Running an in-house night — from the sign-up post to the last game

A vague post means a pile of questions on the night, and answering them is what makes you start late. These five things belong in every one.

• Date and start time — an actual time, not 'sometime in the evening'
• How many games — people commit when they can see when it ends
• Mode — Summoner's Rift or ARAM
• Player count and sign-up deadline — 10 or 20, and until when
• How you're collecting role preferences

The usual problem is 11 or 13 showing up. Decide the rotation for whoever sits out before the night starts — decide it on the night and it turns into everyone politely staring at each other.

Putting the waiting order in the sign-up post itself removes most of the argument.

Budget about 45 minutes per Rift game including lobby and draft. Three games is over two hours. Spend 30 minutes splitting teams and that's a game you didn't play.

• Split the teams before people arrive and the first game starts far faster.
• Don't cut breaks entirely — attention drops off in the later games.
• Agree a start time for the last game so the night doesn't drag out.

You can't stop no-shows, but you can make them cost something. Recording who signed up and making attendance visible cuts them down noticeably on its own.

Someone leaving mid-game is worse, because it ruins the game for the other nine. Keeping one or two people on standby is the realistic fix.

Everyone scatters the second it ends. If nobody downloads the replays then, they can't be downloaded a few days later. Make downloading part of packing up and your records never break.

Records make the next night easier: you have a basis for splitting teams, you have last week's games to argue about, and you have something to show newcomers.