How to play
Rank the entire published field of the featured contest: every band, every grade, in predicted finishing order. Partial entries do not score. Two rounds per contest:
In the Bar opens when the field is published and locks when the first band of the contest takes the stage. Tipped blind.
In the Box opens at each grade’s first downbeat and closes when that grade’s last band finishes. Your Box tips start as a copy of your Bar tips. Re-order them live as much as you like before the window shuts. Any grade you leave untouched keeps your Bar order. If you skipped the Bar entirely, you can still start fresh in the Box on contest day.
Scoring
Every band is worth up to X points, where X is the number of bands in the grade. You score X minus the number of places you were off. Nail the position, full points. Your grade score is shown as a percentage of perfect, and your contest score for the round is the average of your grade percentages, so every grade counts equally whatever its size.
Worked example. Ten band grade, you tip a band 3rd, they place 5th: you were 2 off, you score 8 of a possible 10. Tip a band 1st and they come 10th, you score 1, which is its own kind of achievement. Do that for all ten bands, divide by the perfect score, and that is your grade percentage. Checkable on a beer mat while the adjudicator is still talking.
The Big Tip is your Bar percentage plus your Box percentage, added together, both rounds weighted equally. Highest Big Tip at a contest is crowned Top Bell.
The Split
Every contest is decided by a split. So is ours. On entry you predict the winning margin of the top band in the top grade, in points. Closest to the actual margin wins any tie. Where a contest does not publish points (looking at you, British Open), countback applies instead: most exact placements, then most correct podium picks, then earliest entry. There is no lucky draw at any stage. Tip the Bell is entirely a game of skill.
Three titles per contest
Best In the Bar. Best In the Box. The Big Tip, whose winner is Top Bell. All three are always awarded, the tiers are independent, and appearing on one ladder never affects another. One person can absolutely sweep all three, and when it happens we will make an enormous fuss.
The season
One featured contest every month. Your best 8 results count on each of the three season ladders, so missing a month never kills your year. All standings live on The Bell Curve. December is Finals Month: the season aggregate champion takes home The Big Bell.
Housekeeping
A band that withdraws after the field is published vanishes from every entry and the order closes up. Nobody is advantaged. A band added after the field is published is excluded from scoring. Results as announced at the conclusion of the contest are final for game purposes, whatever happens in the appeals afterwards.
Entry is free and open worldwide. One entry per person per contest. Prizes are Brassbanned merch awarded on merit only. By entering you agree your alias and country appear on public leaderboards.
Tip responsibly.
