Tournament Rules

1. About these rules

1.1. These Tournament Rules ("Rules") form part of the Reloader Terms and Conditions ("T&C"). Words defined in the T&C have the same meaning here. If these Rules and the T&C conflict, the T&C prevail.

1.2. These Rules apply to every competition run on the Reloader platform:

• (a) Weekly Tournaments ("weeklies"), including their weekly playoffs and the cycle Grand Final;
• (b) regular tournaments, in single-elimination, group-stage-then-playoff and custom formats; and
• (c) free-for-all ("FFA") / deathmatch tournaments.

1.3. Tournaments are hosted on reloader.gg and on alliance sites (for example <alliance>.reloader.gg). A tournament hosted by an alliance, or co-hosted by several alliances, runs on the Reloader platform under these Rules. The organiser sets the details of each event on its event page (for weeklies, the series page). Examples are the game, the format, team size, dates and times, registration settings, the Discord requirement and any prize. In these Rules, the "organiser" means the alliance or Reloader team running the event, together with the admins it appoints.

1.4. Many values in these Rules can be set per series or per event. Where the platform has a default, these Rules give it as "by default … unless the series page states otherwise". The value shown on the series or event page is the one that applies. When a weekly series changes its rules, the change applies to weeks created after the change. Weeks already created keep the rules they started with.

1.5. All times are in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

1.6. Pick'Ems contests are not covered by these Rules. They are governed by the Game Rules.

1.7. These Rules may be translated. If a translation differs from the English version, the English version prevails.

2. Eligibility

2.1. Account. To take part in a weekly series you need a Reloader account. Your account must be active. It must not be blocked, suspended, pending closure or self-excluded. An account in any of these states cannot use tournament features on the website. Internal test and automated accounts cannot create a weekly team, be invited to one by username or email, or be added to one as a substitute.

2.2. Regular tournaments. The event page shows how you register: with your Reloader account on the website, through Discord, or both. If the organiser allows both, you must register with a Reloader account whichever route you use. If an event allows registration through Discord only, you can enter without a Reloader account. These Rules still apply to you.

2.3. One account per person. The T&C allow one account per person. Taking part with more than one account is prohibited (Section 15).

2.4. Restricted and prohibited jurisdictions. The T&C list Restricted and Prohibited Jurisdictions. For weekly rewards, we check both the country your account signed up from and the country of your last login. If either is in a restricted or prohibited jurisdiction, we pay neither the cash part nor the bonus part of the reward (Section 14). If we cannot confirm your stored country, we do not pay the reward.

2.5. Age and identity before cash prizes. We pay the cash part of a weekly reward only after your identity has been verified (KYC). Your verification must still be valid. Verified KYC is how we confirm that you are 18 or over. If you are not yet verified when a cash reward is due, we open a verification case for you. We can pay the reward once you are verified. The bonus part of a reward does not need KYC, but the jurisdiction rule in Section 2.4 still applies to it.

3. Discord and game IDs

3.1. Discord requirement (weeklies). Each weekly series sets the Discord requirement to off, optional or mandatory. The series page shows the setting and names the organiser's Discord server.

• (a) Mandatory. When the captain registers the team for a week, and when a teammate or substitute accepts an invite, that player must have a Discord account linked to Reloader. They must also be a member of the organiser's server. If they are not, the action is refused until they are. If we cannot check membership at that moment, the action is refused and you can try again.
• (b) Optional. You can take part either way. If you are not linked or not a member, we record that and send you the server invite.
• (c) Checks after registration. When registration closes, we re-check every member of every entered team. We also re-check periodically while the week is running. A player who is not linked or has left the server is flagged to the organiser and asked to fix it. Players are not removed automatically.

3.2. Discord requirement (regular tournaments). The organiser may require membership of its Discord server for players who register on the website, for players who register through Discord, or both. For a website registration, you must also have Discord linked to your Reloader account. We check this when you register. If you do not meet the requirement, your registration is refused.

3.3. Game ID. Every player needs a valid game ID for the event's game:

• (a) Counter-Strike 2: your SteamID64 (a 17-digit number).
• (b) VALORANT: your Riot ID, in the form Name#TAG.

A weekly team cannot register for a week until every rostered player, including any substitute, has set a valid game ID and filled in every required registration field on the series page. You may update your game ID while your roster is locked. In weeklies, your game ID is shown to the organiser and to both teams of a scheduled match.

4. Teams

Weekly teams

4.1. Format. Weekly teams play 2v2. A team has a captain and one teammate. It may also have one substitute, who does not count towards the two seats. You can be on one team per series at a time. Each series is for one game, and teams and ratings in one series are separate from every other series.

4.2. Creating and naming a team. Any eligible player can create a team and becomes its captain. A team name must be 2–40 characters and unique within the series; capitalisation is ignored when comparing names. An optional tag is 1–6 letters or digits. The captain may rename the team, and change its tag, at any time while the series is open, under the same rules. Playoff and Grand Final brackets that were already created keep the name the team had at that time.

4.3. Invites. Only the captain can invite. The captain can invite a player by username or by email, or share an invite link. Each invite fills either the teammate seat or the substitute seat.

• (a) A team can have only one pending invite per open seat.
• (b) A captain can send up to 20 invites in any 24 hours.
• (c) An invite to a username expires after 7 days. An email or link invite lasts until the next registration close, and never more than 7 days.
• (d) Whoever accepts an invite, including by link, must have an active account in good standing; deleted, suspended and internal test accounts cannot accept.
• (d) An email invite can only be accepted by the account that uses that email address and has verified it.
• (e) The captain can revoke any invite that is still pending.

4.4. Roster lock. A team's roster locks when registration closes for a week the team is entered in. It stays locked until that week is complete. It is also locked while the team is seeded in a Grand Final that is in progress. While the roster is locked, the captain cannot invite, remove a teammate or disband the team, and no member can leave. The organiser may still add, remove or swap the substitute while the roster is locked.

4.5. Captaincy. If the captain leaves, the captaincy passes to the remaining teammate. There is no other way to transfer the captaincy. If a substitute leaves, nothing else about the team changes.

4.6. Leaving and disbanding. The captain can remove the teammate, and any member can leave, while the roster is unlocked. A team is disbanded when its last main player leaves or when the captain disbands it. The substitute also leaves when the team is disbanded. When a team is disbanded:

• (a) its pending invites are revoked;
• (b) its entries for weeks whose registration is still open are withdrawn;
• (c) its pending challenges are cancelled; and
• (d) its results and rating stay on record.

The organiser can also disband a team, but not while its roster is locked.

Regular-tournament teams

4.7. Team size. The event page states the team size, from 1 (solo) to 5 players. Team events have 2 to 5 players per team. FFA and custom events may be solo or team-based.

4.8. Registration and approval. The player who registers the team becomes its captain. Other players ask to join the team or join by invite, and the captain approves or rejects each request. When the roster is full, the team waits for the organiser's approval. Only teams the organiser approves take part. The organiser may also reject a team or move it to the waitlist. The organiser cannot reject a team that has already been eliminated. Once any score has been entered, the organiser cannot un-approve a team.

4.9. Substitute. In team formats, each team may have one substitute. The substitute does not count towards the team size and cannot be captain. After the organiser confirms the bracket, only the organiser can add or change a substitute. The one exception is a team that is still on the waitlist.

4.10. Leaving. You can leave your team while registration is open and the bracket has not been released. You cannot leave once the tournament is complete. If the captain leaves or is removed, the earliest-joined remaining approved member becomes captain. If no approved member remains, the team is left without players. The organiser may remove a player at any time until the tournament is complete, and we notify the captain.

4.11. There is no team-rename or captaincy-transfer function in regular tournaments.

5. Weekly Tournaments: the week

5.1. The week. A weekly week runs from Monday 00:00 UTC. By default:

The series page may set other times.

5.2. Registration. The captain registers the team for a week. You can register for the current week, until its registration closes, and for the following week. To register, a team needs two main players, a valid game ID for every rostered player, every required registration field completed, and the Discord requirement met where it applies (Section 3). The captain can withdraw the team until registration closes, but only if the team has not yet had a match that week.

5.3. Match limits. By default, unless the series page states otherwise:

• (a) each match is best of 3 maps;
• (b) a team can play at most 8 open-play matches a week; and
• (c) a team needs at least 5 settled results in a week to be eligible for that week's playoff.

Two teams can meet only once a week in open play.

6. Weekly Tournaments: challenges

6.1. Challenges. Only captains can challenge. A captain can challenge a named team (a direct challenge) or post a looking-for-match offer that any other registered team's captain can accept. The proposed time must be inside the week's open-play window and not in the past. A team can have at most 3 open challenges or offers at once. The captain who posted a challenge can cancel it while it is still pending.

6.2. When a team can take a match. A match is created only when both teams are registered for the week, have two main players, are under their weekly match limit and have not already met that week. A team also cannot start a new match while any of its matches is still unplayed, awaiting confirmation or in dispute.

6.3. Expiry. A challenge expires at whichever comes first: the proposed match time, or, by default, 12 hours after it was sent (unless the series page states otherwise).

6.4. Declines. Only a direct challenge can be declined, and only by the challenged team's captain. By default, unless the series page states otherwise:

• (a) each team has 2 free declines a week;
• (b) every further decline counts as a forfeit loss: the challenging team is recorded as the winner, and the result counts towards ratings, match limits and the once-a-week rule; and
• (c) a direct challenge that expires unanswered counts as a decline.

If recording the forfeit would break a match limit or the once-a-week rule, no forfeit is recorded. The decline still counts.

7. Match results

Weekly results (open play, playoffs and Grand Final)

7.1. Reporting. After a match, the captain of either team reports the result as a map score. In a best-of-N match, the winner must reach the majority of maps: for example, 2-0 or 2-1 in a best of 3. The captain may also enter the round score for each map. If round scores are entered, they must be given for every map played and must match the map score.

7.2. Confirming or disputing. The other team's captain then confirms or disputes the report. A captain cannot confirm their own team's report. To dispute a report, the captain must state what the correct result is.

7.3. Automatic confirmation. If the other captain neither confirms nor disputes, the report is confirmed automatically. By default this happens 12 hours after it was submitted, unless the series page states otherwise. A disputed result is never confirmed automatically.

7.4. Final results. A confirmed result, and a forfeit, is final. It cannot be voided and it updates the Reloader Rating (Section 10). Weekly playoff and Grand Final results are reported the same way, on the weekly hub.

Regular-tournament results

7.5. Single-elimination brackets. Once the organiser has confirmed the bracket of the first stage, the organiser records every result in that stage, and captains cannot report. Otherwise, both captains report the score:

• (a) if the two reports match exactly, the result is recorded;
• (b) if they differ, the match is in dispute and the organiser resolves it; and
• (c) a captain may correct their own report until the other captain has reported.

A knockout match cannot end in a draw. A match in dispute blocks the winner's progress until it is resolved.

7.6. Group stages. The organiser enters the scores of group-stage matches.

7.7. FFA and custom events. The organiser decides and records the outcome (Section 13).

8. Disputes

8.1. The organiser resolves disputes. For a weekly match, the organiser may:

• (a) set the final score;
• (b) confirm the reported score as submitted; or
• (c) rule a forfeit against one team.

For a regular-tournament match, the organiser records the result.

8.2. The organiser may take into account any information either team provides. The organiser's decision on a match is final for that event. The only exception is the correction of a regular-tournament result under Section 9.4.

8.3. Every decision is recorded in our logs.

9. No-shows, forfeits, walkovers, voids and resets

9.1. Weeklies. The organiser may:

• (a) mark a no-show, but only after the scheduled match time has passed and only if no result has been reported. The absent team takes a forfeit loss;
• (b) rule a forfeit against either team in any match that is not yet settled;
• (c) void an open-play match that is not yet settled. A voided match has no result, does not affect ratings and frees the match slot. Playoff and Grand Final matches cannot be voided, because they need a winner; and
• (d) reschedule a match that has not been played.

9.2. Regular tournaments: check-in. Where the event uses check-in, check-in opens before the start. By default it opens 30 minutes before, unless the event page states otherwise. An approved team that has not checked in when check-in closes at the start is marked as a no-show and does not take part. The organiser may instead start a tournament without check-in. In that case every approved team takes part.

9.3. Regular tournaments: in the bracket. The organiser may mark one or both teams in an unplayed match as no-shows.

• (a) If one team is present, it advances by walkover. No score is recorded.
• (b) If neither team is present, the match is void and neither team advances.
• (c) The organiser may move a team between open bracket slots that have not been decided.

9.4. Regular tournaments: resets. The organiser may reset a recorded result. A reset also reverses every later result that depended on it. The final cannot be reset, and no result can be reset once the final on its path has been played.

9.5. Every no-show, walkover, void, move and reset is recorded in the tournament's permanent event log.

10. Reloader Rating (RR)

10.1. Each weekly team has a Reloader Rating ("RR"), an Elo-style rating. A team starts at 1000. Its rating changes after every settled result it plays: confirmed results, forfeits, playoff matches and Grand Final matches.

10.2. For each result, the change is K × (score − expected score). The score is 1 for a win and 0 for a loss. The expected score is 1 / (1 + 10^((opponent's rating − own rating) / 400)). The change is rounded to the nearest whole number.

10.3. By default, unless the series page states otherwise, K is 32. It is doubled for a team's first 3 results, while its rating is provisional. Each team uses its own K, so the two teams' changes may not add up to zero.

10.4. A team's RR never decays and is never reset. It stays with the team, including after the team is disbanded. Ratings are separate for each series.

10.5. RR is used only to rank teams, break ties and pick the bounty holder, as these Rules describe. It has no monetary value and cannot be transferred, exchanged or withdrawn.

11. Weekly ranking and playoff

11.1. Eligibility. A team is eligible for the weekly playoff if it has at least the minimum number of settled open-play results that week (Section 5.3). Confirmed results and forfeits both count. It must also still have two main players on an active team.

11.2. Ranking. Eligible teams are ranked by the total RR they gained in that week's open play. Teams that are tied are separated in this order:

1. head-to-head wins among the tied teams;

2. map difference;

3. round difference;

4. current RR; and

5. a fixed technical order.

11.3. Seeding. Seeding happens once open play has ended and every open-play match is settled. If some matches are still unsettled, seeding happens one hour before the semi-finals, and unsettled matches do not count. The organiser may also seed the playoff early, once open play has ended. Pending challenges expire at seeding. The seeding is then fixed. A result confirmed later still changes RR but does not change the seeding.

11.4. Playoff. By default the top 4 teams play, unless the series page sets 2:

• (a) with 4 teams, the semi-finals are 1st v 4th and 2nd v 3rd;
• (b) with 3 teams, the top seed goes straight to the final;
• (c) with fewer than 2 eligible teams, there is no playoff that week.

Playoff matches are best of the series' match length (Section 5.3). The organiser cannot change a weekly playoff bracket directly. Results are confirmed on the weekly hub and corrected from the series admin page under Sections 8 and 9.

11.5. Placings. The playoff winner finishes 1st and is the week's champion. The runner-up finishes 2nd. The two losing semi-finalists both finish 3rd.

12. Cycles, points and the Grand Final

12.1. Cycles. A weekly series runs in cycles. By default, unless the series page states otherwise, a cycle is 4 weekly weeks followed by one Grand Final week. A series can set 4 to 8 weekly weeks. There is no weekly play in the Grand Final week. If the series has no Grand Final, that week is played as a normal weekly week.

12.2. Cycle points. Teams earn points from each week of the cycle. By default, unless the series page states otherwise, a team earns:

12.3. Cycle ranking. Teams are ranked by:

1. cycle points;

2. then weekly titles;

3. then current RR;

4. then a fixed technical order.

12.4. Grand Final qualification. To qualify for the Grand Final, a team needs more than 0 cycle points and two main players on an active team. The field is:

• (a) 8 teams, if the series is set to 8 and at least 8 teams qualify;
• (b) otherwise 4 teams, if at least 4 qualify;
• (c) otherwise there is no Grand Final for that cycle, and no cycle champion reward.

The field never includes byes.

12.5. Seeding and schedule. The Grand Final is seeded from the cycle ranking. Seeding starts from Monday 00:00 UTC of the Grand Final week. If a week of the cycle is still unfinished, seeding waits up to 24 hours and then uses only the completed weeks. By default the matches are played as follows (the series page may set other times, and the organiser may move a match time):

A 4-team Grand Final starts with the semi-finals on Saturday.

12.6. The Grand Final winner is the cycle champion.

13. Regular tournaments: formats

13.1. Games and types. Regular tournaments are played in Counter-Strike 2 or VALORANT. The event page states the type: solo, team, deathmatch (FFA) or custom.

13.2. Registration window and cap. The event page states when registration opens and closes, and the maximum number of entrants. Once the cap is reached, further registrations are refused. After the organiser confirms the first stage's bracket or groups, new registrations go onto the waitlist. The organiser may also keep the waitlist open after registration closes.

13.3. Waitlist. The waitlist is first come, first served. For team formats, whole teams are waitlisted. For single-entrant formats (1v1, FFA and custom), individual players are waitlisted. The organiser may promote or reject waitlist entries. A waitlist entry is not an entrant until the organiser gives it a place.

13.4. Single elimination. A bracket holds up to 128 entrants. The organiser seeds the bracket and confirms it. When the number of entrants is not a power of two, byes go to the top seeds, and the organiser confirms each bye. The winner of the final is the champion and the loser is runner-up. No third place is decided.

13.5. Group stage, then playoff. Groups play round-robin. By default, unless the event page states otherwise, groups hold up to 10 teams and the top 2 of each group advance. A win earns 3 points, a draw 1 and a loss 0. Teams level on points are separated by:

1. points in matches between the tied teams;

2. then score difference;

3. then seed.

Group standings are fixed when the organiser closes the stage. The playoff bracket is seeded from those standings.

13.6. FFA / deathmatch. Entrants are placed in groups, and the organiser finalises the groups once registration has closed. The organiser advances players from round to round, over at most 8 rounds. The organiser declares the 1st, 2nd and 3rd places.

13.7. Custom. The organiser runs a custom tournament and declares the 1st, 2nd and 3rd places.

13.8. Match times. The organiser sets match times in UTC and may change them. Once a stage's pairings are fixed and published, we tell each approved player their team's match time, and we tell them again whenever it changes.

14. Prizes and rewards

Weekly rewards

14.1. What can be won. A weekly series can pay three kinds of reward. The series page shows the amounts. Each reward may have a cash part and a bonus part, both stated in Ł (10 Ł = US$1). The default amounts per player, unless the series page states otherwise, are:

No single part is ever more than Ł5,000 per player.

14.2. Bounty.

• (a) The bounty holder is the highest-rated team that week among teams with at least 5 confirmed open-play results against at least 5 different opponents.
• (b) A team claims the bounty by beating the holder in a confirmed open-play match. A forfeit does not count. The winning team must have played at least 3 matches that week, including that match.
• (c) Each holder's bounty can be claimed once a week.
• (d) If a player on the winning team and a player on the holder's team logged in from the same IP address within the past 30 days, the claim is held for review by a person.
• (e) Otherwise the bonus part is paid automatically.

14.3. Recipients. Every weekly reward (bounty, weekly champion and cycle champion) is paid to each member of the team: both main players and any substitute, in the same amount per player. Each recipient must meet the eligibility checks in section 14 when the reward is paid.

14.4. Cash part. The cash part is paid only after a Reloader administrator approves it. It is credited to your cash balance and is withdrawable, subject to the T&C. Before paying the cash part we check that:

• (a) your jurisdiction is eligible (Section 2.4);
• (b) your identity is verified (Section 2.5); and
• (c) your account is not under a fraud hold.

If a check fails, that player is not paid. The reward can be paid later, once the reason is resolved, or it can be rejected.

14.5. Bonus part. The bonus part is credited as a platform bonus. It is subject to the Bonus Terms, including their wagering requirement and expiry, which are shown when the bonus is credited. Except for the bounty's bonus part, every part waits for approval by a Reloader administrator. We may reject a reward that is under review.

14.6. No reward without a result. A reward is created only from a completed week or a completed Grand Final of a published series. If no Grand Final is held for a cycle (Section 12.4), there is no cycle champion reward.

Regular-tournament prizes

14.7. Reloader does not offer or pay prizes for regular tournaments, and the platform has no entry fees or prize pools for them. Any prize for a regular tournament is offered by the organiser. It is described on the event page and is the organiser's sole responsibility.

Taxes

14.8. You are responsible for any tax due on anything you win.

15. Fair play

15.1. You must compete fairly and honestly. The following are prohibited:

• (a) cheating, including cheat software, exploits and any unauthorised third-party tool;
• (b) playing on, or letting someone else play on, another person's game account or Reloader account (account sharing);
• (c) smurfing, meaning playing on an account to hide your identity or skill level;
• (d) holding or playing with more than one Reloader account (multi-accounting);
• (e) collusion and win-trading, meaning arranging or influencing the result of a match, including between teams you control or are connected to; and
• (f) giving false information in a registration, report or dispute.

15.2. If we or the organiser reasonably believe that a player or team has broken these Rules or the T&C, we or the organiser may, as appropriate:

• (a) rule a forfeit against the team, or record a result;
• (b) remove the player from the team, or reject or disband the team, within the limits of Sections 4, 8 and 9;
• (c) refuse to pay, or reject, any reward under review; and
• (d) take any action the T&C allow on the account, including suspending or closing it.

15.3. These are discretionary rights. Using them does not limit any other right we have under the T&C.

16. Communications

16.1. When you take part in an event, we send you notices about it by email and by Discord direct message. For weekly events, we may also send them by Telegram if you have linked it. Examples are team invites, challenges, results awaiting your confirmation, automatic confirmations, match times and changes, registration decisions and Discord-requirement reminders. These notices are service messages about an event you entered. Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle your data.

17. Changes, postponement and cancellation

17.1. The organiser may change the details of an event on its event or series page, including times and settings. For a weekly series, rule changes apply to weeks created after the change (Section 1.4). The organiser may reschedule matches, pause or archive a weekly series, and cancel a regular tournament.

17.2. We may update these Rules. The version published at /legal/tournament-rules applies from the date of publication.