Bylaws

Ratified September 21, 2026

Article I — Name, Authority, and Application

Ratified

Adopted September 21, 2026

1.01The League. The Civapalooza Players League is a private, invitation-only Sid Meier's Civilization league, first played in 2022. These bylaws call it the League, and its short name is the CPL.

1.02The Games. The League holds two Games each year.

  • Civapalooza is the championship, and is also called the Summer Games. It is played at a physical location the Commissioner sets. The player who wins Civapalooza is the Champion for that year.
  • The Winter Games are the Civapalooza Winter Games. They are played each December, are open to the founding members only, and decide who holds the Office of the Commissioner.

1.03Season. A Season opens when the Summer Games conclude, and closes when the next Summer Games conclude. One Season follows another with no gap between them, and the Summer Games that close a Season are played within it.

A Season is named for the calendar year of the Summer Games that close it. The Season running from June 2026 to the Summer Games of June 2027 is the 2027 Season, and it is the qualification cycle for those Games.

Each Games opens when its first game begins and concludes when its last game ends. Neither moment waits on anyone to act, because the Season boundary, the expiry of a qualification, and the term of office all run from it.

1.04The Founding Members. The League has three founding-member seats. On ratification they are held by Bernie Conrad, Reese Romero, and Thomas Brook. A person seated under 1.7 is a founding member.

A founding member holds the seat until they die or resign in writing. A resignation takes effect when the other founding members receive it. A seat does not pass by inheritance. A seat that falls vacant is filled only under 1.7.

1.05Active Membership. An active member is a founding member or a contender.

1.1Application. These bylaws bind every founding member, every candidate, the Commissioner, and every sanctioned game. A person who accepts an invitation to a sanctioned game accepts these bylaws.

1.2Precedence. Where two statements of League rules disagree, the earlier in this list controls:

  1. these bylaws;
  2. a unanimous decision of the founding members;
  3. a ruling the Commissioner makes under these bylaws;
  4. the Competition Manual.

A decision under item 2 is a unanimous vote of the founding members, recorded in writing. It does not amend these bylaws. Article IX governs amendment. A ruling under item 3 may settle a case the Competition Manual does not reach. It may not amend the Manual.

1.3The Competition Manual. The Competition Manual states the rules of play these bylaws do not fix: the ruleset of a sanctioned game, the draft and ban procedure, the format of each qualifier, and the method of the coaches poll.

A change to the Manual takes effect 30 days after the Commissioner publishes it. A sanctioned game that begins before then is played under the Manual as it stood when that game was scheduled.

The founding members may strike or replace any provision of the Manual by a vote of at least two thirds.

1.4The Published Text. The text published at /bylaws is the operative text of these bylaws. An article governs only while it carries a status of Ratified. An article marked Draft or Pending Ratification states the League's intent and binds no one.

1.5Interpretation. A term these bylaws define carries its defined meaning in every article. A term they do not define carries its ordinary meaning. A heading does not limit the clause beneath it.

1.6Severability. If one clause is struck or cannot be applied, the rest of these bylaws stand.

1.7Vacancy. A vacant founding-member seat puts one vote to every active member. Each active member casts one vote, for one of two options: to seat a named person in the vacant seat, or to dissolve the League. Any active member who is not already a founding member may be named, and so may any candidate in good standing.

The remaining founding members shall call the vote within 14 days of the vacancy. If they do not, any active member may call it. The person who calls it shall give notice under 1.9 to every active member, shall keep the count, and shall declare the result within seven days of its close. The vote closes 30 days after it is called.

The active members entitled to vote are those on the day the vote is called, and a later change to the roll does not alter it.

An option carries on the votes of two thirds of those who vote. An active member who does not vote is counted for neither option. If neither option carries, the seat stays vacant and the vote runs again.

Two seats vacant at the same time put two votes, held together, and no person may be named to both.

While a seat is vacant, a vote these bylaws require of a share of the founding members is computed against the founding members then seated.

1.8Dissolution. The League dissolves if a vote under 1.7 carries that option. On dissolution the League holds no further sanctioned game, and the Civapalooza Cup passes to the last Champion.

1.9Notice. A notice these bylaws require is in writing, and takes effect when it is sent to every person entitled to it. Where these bylaws date an act from a notice, a resignation, a challenge, a penalty, a call, or a refusal, the date is the day that notice takes effect.

A person who must act on a notice is entitled to it. An act these bylaws date from a notice does not bind a person who was entitled to the notice and did not receive it.

Article II — Membership and Standing

Ratified

Adopted September 21, 2026

2.01Candidate. A candidate is a player admitted to the League under 2.1 who is not a founding member.

2.02Qualification. A qualification is a place in an upcoming Summer Games, won under 2.2. It runs until that Season ends.

2.03Contender. A contender is a candidate who holds a qualification.

2.04Member. A member is a founding member or a candidate.

2.1Admission. The League is invitation-only, and a player cannot apply. The founding members admit a candidate by a vote of at least two thirds of the founding members. Admission does not lapse.

2.2Qualification Paths. A candidate qualifies for the next Summer Games by any one of:

  1. winning a Monthly Contender Qualifier;
  2. winning the Winter Contender Qualifier;
  3. winning a Trial by Combat;
  4. taking a podium finish in the Summer Games that opened the Season.

Article IV states the rules of each. A founding member is in the field of every Summer Games under 2.3, and does not hold a qualification. A contender may enter a further qualifier, but a second win grants no second qualification and passes to no one.

2.3The Field of the Summer Games. The field is the three founding members and every contender in good standing. The field has no cap.

2.4Good Standing. A member is in good standing unless a penalty under Article VI says otherwise. A member not in good standing may not enter a sanctioned game or hold an office of the League.

A founding member keeps the vote their seat carries. Any other member not in good standing may not vote, and is not counted when these bylaws require a share of the active members.

A penalty does not void a qualification; 4.6 governs when one is void. A member restored to good standing regains any qualification they held, unless the Summer Games it names have concluded.

2.5Loss of Standing. A candidate ceases to be a candidate when they resign in writing, or when the founding members remove them by unanimous vote. A person who ceases to be a candidate loses any qualification they hold.

2.6Readmission. A person who resigned or was removed may be readmitted under 2.1. Readmission is not restoration to good standing, and a readmitted person does not regain a qualification lost under 2.5. A person held permanently ineligible under Article VI cannot be readmitted.

2.7Name, Image, and Likeness. A member grants the League the right to use their name, image, and likeness in the historical record, in the result of any sanctioned game, and in photographs and recordings of those games.

The right survives the end of membership. A person who resigns, is removed, or is held permanently ineligible under Article VI may not require the League to remove their name from the historical record or from the Civapalooza Cup.

The right does not transfer ownership, and it does not extend to selling a member's likeness.

Article III — The Office of the Commissioner

Ratified

Adopted September 21, 2026

3.01The Office. One person holds the Office of the Commissioner at a time, and only a founding member may hold it. That person is the Commissioner.

3.02The Term of Office. A term of office begins when the Winter Games that decide it conclude, and ends on 31 December of the year after those Winter Games began. The Office is never empty, and no term begins before the one before it ends.

3.1Election. The Winter Games decide the Commissioner. The founding member who wins the Winter Games holds the Office for the term of office those Games decide. A founding member may hold the Office any number of times. They shall not hold it for more than two terms of office in a row.

Where this limit bars the winner, the Office passes to the founding member who finished second in those Winter Games. The winner is still the winner of those Games. The Competition Manual states how second place is decided.

A term of office counts toward the limit even if the founding member held part of it. If this limit bars every founding member, or those Winter Games produce no second place, the limit does not apply.

The League shall hold a Winter Games each year. If none is held by 31 January, or if one produces no winner, the Office passes under 3.7 for the term of office, and the Commissioner then in office holds over only until it does.

3.2Duties. The Commissioner shall:

  1. publish the calendar of each Season;
  2. sanction each game the League holds, and publish its result;
  3. publish the Competition Manual, and keep it current;
  4. keep the historical record under Article VIII;
  5. add the Champion's name to the Civapalooza Cup under 7.2;
  6. rule on a dispute arising in a sanctioned game;
  7. answer a report made under Article VI.

3.3Powers. The Commissioner may sanction a game, set its schedule, amend the Competition Manual under 1.3, rule on a dispute, and impose a penalty that Article VI provides for. Every ruling is subject to 1.2 and to appeal under Article VI.

3.4Recusal. The Commissioner shall recuse themselves from a dispute, a proceeding, or a ruling in which they hold an interest. This includes a Trial by Combat in which they are the challenged founding member, and any proceeding in which they are the subject.

On recusal the founding member next in order under 3.7 acts in the Commissioner's place for that matter, and performs any duty under 3.2 that the matter calls for. Every other duty of the Commissioner continues.

3.5Vacancy in the Office. The Office falls vacant when the Commissioner dies, resigns the Office in writing, ceases to be a founding member, or is removed under 3.6.

The Office passes for the rest of the term of office to the founding member next in order under 3.7.

While the Commissioner is not in good standing, the Office does not fall vacant, but the founding member next in order under 3.7 acts until good standing is restored.

3.6Removal from the Office. The founding members may remove the Commissioner from the Office by unanimous vote. The Commissioner does not vote on their own removal, and the vote is unanimous among the other founding members.

Removal from the Office does not affect the founding-member seat. 3.5 then fills the Office for the rest of the term of office, and the removed Commissioner is not eligible to take it under that clause.

3.7Who Acts in the Commissioner's Place. Where these bylaws pass the Office, or call for a founding member to act in the Commissioner's place, it goes to the founding member who has most recently held the Office, counting only those who are in good standing and are not the person being replaced or recused.

If no founding member so counted has held the Office, the founding members so counted choose one of themselves by agreement. Failing agreement within seven days, they choose by lot.

3.8Failure to Act. Where these bylaws give the Commissioner a duty and state no time for it, the Commissioner shall perform it within 30 days of the day it arises.

If the Commissioner does not, the founding member next in order under 3.7 may perform it in their place, and it takes effect as though the Commissioner had performed it.

Article IV — Structure of Competition

Ratified

Adopted September 21, 2026

4.01Sanctioned Game. A sanctioned game is a game the Commissioner sanctions under 3.3. The Summer Games, the Winter Games, and every qualifier named in 4.02 are sanctioned games. A game the Commissioner does not sanction decides nothing under these bylaws.

4.02The Qualifiers. The League has three qualifiers: the Monthly Contender Qualifier, the Winter Contender Qualifier, and Trial by Combat. Each confers a qualification under 2.2.

4.03Podium Finish. A podium finish is a first, second, or third place in the Summer Games. The Competition Manual states how a place below the winner is decided.

4.1Conduct of a Sanctioned Game. Every sanctioned game is played under the ruleset the Competition Manual states.

A sanctioned game that ends without a single winner confers no qualification, and the Commissioner shall publish it as undecided.

4.2The Monthly Contender Qualifier. A Monthly Contender Qualifier is open to every candidate in good standing. All three founding members shall play in it. A candidate who wins it holds a qualification. A founding member who wins it confers a qualification on nobody.

4.3The Winter Contender Qualifier. The Winter Contender Qualifier is held alongside the Winter Games and is open to every candidate in good standing. The founding members observe it. The candidate who wins it holds a qualification.

4.4Trial by Combat. A candidate in good standing may issue one Trial by Combat challenge in a Season, against any founding member. The challenged founding member may not refuse, and shall schedule the Trial within seven days of the challenge. A candidate who wins a Trial by Combat holds a qualification.

A challenge must be issued before the Summer Games open. A Trial by Combat that has not concluded when those Summer Games open confers no qualification.

A dispute in a Trial by Combat goes to the Commissioner. Where the Commissioner is the challenged founding member, 3.4 applies.

4.5The Summer Games. The Commissioner sets the location of the Summer Games, and shall publish it with the calendar of the Season.

4.6Certifying a Result. The Commissioner shall certify the result of every sanctioned game within 30 days of the day it ends. The Commissioner shall not certify a result where it is proved beyond reasonable doubt that it was reached through a breach of Article V.

A result the Commissioner does not certify confers no qualification, and a qualification already taken from that game is void. It passes to nobody, as under 2.2, so that no one gains by another's result being disbelieved.

A refusal to certify is not a penalty: it decides nothing about a member's standing, and may stand whether or not any member is penalised under Article VI. Any player in that game may appeal a refusal under 6.5.

Article V — Conduct, Integrity, and Collusion

Ratified

Adopted September 21, 2026

5.01Diplomacy. Diplomacy is any offer, agreement, understanding, or communication between players about the conduct of a sanctioned game, whether made through the game's own mechanics or in speech. It includes alliances, trades, gifts, tribute, open borders, joint wars, peace deals, denunciations, undertakings not to attack, and similar acts.

5.02Collusive Agreement. A Collusive Agreement is Diplomacy whose purpose, in whole or in part, is to decide which player wins a sanctioned game, or to secure or deny a qualification, rather than to improve the position in that game of each player who is party to it.

5.03Wager. A wager is a stake of money, or of anything else of value, on the result of a game or on an event within it.

5.1Integrity of a Sanctioned Game. A member shall not alter the result of a sanctioned game by any means outside the play of that game, and shall not exploit a defect in the game software to gain an advantage a fair player could not.

5.2Diplomacy is Play. Diplomacy is a legitimate part of every sanctioned game. A member commits no breach of these bylaws by making, accepting, refusing, honouring, or breaking Diplomacy, by favouring or refusing to attack any player for any reason or none, or by playing badly.

5.3Collusion. A member commits collusion who enters into, proposes, solicits, or acts upon a Collusive Agreement. The agreement need not be express, and no party to it need perform it.

Collusion is established where the Commissioner finds both that an agreement or understanding existed between two or more players, and that a party to it accepted, or undertook to accept, a worse expected result in that game in exchange for a benefit outside that game — including another player's result or qualification.

Every party to a Collusive Agreement commits collusion, whether they were to gain by it or to assist another.

5.4Particular Cases. Each of the following is collusion where 5.3 is satisfied:

  1. conceding, resigning, or ceasing to play in order to affect which of the remaining players wins;
  2. transferring cities, units, resources, gold, or technology for no proportionate return, at a point where the transfer decides the game;
  3. declining a winning line so that another player takes it;
  4. agreeing in advance which player is to take a qualification.

5.5What is not Collusion. It is not collusion that a member:

  1. acted alone, with no agreement or understanding with another player, and without proposing or soliciting one;
  2. made or kept an agreement that happened to benefit another player, where each party sought to improve their own position in the game;
  3. played weakly, misjudged a threat, or made an error; or
  4. once unable to win, went on playing in a way that affected who did win, having made no agreement about it.

5.6Reporting. A member who is invited to enter a Collusive Agreement shall report it to the Commissioner under 6.1 as soon as they can, whether or not they accepted it. A member who does not report breaches these bylaws.

5.7Wagering. A member shall not place a wager on a sanctioned game they play in.

A member shall not place a wager on any other sanctioned game without the leave of the Commissioner. The Commissioner shall not place a wager on any sanctioned game.

5.8Proving Collusion. The Commissioner is not bound by rules of evidence, and may establish a fact by any reliable means, including an admission and circumstantial evidence. Direct evidence of an agreement is not required. 6.3 states the standard of proof.

A member is presumed not to have committed a breach until it is proved. The League bears the burden of proving it, and the member bears no burden of disproving it.

A member need not answer a question or produce anything unless these bylaws require it. A refusal to answer is not evidence of a breach, and the Commissioner shall draw no inference from it.

It is not necessary to prove that the result of the game was or could have been affected, that any benefit was in fact conferred, or that a party's play was visibly weakened. Play that shows no visible weakness does not by itself answer a charge.

Article VI — Discipline and Appeals

Ratified

Adopted September 21, 2026

6.01Penalty. A penalty is a measure imposed under 6.2 for a breach of these bylaws.

6.1Report. A member may report a suspected breach of these bylaws to the Commissioner. The Commissioner shall answer every report, and shall publish the outcome.

Where the Commissioner holds an interest in the report, 3.4 applies, and the founding member who acts in their place answers it.

6.2Penalties. The Commissioner may impose one or more of these penalties for a breach of these bylaws:

  1. a reprimand;
  2. suspension for a stated period;
  3. permanent ineligibility.

Withholding a qualification is not among them; 4.6 governs that.

The Commissioner shall state which penalty they impose and the reason for it. A penalty must be proportionate to the breach.

6.3Proof. The Commissioner shall not impose a penalty unless the breach is proved beyond reasonable doubt.

6.4When a Penalty Takes Effect. A penalty takes effect when the Commissioner imposes it. An appeal under 6.5 does not stay it, but the founding members hearing the appeal may.

A suspended member is not in good standing for the period of the suspension. A member held permanently ineligible is not in good standing, and cannot be readmitted under 2.6.

6.5Appeal. A member on whom a penalty is imposed may appeal it, any player in a game whose result the Commissioner refuses to certify under 4.6 may appeal that refusal, and a member refused a correction under 8.3 may appeal that refusal. An appeal goes to the founding members within 14 days of the day notice of the act appealed takes effect under 1.9.

The founding members hear the appeal. A founding member who is the subject of the proceeding does not sit, and neither does one who made the act appealed. A founding member is not put off the panel because a report names them; only a charge the Commissioner brings does that.

A majority of the founding members sitting decides the appeal. If they are equally divided, the appeal succeeds and the act appealed is set aside.

The founding members shall decide an appeal within 30 days of the day it is made. They may confirm the act appealed, set it aside, or replace a penalty with a lesser one, and they may not impose a greater penalty than the one appealed.

6.6Founding Members. A founding member may be penalised under 6.2. A penalty does not affect their founding-member seat, or the vote it carries under 2.4.

Article VII — The Civapalooza Cup

Ratified

Adopted September 21, 2026

7.01The Civapalooza Cup. The Civapalooza Cup is the trophy of the Summer Games. The League owns it, and 7.1 says who keeps it.

7.1Custody. The Champion holds the Civapalooza Cup from the end of the Summer Games that crowned them until the next Summer Games open, and must bring it to those games. The Champion is the keeper of the Cup, and remains the keeper while the Commissioner has the Cup under 7.2.

7.2Engraving. The Commissioner must add the Champion's name to the Civapalooza Cup within 30 days of the win.

The name is the Champion's name as the historical record gives it. The Commissioner must engrave it in the same form, and in the same lettering, as the names already on the Cup.

Where the Cup carries no name yet, the Commissioner sets the form, and every later name follows it.

7.3Damage. The keeper pays to repair damage to the Civapalooza Cup.

7.4Replacement. If the Civapalooza Cup is lost, or cannot be repaired, the keeper must buy a replacement, with the approval of the Commissioner. The replacement must carry every name the old Cup carried.

Article VIII — Records and Championships

Ratified

Adopted September 21, 2026

8.01The Historical Record. The historical record is the League's account of every sanctioned game it has certified under 4.6, and of every Champion and Commissioner the League has had.

8.1The Record is Authoritative. The historical record published at /history settles any question of what happened in a past sanctioned game, of who won it, and of who held an office.

8.2Keeping the Record. The Commissioner keeps the historical record, and shall add a game to it within 30 days of certifying its result. A game the Commissioner does not certify is recorded as played and not certified, with the reason.

8.3Correcting the Record. A member may ask the Commissioner to correct an error in the historical record. The Commissioner shall correct an error they are satisfied is one.

A correction states what was changed and when. The record is not rewritten in silence, and a corrected entry does not cease to show that it was corrected.

A refusal to correct may be appealed under 6.5.

8.4A Championship Stands. A Champion recognised in the historical record remains the Champion of that year. A later penalty, a later amendment, and a later dispute do not take the title away.

A title is taken away only where the Commissioner declines to certify the result under 4.6 before that game is added to the historical record under 8.2.

8.5The Record Outlives Membership. The historical record names the people who played, whether or not they are still members. 2.7 grants the League the right to keep naming them.

Article IX — Amendment and Ratification

Ratified

Adopted September 21, 2026

9.01Amendment. An amendment is a change to the text of these bylaws, adopted under 9.3.

9.1Proposal. A member may propose an amendment in writing to the founding members. Any founding member may put a proposal to the vote and give the notice 9.2 requires, so that no one person can keep a proposal from being voted on.

9.2Notice. The founding member who puts a proposal shall give the other founding members notice of it at least 14 days before the vote. The notice states the day of the vote and three texts: the text as it stands, the text proposed, and the text as it will read if adopted.

9.3Adoption. An amendment is adopted on the votes of all the founding members.

A proposal may be changed before the vote only within the scope of the notice given under 9.2. A change that goes beyond the notice needs fresh notice, so that a founding member who reads the notice and does not attend cannot be surprised by what passes.

9.4When an Amendment Takes Effect. An amendment takes effect when it is adopted, unless the vote sets a later date.

An amendment that changes who may enter a sanctioned game, how a qualification is won, or how the Summer Games are decided takes effect at the start of the next Season. A Season is played under the rules it opened with.

9.5No Retrospective Amendment. An amendment does not change a concluded Summer Games or Winter Games, a Champion already recognised, a Civapalooza Cup already awarded, a qualification already won, or a penalty already imposed.

9.6Ratification. These bylaws take effect when all the founding members agree to them. Ratification is one act: every article takes effect on one date, and no article is ratified alone. Until then no article governs, under 1.4.

An article added after ratification takes effect on the date of the amendment that adds it.

9.7Publication of Amendments. The Commissioner shall publish, with these bylaws, the date of ratification and the founding members who ratified.

The Commissioner shall publish every amendment with it: the date it was adopted, the members who adopted it, and the clauses it added, amended, struck, or renumbered. A reader can then see what the text says and how it came to say it.

The Competition Manual

Clause 1.3 leaves the rules of play to the Competition Manual: the ruleset of a sanctioned game, the draft and ban procedure, the format of each qualifier, and the method of the coaches poll. Clause 1.2 ranks it beneath these bylaws.

Published September 28, 2026.

Game Setup

  1. The difficulty is Immortal.
  2. The map is drawn at random from Pangaea and Islands, Continents and Islands, Fractal Continents, and Shattered Seas. The draw is made after the draft type is chosen, and before the draft.
  3. The map size is Standard.
  4. The game speed is Standard.
  5. The era countdown is 20 turns.
  6. Continuity mode is on.
  7. The players choose the turn timer by majority vote at the start of the game.
  8. A majority of the players may change any setting in this section.

Drafting

  1. An exhibition game may use the quick draft. Each player receives three random leader and civ pairs, no leader or civ repeated across the table, and keeps one pair. Otherwise it uses the standard snake draft.
  2. A sanctioned game uses the standard snake draft. Each player bans one leader and one civ, then picks one leader and one civ, in this order: leader bans from the first seat to the last, civ bans from the last seat to the first, leader picks from the first seat to the last, and civ picks from the last seat to the first.
  3. Where the most recent sanctioned game ended no more than 60 days before the draft, its places decide the seats. The player in first place takes the first seat, and each place below takes the next seat.
  4. A player who did not play in that game takes a seat after every player who did. A random draw decides the order of two or more such players.
  5. Where no sanctioned game ended in the 60 days before the draft, a random draw decides the seats.
  6. Before a random draw, at least two thirds of the players at the table may agree to a different seat order.
  7. A ban removes that leader or that civ from the whole game, for every player.
  8. No two players play the same civ.
  9. A player on a non-apex civ who can transfer to a civ holds priority on it. No other player may take that civ.
  10. Where two or more players claim the same civ at an era transition, they play rock paper scissors for it. The winner takes the civ. The players replay a round that does not leave one winner.

Results and Elimination

  1. A player uses only the mementos they have unlocked.
  2. The player who wins the game takes first place. The game's end screen decides the winner.
  3. The players who remain in the game at its end take the next places, in order of score.
  4. The eliminated players take the places below every remaining player, in reverse order of elimination. The last player eliminated takes the highest of those places, and the first player eliminated takes last place.
  5. Where two or more players are eliminated on the same turn, score on that turn decides their order.
  6. A player who concedes is eliminated on the turn of the concession.
  7. An eliminated player may return to the game. They cannot win it, and their return does not change their place.

Approved Mods

  1. A player may run these mods: Policy Yield Previews, Map Tacks, and Enhanced Town Focus.
  2. This list is closed. A mod outside it may not run in a sanctioned game.

Adoption and Amendment

These bylaws were ratified on September 21, 2026 by Bernie Conrad, Reese Romero, and Thomas Brook.

The document stands as ratified. No amendment has been adopted.