Overview for Experienced Coaches

Ok, so you know how to play and you're a veteran BB player who's just new to FUMBBL. Great. Note that teams can only play against teams in their own division. If you want to play a friendly, practice game with a non-league team, that's fine but you can't upload the results, naturally. Here's the basic overview of the divisions:

Academy

This is a division with the purpose of teaching newcomers to the game and community how things work without the competitiveness of Ranked or Faction. Playing in this division will not affect the match statistics of your account. Also, teams will be unable to play if they go above 150 team rating.

Ranked

Ranked follows the LRB4 (rev) rulings as closely as we can within the constraints of the JavaBBowl client. All LRB races are available in open including the newly Official races designated by the 2003 and 2004 Rules Reviews (ie: Khemri, Elf, Necromantic, Vampire and Ogre). The division is for open play: no matches are arranged and the challenge system is NOT in place. The reason it's called Ranked is because of a league-specific Ranking system which tracks how teams and coaches fare against each other. Ranked division is possibly the most popular and you'll have an easy time finding a match. You can play whomever you want within the following criteria:

• You cannot play the same team against the same opposing team twice in a row
• You are expected to play (roughly) similarly rated teams. Long streaks of 'cherry-picking' for the purpose of gaining ranking or buffing your team will get your account frozen when you get caught. Just be reasonable. A limit of +/- 40 Team Strength applies.
• If you have a select group of people you want to play against, check out the League Division. Get those people to make League teams and you can play each other as often as you like without affecting the ratings or rankings in Ranked.

Blackbox

Blackbox, as Ranked, follows LRB4 rules. Unlike Ranked, however, Blackbox matches are arranged. The division is considered to be more difficult than Ranked by some. Every 15 minutes, during a five minute window, you can "activate" your Blackbox teams. Bowlbot then evaluates all potential matchups, pairing the most suitable teams from the available pool. The division is called Blackbox as you will not know which of your (activated) teams will be used or what opponent race you will face. After matchups have been selected and announced (both in the #FumbblBlackbox? irc channel and on your overview page), these are also treated as having "started": All site rules regarding games that have started apply.

League

League division is for player-run groups in addition to pickup games. If you have a select group of people you want to play with (your own 'league'), League is the place for you. If you want to start your own tourney, League is the place to run it. All the Ranked rules apply, but there is no limit on TS-difference between teams.

Stunty

Completely house-ruled rosters with nothing but stunty teams. Check out the divisions page for more details. Note that the rosters are frequently adjusted as we try out new teams and races. Generally quick (and brutal!) game play and silly plays make Stunty appealing to a lot of people while many purists dislike the unofficial rosters. Give it a shot and see what you think.

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