The PinGolf League is an 8-week season. Each week you buy a scorecard, play a set of machines (“holes”) for score, and post a result. Every card feeds two things at once: a weekly pot you can win that night, and a season-long race for points. After week 8, the top players split the season prize pool and the champion gets their name on the PinGolf trophy.

The whole league is built around one idea: you are mostly playing against your own number, not against the best player in the room. A brand-new player and a seasoned regular are both chasing the same thing every week, which is to beat what they normally shoot. A hot night is worth just as much no matter who you are.

There is no roster to sign up for. Buy a card on any league night and you are in the standings, even if you join late – only your best 6 weeks count.

Every scorecard is $3, paid in app credits (the same credit you use to add credits to machines). That $3 splits automatically:

All money moves inside the app, and all prizes come back as credits deposited straight to your account. Nothing is handled in cash.

You may replay your card as many times as you like on league night. Each replay is a fresh $3 that feeds the pot.

Your best card of the week is the one that counts. A replay can only help you.

Play three cards and the lowest of the three is the one that goes on the leaderboard. A replay that goes badly costs you nothing but the $3: your earlier card still stands. So if you have a round left in you, there is never a scoring reason not to buy another card.

The same is true of a card you do not finish. Any hole you leave unplayed scores +7, so an abandoned card almost always totals worse than the one before it and simply does not count. It still feeds the pot.

Your card shows up on the leaderboard as soon as you buy it, with the holes you have not reached yet showing their +7, and your score improves as you play them.

Each hole is a machine with a target score and a set number of balls. Par equals the number of balls: a 3-ball machine is par 3, a 5-ball machine is par 5. Your result on a hole is measured against par, the same way golf works, and it is always a whole number. Under par is good, over par is bad, lower is better.

You play all your balls. Two things matter: which ball your running total crosses the target on, and whether your final total reaches double the target or falls short of it.

Every outcome on a par-3 machine:

A par-5 machine works the same way from par 5: crossing on ball 1 is 4 under, 6 under if you also double, par is even, and a total whiff is 7 over.

You can double on any ball. Doubling is about your final total, not about which ball got you there.

So always play out your balls. The moment your running total reaches the target your stroke is locked in, and nothing afterward can raise it. Everything after that can only help. Cross the target on ball 1 for the hole-in-one, play balls 2 and 3 out, and if the final total reaches double the target you score -4(doubled the target) – the hole-in-one and the doubling bonus together. There is never a reason to hold back or drain a ball on purpose.

Missing the target. If you never reach the target you report your final score instead of a ball, and the result depends on how close you got, as a fraction of the target. A near miss costs you almost nothing; a bad miss hurts much more. On a machine with a 5,000,000 target:

Roughly: get within about 8% of the target and it is only +1, four fifths of the way there is +2, half is +4, and under about 9% of the target is the full +7. That scale is the same on every machine whatever its par, and it does not matter how many balls you used – only where your final total landed. A hole you never play at all also scores +7.

You never do this math yourself. You report each hole in the app and it computes everything. The tables are just so you know what is rewarded.

Every player carries a handicap, a single number you can see on your profile. It is the heart of the league.

• Your card result for a week is your whole round’s total against par (the sum of your hole results).
• The app rounds your handicap to a whole number and subtracts it from your card to get your net score for the week.
• Your handicap is the running average of your past card results, in other words what you normally shoot.

So your net combines two things: how you played tonight, and the standard you have set over past weeks. Beat your own standard and your net drops. Lower is better, and a negative net means you outplayed what you normally shoot.

This works exactly like a golf handicap, and it levels the field on purpose. If you normally shoot over par, your handicap is a positive number and it comes off your card as an allowance. If you normally shoot under par, your handicap is negative and it gets added back on. A newer player and a veteran can post the same net on very different cards, which is the point: everybody is playing against their own standard, so anyone can win the week.

Your handicap builds week to week. If you have played PinGolf here before you may already have one on your profile, so you walk in calibrated. If you are new, your first weeks set your baseline, and because it moves fast early you settle in quickly. Week 1 of your very first season is a calibration week: with no history, your net is just your raw card. Do not sweat a rough opener, since your 2 worst weeks get dropped anyway.

After league night, everyone’s net score goes on the weekly leaderboard, using each player’s best card. Lowest net wins. The weekly pot pays the top 4 finishers, split 40 percent to first, 25 percent to second, 20 percent to third, 15 percent to fourth.

For example, on a week where 10 players each buy one card, $2 of every card goes to the weekly pot, so the pot is $20. That pays $5 to first, $5 to second, $5 to third, $5 to fourth. A bigger field means a bigger pot, and a light night means a smaller one.

Winnings are paid straight to your account as credits the moment the host finalizes the week, along with a notification telling you where you placed and what you won. Those credits are yours to spend on machines, on next week’s card, or on anything else the club takes credits for. Nothing is paid out in cash.

Your finishing position each week also earns season points, PAPA style:

• The weekly winner gets 100 points. Second gets 99, third gets 98, and so on down by one per position.
• Miss a week and you get 0 points for that week.
• Your 2 worst weeks are dropped. Only your best 6 of 8 weeks count, so you can skip up to 2 nights, or bomb them, at no season cost.

After week 8, the season prize pool is split so more than one player takes something home:

The champion still takes the largest slice and the trophy, but paying four places means the season pool reaches well beyond the winner, and the same four spots pay every week – so a player chasing a top-four finish is chasing the same thing all season long.

Weekly ties break by the lower gross card, then the earlier submission. Season ties break by head-to-head weekly points across counted weeks, then best single weekly net, then an admin ruling.

You earn badges as you play, and they show up on your member profile:

• PinGolf Debut – earned when you complete your first PinGolf card, ever. A one-time welcome to the format.
• Season 4 Weekly Top Four – earned when you finish in the top four of a weekly event, and it keeps counting every week you do it.
• Season 4 Top Four – earned for finishing in the top four of the whole season, with a distinct Season 4 Champion badge for the winner.

The season badges are specific to Season 4. Next season mints its own set to collect.

Live standings run on the TV screen in the club. Your own handicap, this week’s card, your net and your history are on your profile in the app, along with the weekly countdown and your place in the season race.