Set up and apply age restrictions

An age restriction is a reusable rule that limits which players can register in a tournament. Restrictions live in a shared dictionary and are grouped by season. Every tournament optionally selects one restriction; the rule applies to every event in that tournament and is checked when a player’s registration is accepted.

Before you start

Decide the sporting rule for each age category: a youth cap such as U15, a veteran floor such as Veterans 40+, or an open tournament with no restriction.
Prepare the calendar boundaries of each season so the entries can be grouped correctly.
Confirm the desired handling of players without a Born value on the global player record.

Understand seasons and age restrictions

The dictionary is designed around three ideas:

A season is a reusable date window. It groups related age categories (for example, U10–U20 for the 2026 season). A tournament belongs to at most one season and does not have to.
An age restriction belongs to one season and encodes a single birth-year threshold with a direction. Born on or after (≥) produces youth caps such as U15; Born on or before (≤) produces veteran floors such as 45+. The list of restrictions is what the tournament form and the Rating screen refer to.
The enforcement happens when a player’s tournament registration is added or accepted. Adding an entry to an event or an assignment to a draw does not re-check the age.

The tournament’s age rule applies to every event. Events do not carry their own age fields; changing the tournament rule affects all events at once.

Configure seasons

Open Settings → Seasons or use the Manage seasons → link in the Seasons block on Settings.

Select Add.
Enter a Name, such as 2025/26 or Summer 2026.
Pick a Start date and End date. End date must be on or after Start date.
Select Save.

Existing installations are seeded with a legacy season that holds age restrictions carried over from earlier versions. A tournament created on a fresh install pre-selects the season whose window contains today, when one exists.

Point to a row to Edit or Delete a season. Editing is not blocked while the season is in use. Deletion is blocked while the season contains age restrictions or is used by a tournament; the confirmation reports which count is blocking (Season has N age restriction(s) — reassign or delete them first. or Season is used in N tournament(s) — unlink them first.). Reassign the affected records first, then try again.

Overlapping seasons are allowed. A tournament that falls into more than one season simply pre-selects the first match.

Configure age restrictions

Open Settings → Age restrictions or use the Manage age restrictions → link on Settings.

Select Add.
Pick a Season. If no season exists, create one first.
Enter a Name, such as U15 or Veterans 40+.
Enter a Year of birth between 1900 and five years past the current year.
Choose a Direction: Born on or after (≥) — for youth for a youth cap or Born on or before (≤) — for veterans for a veteran floor.
Select Save.

The list displays every entry with its season, name, generated rule (for example Born ≥ 2009), and the number of tournaments that currently use it.

Point to a row to Edit or Delete an entry:

Once an entry is linked to a tournament, its Season, Year of birth, and Direction are locked. The form shows Used in N tournament(s) — threshold and season cannot be changed. Rename freely, or create a new entry. The name can still be edited freely.
Deletion is blocked while the entry is in use. The confirmation reports Used in N tournament(s) — remove the links first. Unlink the affected tournaments (or delete them) before trying again.

Two entries in the same season cannot share a name. Two entries with the same name in different seasons are allowed; the Rating screen groups them by name.

Apply a season and age restriction to a tournament

Open Overview for the tournament and select the edit icon.

Under Season, pick the season whose window covers the tournament dates, or choose None. For a new tournament, the form pre-selects the season whose window contains today, when one exists.
Under Age restriction, pick an entry from the season’s dictionary. If Season is empty, the field shows Pick a season first to see its age restrictions. If the selected season has no restrictions, the field offers Manage age restrictions → and opens Settings → Age restrictions.

Each option shows the restriction name and generated rule, such as U15 (Born ≥ 2009). Save the tournament form to store the selection. On Overview, the tournament shows the restriction as a badge beside its details.

Changing the age restriction after registrations already exist does not re-check the current registrations. Review accepted players against the new rule yourself; the app does not block a change or offer a bulk re-check.

Understand how a restriction is enforced

The age check runs at the moment a player’s registration is added or accepted. Nothing else in the workflow re-checks the age:

Selecting Register or Register N player(s) on Tournament → Players applies the rule immediately.
Selecting Accept or Accept all pending on a Pending or Rejected registration re-runs the rule using the player’s current Born value.
Adding entries on Tournament → Entries does not re-check the age. The players offered on that screen have already been accepted.
Assigning an entry to a group or a playoff draw does not re-check the age either.

If a player’s Born value is later corrected, the app does not automatically re-evaluate the existing registration. Reject and re-accept the registration to run the check again with the corrected value.

The rule applies uniformly to every event in the tournament. There is no per-event override.

Choose an unknown-birth-year policy

Unknown birth year in age-restricted tournaments on Settings decides how the enforcement treats a player whose global record has no Born value:

Allow registration (lenient) lets a player without a Born value register into a tournament that has an age restriction. Use this when player data comes in incomplete and the tournament rule is a soft filter.
Block registration (strict) rejects the registration until the Born value is set on the global player record. The app returns PLAYER_UNKNOWN_BIRTH_YEAR for the affected player.

Bulk operations such as Accept all pending apply the same rule to every candidate. If any candidate fails, the batch is rejected before any registration is changed.

Changing the policy affects future checks only. It does not re-evaluate players whose registration was accepted under the previous setting.

Fix common problems

The selected season contains no restrictions yet. Open the Manage age restrictions → link inside the field, or Settings → Age restrictions, and add one. The field can also show Pick a season first to see its age restrictions when the tournament has no season yet.

A player is rejected on Accept

The player’s Born value fails the tournament’s rule, or the player has no Born value and the app is in Block registration (strict) mode. Correct the global Born value or adjust the tournament rule, then run Accept again.

A player is rejected with PLAYER_UNKNOWN_BIRTH_YEAR

The player has no Born value and Block registration (strict) is active. Set the year on the global Players record and retry, or switch the policy to Allow registration (lenient).

Accept all pending refuses to run

At least one candidate fails the rule. The batch is rejected before any registration is changed. Filter the pending list to the offending players, correct the data, then run the bulk action again.

An age restriction cannot be edited

The entry is already linked to at least one tournament. The Season, Year of birth, and Direction are locked while the entry is in use. Rename it freely, or create a new entry for the corrected rule and re-link the affected tournaments.

A season cannot be deleted

The season contains an age restriction or is linked to a tournament. Reassign or delete the linked age restrictions, then unlink or delete the linked tournaments before trying again.

Before you continue

Confirm each season’s dates cover the tournaments that will reference it.
Confirm every required age restriction exists with the intended threshold and direction, and check the Used in count for each entry.
Set the tournament’s Season and Age restriction before opening registration.
Confirm the Unknown birth year in age-restricted tournaments policy on Settings matches the desired handling for the tournament.
After changing a rule, review already accepted players yourself; the app does not re-check them.