There’s a few steps you can do ahead of time to prepare for the Fowl Play Arena tournaments.

• Join the Fowl Play discord server at https://discord.gg/MHHKKWF.
  
• Review the server rules at ☑️Rules
  
• Go to bot-channel and type !lobby to view settings for the next tournament.
  You will get a response similar to the capture on the right. “How to set up a tournament lobby” is a hyperlink to the required map pack. Click the link and subscribe to the pack. Here you will also find the match settings.
  
  While not required, it’s a good idea to introduce yourself in #General and meet the community. We do more than run tournaments on Saturdays - there’s an enthusiastic base of skilled players that frequent our server.

We currently host Arena events each Saturday at 1:00pm Eastern / 10:00am Pacific / 17:00 UTC. The event is 2 hours long. Unlike traditional tournaments, there are no eliminations. You may join and leave as you please.

Every event begins by using the !join command in #arena-chat. You'll see a green check mark show up under your name confirms you are registered.
That's all there is to it. Let the games begin!

When there is a match available, a new channel including your name will open in the ‘Tournament Channels’ section. The other name will be your opponent. Enter the channel and greet your rival. Optionally, you can use the !whohosts command to determine who hosts.

You'll see the Lobby Bot showing a list of options that correspond to three emotes. Don’t click on them yet - these are for reporting the outcome of the match. (If you click one by mistake, simply click it again to undo the false report.)

Use the !lobby command if needed to review match settings. Once the lobby is set up, go ahead and play! Good luck, have fun!

The key to a good game is respect. Use the mechanics of the game to your advantage. Clipping is allowed. Excessive camping and poor sportsmanship are not. Be understanding of things players may not be able to control, such as ping from living in other countries, language barriers, etc. In other words, be competitive while being a good human being.

Duck Game has an incredibly high skill ceiling. Due to the nature of our matchmaking system, new players will start with rankings towards the middle of our established player base. Occasionally you may be matched with a player who is at a much higher or lower skill level. When this happens, simply play your best. After a handful of matches you'll find yourself matched with similarly skilled players. Of course, as you play more, your skill will increase and you'll find each Arena battle is more fun than the last!

When the match is over, return to your dedicated Discord channel. Report who won the game using the Lobby Bot's emojis. When both players report, the channel will close. A new channel will open for you when the next match is available. This usually happens pretty quickly.

A huge benefit of Fowl Play Arena tournaments is the ability to come and go as you please. When you are done playing, simply type !leave in the '#tournament-chat' channel and you will no longer be matched up with anyone.

In the event you have to leave during your current match, the bot has an option to forfeit. If both players forfeit, the match is voided and neither score nor rank are affected. This is the preferred way to resolve unfinished matches.

If your opponent goes AFK for more than a few minutes you should get a Fowl Play mod involved and ask to clear the match.

Score
The number of matches that can be played during an event is only limited to how quickly said matches can be set up and played through. However, playing more matches does not necessarily yield a higher score.

In this example you will see flame icons. These icons signify a streak. A streak begins when a player wins two matches in a row. Any match won after that is worth double points until the streak is broken by a loss. The streak counter then resets.

Examples:
If a player wins 3 matches in a row, they receive 1+1+2=4 points for those three games.
If a player wins two, loses one, and wins four, they receive 1+1+0+1+1+2+2=8 points for those seven games.
If a player wins five in a row, they receive 1+1+2+2+2=10 points for those five games.

As you can see, when computing the winners of a single Fowl Play Arena event, consistency is more important than the sheer number of wins. With that said, it is unlikely a person who only plays a handful of matches will win an event. We at Fowl Play believe this is a good balance, and strive to make the event so fun that you'll want to play most of the two hour event.

The score should not be confused with a player's rank. The score starts at zero at the beginning of each event. Scores are simple and easy to explain. A player's rank is used to match them with similarly skilled players and does not reset between events. Scroll down for more details on rankings.

Rank
We use the TrueSkill ranking system to determine a player's rank. This system has been used in the Forza, Halo, and Gears of War franchises and is also frequently used for online chess games. The system works behind the scenes and assists with balancing player skill during matchmaking.

Our system reports this rank in real time along with the score. It is visible for everyone to see, allowing you to see how your overall performance compares to other players. The number itself means little - look for the relationship between the numbers. It's beyond the scope of this guide to explain how it works as it is rather complicated but you can learn more at http://trueskill.org.

Below you can see a visualization of the rankings in action. You can compete for a higher ranking or ignore it altogether - the choice is up to you!

I've had several people reach out to me asking how they can help Fowl Play succeed and grow. The easiest answer is to show up, have a good time, and spread the word! The server and community were made by enthusiasts for the community. Simply being a part of the community gives us a reason to show up every Saturday!

Something else very helpful you can do right now is to like this guide. This helps increase the visibility our server has across the Steam platform. Put a comment below with what you think. Have you played a Fowl Play Arena? Did you have fun? What tips would you give a new player?

Thanks so much for reading the guide. See you Saturday!

- Lucid