“The Winter League 2010 Amateur League Championship game has been a little bit of a train wreck this season. Spawn killing in the Neutral Host spawn area took place. This brought forth a lot of fighting and arguing, back and forth. This song will surely help us move forward with the game, bringing the surge of inspiration!”

Just click “Play” on the embeded YouTube Video below this post!

Never Gonna Win This Fight lyrics -

We’re no strangers to fun. You know the rules, and so do I!
A full replay is what Adam said. If I were you, I’d listen to this guy!
I just want to give you my opinion. Gotta make you, play this game!

Never gonna win this fight, never gonna win this thread, never gonna win a ‘ship or a trophy.
Never gonna win our heart’s, never gonna change his mind, doesn’t take a whole lot to replay.

We’ve all been waiting for a Champ. Your hearts are aching but it doesn’t matter.
We all know what’s really, going on. Pisani spoke and you’re gonna play it!
And if you ask me how I’m feeling, just listen, to this song!

Never gonna win this fight, never gonna win this thread, never gonna win a ‘ship or a trophy.
Never gonna win our heart’s, never gonna change his mind, doesn’t take a whole lot to replay.
[Repeat]

We’ve all been waiting for a Champ. Your hearts are aching but it doesn’t matter.
We all know what’s really, going on. Pisani spoke and you’re gonna play it!
I just want to give you my opinion. Gotta make you, play this game!

Never gonna win this fight, never gonna win this thread, never gonna win a ‘ship or a trophy.
Never gonna win our heart’s, never gonna change his mind, doesn’t take a whole lot to replay.
[Repeat x2]
[Fade Out]

These comments usually come when we do things in matchmaking that are actually quite normal for us. The opening launch, hammer jumps, launching a ball carrier, the flowers and so on. To inexperienced players that have no idea how to do these crazy tricks, it’s understandable that they consider it to be cheating. Not only are they unfamiliar with the game, but they are also unfamiliar with how most seasoned grifballers play, not only in matchmaking but in league games as well.

Because of this we’ve decided to do something that’s long overdue. Put together a series of instructional videos showing the inexperienced players how to do the things we all do. The hope is that by showing them the tricks of the trade, double XP will be more entertaining and enjoyable for the random inexperienced players and perhaps a little more competitive for the experienced players.

For this first video we chose to show how to do one of the most common things inexperienced players complain about in double XP matchmaking, the opening launches.

All teams that have signed up should have received an e-mail indicating that their registration was received. If you registered your team for the GGL and have not received confirmation, please either post here or send an message via Rooster Teeth to goose@grifballhub.com.

Sign-ups are going well. Both divisions have a healthy amount of teams and a wide variety of experience. We even have 2 teams comprised of individuals whose only experience is Grifball double XP weekends.

If you haven’t signed up yet, there’s still time. Registration is open until Sunday, March 14th and the league will start Wednesday, March 17.

This week, our revered podcast host, Green Team Tex is joined by, as always, BobbyBirdseed, and Goosechecka, as well as the very popular with the ladies, NuclearTaco42.

The various topics discussed this week include:

- Halo: Reach Multiplayer, and how we CAN’T wait for it to get here
- Kal’s articles going up on the site
- Pro and Ammy playoffs (Congrats to <3 for winning the WL10 Pro Championship)
- GGL Sign Ups and changes to the new season
- Gaming talk, mainly The “Dutygate” Lawsuits – the founders of Infinity Ward vs Activision

The easiest way to leave us feedback is right below this in the comments section, but if you would like to leave us feedback or suggestions elsewhere, send an email to HubCast@grifballhub.com

As always, keep on Grifin’!

Once a team is signed up, extra effort must be made to ensure that they stick around for their first season and come back for another. Currently, there is very little proactive outreach to newbies. It appears that only way a new team is helped is if they seek out the commissioner, the admins, or the elected management.

There must be a paradigm shift. Some blame newbies entirely for not showing up after they register, identifying it as that team’s loss, not as the league’s loss. However, when a team goes through the trouble of signing up, but fails to show at game time, it is a loss for the league; it’s a team that was almost hooked, but got away at the last minute. We should ask ourselves: Why did we lose them? And how can we stop that from happening to other teams?

1) E-mail outreach. As I mentioned previously, while some league veterans may not realize it, it is a big commitment for a newbie to participate in a gaming league. The management should be doing everything it can to encourage people to continue to participate after they have been placed in a division.

Everyone who signs up a team supplies an e-mail address to the commissioner. How difficult would it be to send e-mails to Amateur captains letting them know that their application has been received? Letting them know that they have been assigned a time and day to play? Letting them know that the league has begun, that week one has concluded, or that it’s now the make-up week?

It’s been done before. I received this message from Paul/PhoenixRage during our first season:

Hi, this is Paul, I’m an administrator with the Grifball League. I have been going over registrations which is what has prompted this email.

Thank you for your time,
-Phoenixrage
Grifball Administrator

Last summer, there were three “Important Grifball Amateur League Reminders” sent out by Caleb to Amateur captains, giving them information on playing their games. Yes, e-mailing these captains with news and instructions that seem obvious to experienced players can be a chore, but these are the basic duties that should be performed.

Given that each captain must also supply a Gamertag, messages could also be sent out via XBL to team captains, reminding them when their games are to be played.

Overall, instead of passively posting information on the homepage or in the forums, or forcing players to rely on an outdated rules page, the Admins should be actively reaching out to all Amateur captains.

2) Updating the Grifball.com front page. When Jack ran the league in SL08, there were multiple news posts on the front page covering league updates. During the offseason, every “bum rush” was announced in a front page post, and the winners were publicly congratulated.

This past season, news posts were only made to announce signups, beg for highlight submissions, and announce playoffs. While there was a week-one Pro League roundup that promised to become a weekly feature, it never materialized.

There is no reason why there can’t be more news posts on the front page. If a Grifball fan site like GrifballHub can have a new front-page post every day for months, there is no reason why the official Grifball league cannot have a post every week.

What’s more, these news posts must also cover the Amateur League. Too often the focus is solely on the Pro League, to the detriment of the Amateur League. One argument is that Amateur players don’t read the front page or visit the forums, so it’s better to cater to the known audience of Pro players. That is a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy–Is there no Amateur news posted because Amateur players are tuned out? Or are Amateur players tuned out because there is no Amateur news posted?

Anyone with Site Admin powers can post to the front page of Grifball.com. There’s no reason why a typical week can’t, for example, have a post from the Amateur Admin, a post from the Pro Admin, and a post from the person in charge of stats. There’s also no reason why Grifball.com can’t link to outside sources writing about the League—as long as they are sites that are approved of by Rooster Teeth management.

3) Forum outreach. We all know that old habits die hard. And no matter how the main Grifball.com site is reformed and updated, most of the chatter about the league will take place on the RT forums. If the forums turn out to be a welcoming place, why not encourage new players to sign up for the forums? The collection of e-mail addresses–the single greatest untapped resource available to the management–can be used to send out an e-promo encouraging new captains to sign up for and participate in the RT forums.

4) Greater transparency. Just this week, there was another discussion in the forums about Amateur teams not being placed in their requested divisions. I also read a comment from the head of the disputes committee mocking a team for disputing a game, and I’ve heard comments from a few captains saying that they submitted a dispute, but never heard back. These are telltale signs that the league lacks transparency.

Is there any reason why the divisions requested by all the teams aren’t published information? Is there a reason why the results of all submitted disputes aren’t posted publicly? Given that the head of disputes has front-page posting privileges, why can’t the results of all disputes be posted on the front page in a weekly round-up?

In Grifball, as it is in every job, if no one knows that work has been done, they are going to assume that it hasn’t been done. Even if every dispute is turned around in 24 hours, no one is going to give the disputes committee any credit if they don’t announce the results–or at least message the captains. When someone submits a dispute and never hears back, their conclusion isn’t going to be that their dispute was judged in a fair and timely manner. They are going to conclude that they were ignored. The best way to counter suspicions that disputed games are being ignored is to publicize the process and the results.

This goes for all other duties, as well. Why is there no Grifball.com Administration Twitter feed, for example? That would be an easy way to keep people in the league information as to what management is doing. How simple would it be for the Amateur League Admin to tweet, “Replied to three messages from captains tonight asking about playoffs.” The head of the disputes committee could post, “Now reviewing the Green Ray/Red Army game.” The Commissioner could write, “Spent 3 hours conferring with the Amateur Admin and head of rules about playoffs.”

All of these suggestions are fairly simple and only require effort. At a bare minimum, the Grifball community should expect the league management to achieve what has been outlined here. If there is a legitimate reason why some of these reforms can’t take place, then those reasons should be aired publicly and work-around should be pursued.

In six months, Halo: Reach will be released. Grifball’s inclusion in the game is all but confirmed; the Grifball.com league will see a spike in participation. This second lease on life must be taken advantage of if the Grifball community wants to continue to have two competitive leagues segregated by skill. If the status quo does not continue, I predict we will still see an eventual decline in Grifball participation, but at a much slower pace in Reach.

- Kalbelgarion

To increase recruitment, Grifball.com should be as accommodating to newbies as possible. To achieve this, there are several steps the Grifball.com management can take:

1) Utilize the space on Grifball.com. By all measures, Grifball.com is a very popular website that certainly receives more hits than any individual thread in the RT Grifball forums. All news, announcements, and league updates should be posted on the front page. When potential players visit Grifball.com, it should be immediately obvious if there is a season running, how far along it is, and when signups for the next season are expected. The front page should also encourage potential players to not wait until signups to form their team. A captain that creates a team now for next month’s signups is much more likely to return to participate.

2) Keep all aspects of Grifball.com updated. Playing in an online gaming league is a big commitment. For people who have never played in an organized gaming league before, it can be a daunting ordeal. To make that kind of commitment, potential players need reassurance that the league is run in a sleek, professional manner.

Unfortunately, the current Grifball.com site appears to be anything but. While it is hosted by RT and is integrated into their site, several aspects of the homepage tend to fall woefully out of date. The maps on the front page were only recently updated. If a new player were to see the Staff page, they would be just as likely to contact Caleb, Burnie, or Puppy as they would be to contact the current Grifball.com staff. The FAQ lists out-of-date information. The Videos section of the website has gone two years without an update. The Press section has one article from 2007. The Playoffs section still says that the playoffs for WL10 have not yet begun. And worst of all, the rules pages for both the Pro League and the Amateur League are six months old. They reference FL09 and were never updated for the just-now concluded WL10. Even after this matter was brought to the attention of the current Grifball.com administration, it remained unfixed.

I know that if I were a new player poking around Grifball.com, I would be reluctant to register a team, as many signs on the site indicate that the current management is not serious about running the league. Any person with Site Admin powers can update the site and do something as simple as updating the Rules Page, but the fact that no one has done so speaks volumes about the management’s commitment to new players. While they may be outstanding managers, appearances speak volumes, especially to new players most influenced by first impressions.

3) Utilize DXP weekends. It’s of great importance that signups be open during DXP weekends. While it’s great that people are advertising the league while in the playlist, new players are far less likely to stick around if they can’t immediately jump into the league. If the next instance of Grifball DXP falls on March 25-28, and not the following weekend, it appears that Grifball.com will once again fail to capitalize on the influx of new blood.

The greatest recruiting tool Grifball.com has is Bungie. During every Grifball DXP weekend, Bungie makes a news post on their blog. If signups were open during that weekend, Bungie could also post a link to Grifball.com encouraging people to sign up for the league, if they enjoy the game. I haven’t heard an answer as to why Bungie couldn’t make a news post announcing Grifball.com signups (or why it couldn’t be advertised on the RT staff blog, for that matter).

4) Reach out to old players. SML08 had 200 more teams than WL10. It’s no stretch of logic to conclude that hundreds of players have stopped playing Grifball over the past two years. However, Grifball.com management still has the e-mail addresses of every captain that has ever registered a team for any league. It seems to me that a former league captain is much more likely to return than a random Halo player. Management should compile a mailing list and send out an e-promo advertising the upcoming season. The mailing list must include an opt-out feature, of course, but it would undoubtedly reach a number of captains who may be interested in giving Grifball another go.

5) Put on a happy face. The RT Grifball forums can be a daunting, uninviting, and occasionally unmoderated place. With five stickied threads – four of which are locked, with the remaining thread getting little-to-no traffic – newbies may not have any idea where to start. Since Grifball.com is often not updated, and the current commissioner has indicated that he has no interest in updating any aspect of the site outside of the front page, Grifball news is often posted and discussed in the forums. However, with only a few dozen active members on the forums, and hundreds of players in the league, it’s obvious that many people are left out of the process. With a hyper-competitive atmosphere, flames, insults including “rape”, and picture spamming, it’s not unreasonable that some people, unable to find the necessary information on Grifball.com, may go to the forums and be turned off by what they see. To maximize the potential expansion of the league, the community as a whole should make every effort to be more inviting.

Overall, most of the responsibility for promoting the league and running a successful recruitment effort lies with the Grifball.com administration. Although it does take some commitment to clean up the main page and maximize the impact DXP weekends have on the league, there are many actions that must be undertaken by the league management if we’d like to see the league succeed far into the future.

In Part III, I’ll discuss ideas regarding how the league can get players to stick around for one or more seasons once they are signed up at Grifball.com.

- Kalbelgarion

However, the game with nine rounds just might have nine lives. Grifball will be given a second lease on life this fall when Halo: Reach is released. By all accounts, Reach will either include a pre-set Grifball variant or will include all the tools necessary to construct one.

Halo: Reach will sell millions of copies. It won’t be unusual to see one million people in Matchmaking this fall. Once a Grifball playlist is put up, we will see populations in the six figures.

Reach will give the Grifball.com league a shot in the arm. How can we best capitalize on that? How can we recruit these people into the league? How can we get them to play their games? And, perhaps more importantly, how can we get them to stick around for more than one season?

First, let’s take a look back at how the number of teams participating in the Grifball.com league has fluctuated over time:

Beginning in SML08, Grifball.com featured two concurrent US leagues: A less-skilled league (Rookie/Amateur) and a more-skilled league (Legacy/Pro). Both leagues were designed to be competitive, but teams were divided so that, as Commissioner Jack put it, new players could “learn the sport before a punk vet team whomps away on their fresh hides.”

In SL08, the league had 16 divisions of 6 teams each. Participation spiked in SML08, when the Rookie League, restricted only to newbies, had an astonishing 32 divisions of 6 teams each, while the Legacy League had the equivalent of 13 divisions of 6 teams each.

SML08 was the high-water mark for Grifball.com for a variety of reasons:

• Halo 3 was only 9 months old. No real killer app was released in that period, resulting in the height of Halo 3’s popularity. When more people are playing Halo, more people are playing Grifball.
• SML08 took place, ironically enough, during the summer. During the summer months we can always expect to see a bump in registration simply because schools are off for the summer and more children are able to field teams.
• Finally, Grifball DXP was brand new. It debuted in the spring, and it was the first time Grifball was easily accessible for those outside of the Rooster Teeth community. While WL07 and SL08 were played largely by those who were already Red versus Blue fans, SML08 saw an increase in the number of new people visiting Grifball.com and registering RT profiles.

We can see spikes in the summer months when children are home from school and have more time for video games. We can also see undeniable declines for every other season. 47% fewer teams signed up for the WL08 season than signed up for SML08. That number halved again in SL09 when we only had 53% as many teams sign up. While we had a 50% increase for SML09, we’ve been losing over 20% of the league each of the subsequent seasons.

Much has been written regarding the causes of this decline, and I think there is a consensus that the decline was mostly inevitable but partly self-inflicted.

There will always be a core of Grifball fanatics who will field a team. With hardcore players with flexible schedules, leagues can succeed even with only six teams. However, if it is a goal of Grifball.com to have multiple competitive leagues segregated by skill level, the simple fact is that the league needs more teams.

To capitalize on the spike in popularity that will result from the release of Reach, the Grifball.com management and community should focus on two goals: Recruitment and Retainment.

Unless the Grifball.com league devolving into a mixed-skill, non-competitive league (like the GGL) is an option, the league will always need new blood. New players become more skilled and eventually provide competition for the Pro League. If there are enough new teams, they can play together along with the lesser-skilled veterans to ensure that Pro-caliber teams only play against teams of equal skill. Retainment is equally important because if a team plays one season then leaves, the league will have to find a brand new team to replace them. If too many teams leave, Grifball.com will no longer be able to support two leagues.

In Part II, I will discuss reforms that can be put into place to increase Grifball.com recruitment before Reach is released to ensure that the league can best capitalize on the inevitable influx of new players. In Part III, I will discuss reforms that can be done to increase the likelihood that new teams will stick around for one or more seasons.

In the end, every fan of the game is on the same team: Team Grifball. By working together, and having better administrative leadership, we can make the Grifball.com league the best it possibly can be.

- Kalbelgarion

AFAIK, no #1 Ammy team has ever won the championship. Do you think your team will be the one to break that record?

HoboSaaz - We think we’re the best team out there, there’s no doubt about that. We thought our best competition was going to be Grif Reapers, but they lost in the first round.

Blue Collar Kid – I think we’re the best team because in past playoffs teams have been host reliant, but our team hasn’t had host all season, past playoffs, regular season, everything. We have the advantage of never having an advantage.

Manbearpig X2 – I think our #1 defense will beast it up. Blue’s swordin’ it up, Hobo saying ‘no’, and Nolan doing his own thing pretty much.

Blue Collar Kid – Flowering on Chichen Itza.

Does your team have any superstitions or pre-game rituals?

Manbearpig X2 – Drop the ball on the ground in the corner.

Blue Collar Kid – During the network test we drop the ball in the corner and have the whole team look at it. I say it’s working pretty well. The other team comes over and tries to kill us all, but they usually fail.

HoboSaaz – It’s working pretty well. The original Apocalypse Ponies back in Spring league did it, too.

Manbearpig X2 – I think Hobo started it and we were all like, alright.

Blue Collar Kid – Another ritual is to never play with Booster.

HoboSaaz – Nolan Black must destroy the truck. Every game on Foundry, during the regular season and playoffs, he’d hammer jump up and destroy the truck, and he’d do it quite well.

Manbearpig X2 – I don’t think he did it against HLC.

Blue Collar Kid – In regular league games, he’d go over and destroy the truck and still go positive.

If your team had a theme song, what would it be?

HoboSaaz - It has a few. I like our Grifball song.

Manbearpig X2 – I’m not singing it.

Blue Collar Kid – *singing* I play this game called Grifball I play it all the time, and when I beat the people they go and they all whine. And when they’re done crying, I go and play them again. And then I’ll take the Grifball and run it right on back in.

Manbearpig X2 – It’s to Base Hunter’s All I Ever Wanted. I’m pretty sure DSR pie created it.

What has been the most epic game you’ve played so far this season?

Blue Collar Kid – Hard Liquor Chasers.

Manbearpig X2 – Hard Liquor Chasers.

HoboSaaz – We were down 2-0 in the very beginning.

Blue Collar Kid – We were like, “oh snap”.

HoboSaaz – We came back to win.

Blue Collar Kid – We got it back together.

Manbearpig X2 – I’m looking for the Pro Laggerz game to be good, too.

The Ponies took two seasons off between Spring league ’09 and this season. What were you guys doing?

HoboSaaz – I joined the GI Joes and they changed their names multiple times. Then manbearpig had work, but then –

Manbearpig X2 – For summer, me, DSR Pie and Booster started playing WoW. So I played WoW and a job so I had no time for Grifball.

Blue Collar Kid – I was never on Apocalypse Ponies, this is my first season. I’m glad to be on this team. I’ve always watched the from afar and thought , “dude, this team is amazing”.

Manbearpig X2 – We’re glad to have him.

Regardless of the bracket, who would you have most liked to face in the Championship?

Blue Collar Kid – Hot Bikini Guyz.

HoboSaaz - Hard Liquor Chasers.

Manbearpig X2 – Yeah, Hot Bikini Guys.

Blue Collar Kid – We know them pretty well, they play similar to us.

Manbearpig X2 – They stole some moves from us.

Blue Collar Kid – Yeah, they stole some moves, but it’s all good.

Manbearpig X2 – They launch a lot, but we have a better defense.

HoboSaaz – I wanted to play the Henry Lovers, I wanted to beat them so bad.

Blue Collar Kid – And OCR.

HoboSaaz – Yeah, they’re our red-headed step-child.

Most of your team has been around for quite a while. What would an ammy ‘ship mean to you guys?

Manbearpig X2 – Nothing to Blue. Me and Hobo, we’d feel good. Nolan, I’m not sure how he’d feel.

HoboSaaz – It would be my Mecca.

Blue Collar Kid – Nolan would be like, “cool, when do I get to play Grifball again?” I don’t know how I’d feel because I’ve already won one. I’d probably feel like a bad kid.

What are your plans for next season?

HoboSaaz – We’re staying the same and going pro.

Manbearpig X2 – As long as Blue doesn’t leave us.

Blue Collar Kid – As long as they take us in the pro league. This season in amateur was for chemistry to develop.

Manbearpig X2 – And we didn’t know our schedule at the beginning of the season.

Blue Collar Kid – We plan on going pro and doing the bestest we can.

How did your team form?

Manbearpig X2 – I was coming off a losing team back in Winter league. Me and Hobo used to play DXP all the time.

HoboSaaz – Me and Manbearpig came from really bad teams then we formed together and did well.

Blue Collar Kid – I came from a lot of teams.

Manbearpig X2 – You were a whore of teams.

Blue Collar Kid – I’ve been everywhere and not in a good way.

Manbearpig X2 – For the beginning, the line up was me, Hobo, DSR Pie and Nolan. Nolan got grounded till he was 18, so we had to sub Booster in.

HoboSaaz – We did good together so we formed a team.

Blue Collar Kid – They took two seasons off and got back together.

Manbearpig X2 – We asked for Blue to join, but was like “no, team USA”.

Blue Collar Kid – That didn’t work. I’d played with Manbearpig a lot in DXP and always had fun. When I left Zero Logic, I was going make another team with, remake Team USA, but that didn’t go through because Digital Pain’s Xbox broke and other things that didn’t work out. I always liked Manbearpig, Hobo was cool, so was Nolan and I knew booster, so I said, “Hey can I join?” and they said, yeah ok. Hopefully this is a long lasting thing.

HoboSaaz – What’s the longest you’ve been on a team?

Blue Collar Kid – 1 ½ seasons. I hope this is a little longer of an affair .

Who was your favorite divisional team?

Manbearpig X2 – OCR because the first season we faced them, when they had Veritas on their team, and then we faced them again this season. Then hobo –

HoboSaaz - GI Joes, the team I left, were also in our division, so we knew them.

Manbearpig X2 – OCR, those were good games and steel wolves too, but OCR were the closest games we had until playoffs.

Why move up to pro?

Blue Collar Kid – Better competition and not much drama because we won’t do amazing. We’ll also take any host.

HoboSaaz – We’re 10 – 0 shut up.

Manbearpig X2 – We want to give ammy kids more play room.

Blue Collar Kid – We want to win, but we want more competition.

Is the 6 person cut off going to effect you guys?

Manbearpig X2 – We’ll kick Booster off.

HoboSaaz – Naw, Thumper. He’s not even on my friends list.

Manbearpig X2 – Yeah, Thumper.

HoboSaaz – We really only have 5 that play.

Blue Collar Kid – We only had 5 people play this season anyways.

Anything else?

HoboSaaz – No, that’s about it.

Blue Collar Kid – Congrats to less than three for winning the pro league.

HoboSaaz – Who?

Blue Collar Kid – Congrats to less than three for winning the pro league.

Manbearpig X2 – That was a big shocker.

Blue Collar Kid – Really big shocker.

HoboSaaz – I’m looking forward to team sumo.

Blue Collar Kid – Timegnome is loud and annoying.

HoboSaaz – Don’t write that.

Blue Collar Kid – Do write that. Nolan’s flowers on Chichen Itza is one of the best moves ever.

Manbearpig X2 – We’re the Harlem Globetrotters of the Grifball league. We’re also the next CAG.

Blue Collar Kid – Yeah, we love them. They’re our inspiration.

Manbearpig X2 – I faced them in Winter league and they were fun to play against

Fun Fact: Each starter for AP lives in a different time zone.

The link was found in the comments of the Reach Development blog and is expected to be officially rolled out later today. With that will come a more in-depth explanation of all the multiplayer modes included in the video.

In the video, several new modes are introduced, such as: Invasion, Headhunter, The Arena, Spartans vs Elites, and Assassination.

Like the first season, game night will be Wednesday. Furthermore, all games will be played at set times–just like the Amateur League. Of course, if a team is unable to make it to their set time, they are encouraged to contact the opposing team and reschedule.

We will have two divisions–One that will play on Wednesday at 8:30PM Eastern and one that will play at 11:30PM Eastern. We are encouraging teams that are predominantly based in the western time zones to play in the 11:30 division, and teams on the east coast to play in the 8:30 division. This will help prevent teams from playing on hosts that live 3000 miles away.

Sign-ups will run from Wednesday, March 3rd until Sunday, March 14th. The season will kick off on Wednesday, March 17th.

And there’s one more twist this season…

Grifball Achievables!

Each week, teams will be presented with challenges that they may complete to add to their GGL Gamerscore. To unlock the Achievables, complete the specified tasks during that week’s games and, if required, send the video to Goosechecka via XBL for verification.

Some Achievables may include:
“Team Work”: Each member of a team must score in one game.
“Bonkable”: Each member of a team must get two bonk kills within the first five minutes of a game.
“Precision”: The team must get three bomb stops during the second round. No more, no less.

Pursuing these Achievables entirely optional, of course, and teams are not allowed to engage in egregious stat padding or unsportsmanlike conduct in pursuit of them.

The team with the highest Gamerscore at the end of the regular season will earn an award and perhaps a special prize!

To recap:

Wednesday is Game Night.
Game times are 8:30PM EST and 11:30PM EST.
The season begins on March 17th.
…Achievables!

Interested in playing? Click here to register your team. Make sure to include your team name, your gamertag, your roster, and availability. Remember: By registering for the GGL, you are agreeing to, and aware of the rules and expectations of the GGL.

Whether this is your first time playing Grifball or you’ve been around since the days of Cannonball, it doesn’t matter. The GGL is all about having fun and playing against players of all skill ranges and experience.

Please be sure to read the Rules and Regulations page linked to on the Registration page to make sure that the GGL is a good fit for you.

Above all, the GGL is a recreational league. If you’re enjoy intense competition and srs biznis, this is not the league for you. However, if you’re looking for a laid-back environment where players play for the love of the game, then sign up and we’ll see you on the court.

Let us know if you have any questions, and get ready for some fun!

Registration
Rules and Regs