings freeze. Both players' ratings are held where they are. Neither player can join a queue at any venue, anywhere, while the dispute is open.
• Mutual cancellation. The fastest exit. Both players agree to void the match, nobody's rating moves, and both are free again.
• Venue override. A verified venue admin at the bar where it happened can rule on the result. Their decision is final and is recorded as an admin ruling.

Your rating belongs to you, not to the bar you built it in. Walk into a different venue and it comes with you.

• Starting rating. Every player starts at 1200 in each sport. Foosball and darts are rated separately.
• How much moves. The swing depends on the rating gap. Beating someone well above you pays; beating someone well below you barely registers, and losing to them costs.
• The Baron. Each venue's Baron is whoever has won the most confirmed matches there. It counts wins at that specific bar, so it changes hands the moment somebody passes you.
• Nothing decays. Results are permanent. Stopping playing does not erase a record, and it does not protect a rating either.

Current standings are public on the global ladder, and every venue carries its own.

Pick a faction once and every match you win afterwards works for it. There are three: Ember, Arctic and Crimson.

• 10 points a win. A confirmed win adds 10 control points to your faction's total at that specific venue.
• Event multipliers. During a venue event the award is multiplied — a 2× night turns each win into 20 points. The multiplier belongs to the venue running the event, not to every bar.
• Holding a bar. The faction with the most control points inside a venue holds it and flies its colours on the map. Two factions level on points shows as contested until somebody breaks the tie.
• The war. The same points feed the running season. The first faction to the season target takes the war.
• No switching mid-season. Your faction is fixed for the duration. Standings only mean something when the sides are.

Live standings are on the faction war page.

Venue admins are verified staff at a registered bar. Their authority stops at their own tables — and inside that boundary it is absolute.

• Table state. Pause a queue, mark a table out of service, or close it for the night. Spilled pint, broken cue, private function — the table comes off the board.
• Queue management. Remove players who have left the building or are holding a slot they are not using.
• Result decisions. Settle a disputed match played at their venue. The decision is recorded as an admin ruling, not a player report.
• What they cannot do. Admins cannot edit ratings, delete confirmed history, or act on matches played anywhere else.

Running a bar with a table? Register the venue — it costs nothing and needs no hardware.

The ladder is only worth reading if the results on it are real. We treat manufactured results as the serious thing they are.

• No manufactured results. Feeding wins between accounts, arranging losses, or filing matches that were never played gets both accounts permanently removed.
• No exploiting the handshake. Using the dispute freeze to stall an opponent, or confirming results you were not present for, is treated the same way.
• One account per person. Second accounts used to farm rating are removed along with every result they touched.
• Behave in the room. BarSport does not own the venue. Anything the bar decides about who is welcome on its premises stands, and we will honour a venue ban on request.

Full legal terms are in the terms of service.