Filling your first tournament is hard. Filling the second one should be easier, but a tournament usually ends at the trophy: the results live in a group chat and nobody thinks about them again. On RNKD, every paid match counts toward a player's rank, so your next event is a chance to climb, not a repeat.
Rec players love to compete, but most local tournaments give them nothing to compete for once the day is over. Winning a Saturday bracket feels great until Monday. Going 0 and 3 feels like the end of it. Either way there's no thread from this event to your next one.
A rank is that thread. It turns "we won once" into "we're Gold now," and "we got crushed" into "we need a few more wins to move up." Both are reasons to register again.
At paid events, every match moves each player's rank: a Tier, a Division, and RP (RNKD Points). Win and they earn RP, lose and they drop some, and upsets pay more. Reach 100 RP and they move up a division.
Free events are casual and don't change anyone's rank, so a paid event on RNKD is the place where it counts. Full details for players: how RNKD ranks work.
Players can see where they stand in their city, county and state. Local is the point: the team ahead of them on the leaderboard is a team they can actually play, at an event like yours. Players choose whether their real name or only their username is shown.
New teams quit when round one is a blowout. Seed your bracket by rank in one tap so the strongest teams don't meet early, or use Swiss, where teams play opponents with similar records and nobody goes home after one loss. Better matches mean more teams that enjoyed the day, and more teams that sign up again.
Picking a format? Read single vs double elimination vs pool play vs Swiss.
Every event you complete on RNKD shows on your next event's page, so a team that has never heard of you can see you've run this before. Your first event is the hardest to fill. Each one after it has the last one behind it.
You can also reward the teams that bring their friends: turn on a team referral reward and captains get money back for each team they bring.
At paid events every match moves each player’s rank, so the next tournament is a chance to climb. Players have a reason to sign up again instead of treating your event as a one-off.
No. Only events with an entry fee move a player’s rank. Free events are for playing casually.
Yes. Seed by rank in one tap so strong teams do not meet in round one, or seed randomly or by hand.
Yes. Your event page shows how many events you have completed on RNKD, so a new player can see you have run this before.
No application and no waitlist. Free events are free, and on paid events you receive the full entry fee you set.