STRATEGO LEAGUE
 
This idea came about from discussion about a “real” World Championship for Stratego. It is a way to get all the top players consistently playing against each other for more than a rank beside their name. this site needs more #1 vs #2 matchups. I would like this thread to be an open discussion on ideas on how to run the league, and also a place for people who are interested to say so. I'll start off with the basics. None of this is set in stone, and will be made official once we have a general consensus.
 
 
FORMAT
This will be a LEAGUE format, which I anticipate will run for around 3 months. I would like to run it similar to any professional sporting league. Players will be divided into divisions. You play every player in your division multiple times, and then randomly play people outside your division. At the end of the season, the top players from each division will qualify for the championship tournament. The tournament will crown the overall winner of the league.  
 
 
PLAYERS
 
It would be nice to get at least 16 participants. That way we have at least two 8 team divisions. I can see this format being capable of handling up to about 30 players, but I doubt that many will be willing to make the commitment. Again, the concept is to provide a format in which players compete over an extended period of time to prove who really is the best, so we really need to have the best players participating.  
 
 
FEATURES
 
-Standings
-Individual player statistics
-marquee matchup previews
-game recaps
 
PRIZES
 
I anticipate this being a pretty big event on meta, and it should be rewarded accordingly. Ideally I would like everyone to pay to enter the league. This serves 2 purposes. It creates a prize pool, and will also motivate the participants to get their games played in a timely fashion. I'm thinking somewhere in the range of $20-$30 per person for the season. Nothing crazy, but enough to make it worth the effort.
 
 
COMMITMENT
 
It cannot be said enough that this league will be a commitment. The overall success/enjoyment of the league 100% depends on the effort of those participating. It will only be as successful as the players make it. You will be given plenty of time to play your matches, but you have to make the effort to get them done. Everything will be clearly documented and displayed, all you have to do is show up and play your opponent. If it becomes painful, or a burden to get people to play their games, then the league as a whole will fail.  
 
 
DISCUSSION
 
Here is a list of some questions that need to be addressed. I will add my personal preferences for each question. If you are interested in participating in the league, please say so, and add your thoughts on the questions below, or anything mentioned above:
 
Q. How to divide players in to divisions fairly?
 
-This depends a lot on the # of players, but I think we could use the current rankings to divide the players into divisions evenly
 
Q. Rules for game play? (RV, GA)  
 
-Since this is a uniformed league, I believe the rules must be the same for every game in the league. That would mean only range attack for every game.  
 
Q. Payout of prize pool?
 
-The division winners get their $ back, and the league champion claims the rest.
 
Q. Playoff format?
 
-first round – best of 3, 2nd round best of 5, finals best of 7
 
Q. I'm not ranked in the top 5, why should I even bother entering?
 
-the great thing about a league format is it doesn’t matter where you are ranked. We all know anyone can beat anyone on any given day. The divisions allow players to compete against the highest and lowest ranked players in the league. Although you will play the same person multiple times, each meeting will be one game, and anything can happen in one game.  All you need to do is qualify for the tournament, and then anything can happen! Just ask the New York Giants.
 
Again, please feel free to add anything I may have not mentioned. If anything is unclear please ask questions. Let’s get some serious interest and excitement for this league. I believe it can be a success if done properly!
 
 
Player List:
 
NEPATS
Flyers
Sauce
Lightwing
Hielco
Rob34
dutchkiller
Terminator
Squeakingdoor
devilsmacker
Xerxes
ingalls
kevn

do i need to read all that?
 
sign me up, thanks.

If there are going to be several divisions, I think equal division strength should be a goal, so that it’s not much harder to win one division than another.  This can be accomplished if one division has players ranked #1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12… and the other #2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 11,  ….  The drawback of divisions is that we’ll miss out on a lot of great potential matchups between players in different divisions.  Therefore, I’m thinking a round-robin format in which everyone in the league plays each other the same number of times would be best.   But first it would be good to have a better idea of exactly how many players will participate.  I’d also like to know how many league games per week each player will be expected to play.  
 
As for playoffs, I’d say give the top 2 players byes for the first round, and have #3 vs.#6 and #4 vs. #5.  Then reseed and have a semifinal and final.  I agree with sauce’s suggestion on the length of each series (best of 3, then best of 5, then a best of 7 final).
 
About the money: If the goal is greater participation, then there should be no fee.  But in this case, strong commitment of the participants is of great importance, and an entry fee would likely help accomplish this.  I think $20 is sufficient, though.
 
Here’s another idea:  Create the effect of “home” and “away” games by allowing the “home” player to decide whether or not the game will have GA and/or RV.
 
 

This is an awesome idea Sauce - not sure how far down in rankings this will go (I am ranked about 75 or something), but I would be very keen to participate in this.  Also, when are you looking at starting this - is it for next year or is it just as soon as you can get it up and running?
 
As for the format, what about having the top 2 from each division (assuming there are 4 divisions) to form a 'Super 8' type format; i.e. the 8 players to make it through then play the other 7 players once each (best of 6 - 2 pts for series win, 1 for series draw, 0 for series loss), to determine the top 4 that go through to the semi's?  
 
Also, love Xerxes idea or 'home' and 'away' matches.
 
 
Yours in shuffling,
The Squeak.
 

Depending how in depth this gets, I am thinking about the idea of a few seperate levels of leagues.
 
For instance:
 
English Premier League Soccer
 
Premiership 1-20 best teams in England
Championship 21-45 best teams
League One 46-etc etc
 
The way they do it is that the top finishers in the Championship move up for the next season.  So, after season one, 18,19,20 would get relegated to the championship and 21,22,23 would get their shot in the premiership.  
 
We can do it that way and just have rankings make the initial leagues and have relegation/promotion system from there.  That would get more players involved including maybe some who's ranking does not mean they will participate.  
 
Of course this would be a lot of work, but could you imagine a potential 23 vs 24 game with a spot in the top division on the line?  That is what we are hoping for.. these big matchups.
 
The other idea is to simply have a few divisions and just go strictly off the rankings at the start of every season.

i am in dutchkillers

i havn't all understand, but im in!

what is this place. where am i.
i'm in too.

This of divisions sounds me ....
 
http://www.metaforge.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1243794638
 
 
A league system, with playoffs. A significant payment of $ 5, provides security on the intentions of playing and a greater number of participants, plus a few awards.

I'll leave the brainwork to those who possess one.  But in terms of a time commitment an easy schedule could look like...
 
Monday, gametime opens.  You and opponent must complete game by Saturday.  Sunday, administrators can tally results and formulate the next matchups.  6 days to play one game is simple and tracks the weekly calendar.  You could feasibly make any day the off-day (maybe Monday).   You won't please everyone with whatever system is devised, but 1 game a week is probably a nice middle ground commitment to make.