The rulebook
How every point is earned, in plain language first and exact rules second. Every number on this page is read straight from the live game configuration, so what you read is exactly what the engine runs.
The weekly timeline
Week 7 draft timeline. Current step: Draft Opens, Tue, Aug 25 · 12:00 PM ET.
Next — Week 7 lineups lock: Mon, Aug 31 · 12:00 PM ET
You draft during one week. Your lineup earns points during the scoring period after it locks.
The 5-step version
Question one
CourScore is one anime's score for one week. It measures weekly Audience, Fandom, and Rating changes. It is not the anime's lifetime popularity or overall rating.
CourScore = Audience + Fandom + Rating
The three parts of a CourScore
Price only affects which seven anime you can afford. Expensive anime do not receive extra points.
Rating decreases may subtract points. The exact minimum and maximum are shown in the Full Rulebook.
If required AniList data is unavailable, CourPlay follows the missing-data rule in the Full Rulebook. It does not invent a score.
Question two
Worked example
One anime first, then a full lineup. Every figure below is one the live formula could produce.
Simple point example
During the scoring period, Anime A gains:
| What changed | Points |
|---|---|
| 4,000 new AniList members | 8 Audience |
| 150 new AniList favorites | 3 Fandom |
| Rating changes from 74 to 76 | +2 Rating |
| Audience + Fandom + Rating | 13 |
Anime A CourScore: 13
Sample values — an example the live formula could produce, not a specific anime.
Combined lineup example
Each of your seven anime earns its own CourScore. Add all seven together and you get your Lineup Total for the week:
Exact formulas, eligibility, pricing, ties, finalization, corrections, the full glossary, and features that are currently switched off.
Audience
from AniList members (popularity)
How many new people started following the show this week.
+1 point per 500 new members gained during the scoring week
A show earns points for members it GAINS week over week. A quiet week that loses members never goes negative — audience points are floored at 0.
Fandom
from AniList favorites
How many more viewers loved the show enough to favorite it this week.
+1 point per 50 new favorites gained during the week
Like audience, this counts favorites GAINED and is floored at 0 — a small weekly dip can't cost you points.
Rating
from AniList average score
Which way the show's average rating moved this week — the only part that can be negative.
The week's change in average score, +1 point per +1.0, hard-capped at ±3 points
Lineup Total57
CourPlay repeats this calculation for all seven anime. The player with the highest finalized combined score wins.
Rating is the only input that can be negative — it moves with how the show's average rating shifts. It's capped so a single great or brigaded week can't dominate, and only shows with at least 10,000 members earn it at all, so a tiny show can't fake a swing off a handful of votes.
Adding it up
A show’s CourScore for the week is simply Audience + Fandom + Rating. There is no hidden multiplier and no cross-show normalization — two people looking at the same public AniList numbers get the same CourScore.
Rating is stored internally as the Quality component.
Can a score go negative?
Rating decreases may subtract points. The exact minimum and maximum are shown in the Full Rulebook. Audience and Fandom can never be negative — they count members and favorites GAINED, so a flat or quiet week scores 0 for that part, never below. Rating is the only component that can be negative: it tracks the show's average-rating change and is clamped to ±3 points. Because Rating can go negative, a show's CourScore can dip just below 0 in a rare week where its rating slips while it gains no members or favorites — the lowest possible CourScore is −3. There is no upper cap.
When a score is not a number yet
A blank or pending score is never shown as a genuine 0 — a real 0 means the show aired and simply did not move. Instead you will see one of these:
If required AniList data is unavailable, CourPlay follows the missing-data rule in the Full Rulebook. It does not invent a score.
Price determines which seven anime fit under the salary cap. Price does not directly add points to your Lineup Total.
Price only affects which seven anime you can afford. Expensive anime do not receive extra points.
How prices change
Prices reset once a week, when results are finalized. A show’s new price tracks its recent CourScore, averaged over its last 3 weeks, so cost follows output. Movement is damped: a price can rise up to 20% in a week but fall at most 8% — up fast, down slow — and a show that has ranked among the top 5 by price never drops below 75% of its season-high price. Call a mover before its price catches up and you get its big week at last week’s cheaper price.
Ties
Ties share a rank. If two lineups finish a week with the same total (compared to one decimal place), they take the same place, and the next rank is skipped — standard competition ranking (1, 2, 2, 4). In a head-to-head matchup, an exact tie counts as no win for either player.
Score reviews and how results become final
During the week your score is provisional: a daily preview recomputed from the latest AniList numbers. When the week’s results are finalized, CourScores lock in, lineup totals are set, and the leaderboard ranks those final numbers. A finalized week never changes. Before a week finalizes, scores can be marked “under review” while results are verified.
Once a week is final, every lineup’s total is published as a receipt anyone can check by hand. Here is what one looks like — the seven contributions add up to the total exactly.
Sample score receipt
The points one show adds to your lineup total — its CourScore.A demonstration lineup, built with the live formula. The contributions add up to the total exactly — you can check it by hand.
✓ The 7 contributions add up to 60.0 exactly.
Corrections and transparency
CourScore is built to be fully checkable: every input is a public AniList number, every divisor and cap is published above, and nothing is weighted behind the scenes. If a finalized score is ever found to be wrong, the correction is applied to the stored record and the receipt is reissued — we fix the number rather than hide it. The one thing not published here is the exact virtual-currency reward amounts for weekly contests; those are still being finalized, so we do not want to state numbers that may change. They do not affect how CourScores or lineup totals are calculated.
These features are not part of the game right now. They are listed for transparency and they do not affect how anyone scores.
Breakout Pick
Breakout Pick currently adds no points and does not affect results. No anime receives bonus points during the current season. If Breakout Pick returns, the active percentage and updated example will be published before drafting opens.