Your tier is determined by your Elo rating and updates automatically after every recorded match. No manual grading, no committee decisions. All players start at 1,000 rating points (Fledgling) and move up or down based entirely on results.

New players are shown as "Calibrating" until enough match data exists to assign a reliable tier. Keep playing — your rating stabilises after around 5 matches and your tier will appear automatically.

Elo is a points system originally developed for chess and used globally in competitive games. When you play someone, the result shifts points between you — but the amount shifted depends on the rating gap between both players.

Beating a stronger player earns you more points than beating a weaker one. Losing to a weaker player costs more than losing to a stronger one.

Alex (rated 1,200) plays Marcus (rated 1,100):

Alex wins → earns +8 pts. Marcus loses −8 pts.
Marcus upsets Alex → earns +16 pts. Alex loses −16 pts.
Bigger swing for the unexpected result.

Team A: Seng (1,400) + Wei (1,050) vs Team B: Marcus (1,200) + Rajan (1,150).

Step 1 — compute team averages:

Team A is the slight favourite. They win — a small expected-result swing.

Step 2 — distribute points individually: Each player's personal rating is compared to the opposing team average.

Wei gains +22 pts while Seng only gains +7 pts — same game, different reward, because Wei was a bigger underdog relative to the opposing team. This naturally incentivises stronger players to play seriously even when paired with weaker partners.

Unlike self-declared levels, Elo only moves when you actually play. A player who wins consistently against strong opponents will rise naturally — seniority, age, or how long you've been in the group don't factor in. Your rating is a live reflection of your performance, nothing more.

Badges are awarded automatically when you hit a milestone — no manual claiming required. There are 53 badges across 12 categories, from your very first match to logging games in 10 countries.

Earned badges appear in full colour on your profile. Unearned badges are shown as locked so you can see what's coming next.

Each badge also awards FlightPoints when unlocked — common badges give 10 pts, rare 25 pts, epic 50 pts, and legendary 100 pts.

FlightPoints (FP) are earned through activity on Birdie — playing matches, hitting milestones, unlocking badges, and attending sessions. They accumulate on your profile and are visible to other members.

FlightPoints serve two purposes: they reflect your commitment to the community, and they are required as a deposit when booking Game Sessions — acting as a commitment bond that deters no-shows.

When you book a Game Session, 50 FlightPoints are locked as a commitment deposit — even for free sessions. This deposit is not a payment; it signals that you are a reliable player. Court time is limited, and an empty slot that wasn't filled costs the host a real opportunity.

When the session completes and you attended, your deposit is returned in full and you earn an additional 15 pts.

Life happens — withdrawals are accepted, but the closer to the session start time, the higher the penalty.

Withdrawing — even with a penalty — does not affect your no-show rate. No-show rate only increments when you registered and gave no notice at all.

Your no-show rate is public on your profile. It uses a 12-month rolling window so past behaviour doesn't follow you forever.

Repeat no-shows trigger a higher deposit requirement for future bookings:

Burned deposits are destroyed — they are not transferred to the host. The host earns FlightPoints through successful completed sessions instead.

A Streak Shield protects your attendance streak if you miss one week. Shields are earned at every 4-week attendance milestone and can absorb a single missed week, keeping your streak alive. Once used, the shield is consumed. You can accumulate multiple shields over time.

Any Birdie member can post a Game Session — a scheduled court booking open to other members. Sessions include the venue, date and time, number of courts, available slots, minimum skill tier required, and an optional fee.

Other members can browse open sessions and book a slot directly in the app. It's the easiest way to fill a court, find a game, or meet players at your level.

Hosts can set a minimum tier requirement for their session — for example, "Eagle and above only." Members below the minimum tier can see the session but cannot book. This ensures the quality of play for all parties.

If the host has a court fee to share, they set the fee per person and their preferred payment method (PayNow, DuitNow, cash, etc.) in the session details. Payment is arranged directly between host and player — Birdie does not process or hold money. FlightPoints deposits are separate from and not a substitute for court fee payments.

Booking any session requires a FlightPoints deposit (minimum 50 pts). The deposit is locked until the session completes. If you attend, it is returned plus a 15 pt bonus. If you no-show, it is burned and your no-show rate increments.

If you don't have enough FlightPoints to meet the deposit requirement, you can contact the host via in-app message to arrange an alternative.

Once booked, your slot is confirmed and visible to the host. If the session has a fee, you are expected to make payment via the host's stated method. The host can mark your payment as confirmed in the session view.

If a session is full, you can join the waitlist. Your FlightPoints deposit is locked at that point. You may hold a maximum of 3 active waitlist positions at any time.

Slots are offered in strict waitlist order (first come, first served). When a slot opens, the first person on the waitlist receives an in-app notification and has a 24-hour window to confirm (or 2 hours if the session starts within 24 hours). If they don't respond, the slot automatically passes to the next person and their deposit is returned with no penalty.

You can withdraw from a waitlist at any time before receiving a slot notification — your deposit is returned in full, no penalty.

Any Birdie member can post a session — there is no minimum account age, no match count requirement, and no tier requirement. If your tier is still "Calibrating", a visible badge will appear next to your name on the session card so players are informed. You can host from the moment you sign up.

Hosts can cancel a session at any time, but cancellations made within 48 hours of the session start time incur a penalty of 50 FlightPoints per confirmed slot. All participant deposits are returned in full regardless of when the cancellation happens.

Your Host Reliability Score — visible on your session cards — reflects your cancellation history. Hosts with frequent late cancellations will naturally attract fewer bookings.

Sessions auto-complete 2 hours after the scheduled end time. All confirmed participants are defaulted to attended, and FlightPoints are settled automatically. Hosts receive a notification within 24 hours asking if anyone failed to show up — if you flag a no-show, Birdie adjusts the points accordingly. For most sessions, no action is required from the host.

A Community is a named group of Birdie members who play together regularly — a sports hall club, a company team, a university group, or a private circle of friends. Each Community has its own member list, a scoped leaderboard showing only its members' Elo rankings, and the ability to host private game sessions visible only to its members.

Your global Birdie rating is shared across every Community you belong to — there is no separate rating per community. The community leaderboard is simply a filtered view of the global leaderboard, showing where you stand within your circle.

All Birdie activity (match wins, tier-ups, badges) appears on the global community feed. Within a Community, members also see a scoped feed showing only activity from fellow Community members — making it easier to follow people you actually play with.

From the Communities page, you can search for any public community by name or enter a direct invite code shared by the community leader. Tap Request to Join and the community leader will receive a notification to approve or decline your request.

For communities set to open enrolment, approval is automatic and you are added immediately.

Community leaders can search for any Birdie member by name or username and send them a direct invite. The invited member receives a notification with Accept and Decline buttons. No one is added to a Community without their explicit consent.

Declining an invite has no consequence — your profile and rating are unaffected.

Some communities are set to invite-only and do not appear in search results. You can only join these if a leader sends you a direct invite or shares the community's private invite code with you out-of-band.

Any registered Birdie member can create a Community. You will be set as the Community Leader automatically. There is no limit on how many Communities you can create or belong to.

When setting up your Community you choose a name, a short handle (used in URLs and search), a visibility setting (public or invite-only), and an optional description explaining who the Community is for.

Every Community gets a unique invite code that you can share directly with people you want to invite. Sharing the code bypasses the search-and-request step — anyone who enters a valid code can join immediately (subject to your enrolment setting).

When hosting a game session, leaders and members can link it to their Community and mark it as private. Private sessions are completely hidden from the public Sessions browse page — they only appear to confirmed Community members.

This is designed for groups that prefer to play among people they know: regular recreational circles, corporate wellness groups, school teams, or any group where trust and familiarity matter more than open discovery.

Only current members of the linked Community can register for a private session. If you are not a member of the Community when the session is created, you will not see the session at all — not in search, not in the feed, not via a direct link.

Public sessions linked to a Community remain visible to everyone on the public Sessions page. Linking a Community to a public session does not restrict visibility — only setting it to private does.

Matches played in private Community sessions are treated identically to any other confirmed match. Elo ratings update, badges unlock, streaks count, and the results appear in the global activity feed. Privacy applies only to session discovery — never to match outcomes.

As a Community Leader you can: invite or remove members, approve or decline join requests, promote another member to co-leader, edit the community name and description, change visibility settings, and regenerate the invite code if it has been shared too widely.

Members can leave a Community at any time from the Community settings page. Leaving has no effect on your global rating, badges, or match history. If a leader leaves and there are no co-leaders, leadership transfers to the longest-standing member automatically.

Communities are self-governing — Birdie does not moderate community content or membership decisions. Leaders are responsible for maintaining a respectful environment within their Community. Members who experience issues are encouraged to raise them with their leader first, or to leave the Community if necessary.