What is LearnedLeague?

LearnedLeague is an invitation-only online trivia contest. It is unique because:

1. It is head-to-head, in a league format
2. There is defense

The LearnedLeague is a trivia league, played in 25-match seasons, where players compete head-to-head against one another, with the goal of winning as many matches as possible, advancing up the Rundles, qualifying for the post-season tournament, and being crowned LearnedLeague Champion. For more detailed information, please refer to the Rules and Frequently Asked Questions.

It's a league, with head-to-head matches

The LearnedLeague, as you can tell from the name, is a league. Player performance is tracked in the standings tables (see how). The LearnedLeague regular season consists of twenty-five matches. On each match day, each LL player competes against one other player head to head.

Answer questions and play defense

A LearnedLeague match consists of six questions (a typical match day). In addition to answering the questions, the player must assign point values for each of the questions for his/her OPPONENT. This is LearnedLeague's unique element of defense.

How does defense work?

Defense is assigned as follows: ONE question worth 3 points, TWO questions worth 2 points, TWO questions worth 1 point, and ONE question worth 0 points -- for a total of 9 points.

Rundles, and the mightiest-of-mighty: LearnedLeague Champion

The LearnedLeague is divided into Northeast, Atlantic, and West regions, and each region into separate levels, called "Rundles" (plus a separate rookies-only Rundle). At the end of each season, players move up and drop down the Rundles ("promotion" and "relegation") based on their performance. The goals are to win matches, avoid relegation, achieve promotion to the higher Rundles, and advance to join the league elite in the highest Rundle. The top 3 in the Rundles A and the winners of the Rundles B advance to the postseason round-robin Champions League, and the winner of the Champions League is crowned LearnedLeague Champion.

As an LL player, what are you committing to?

Not much really. Two things, mainly.
1. You are available and online at some point every weekday (excluding holidays) for match play, and thus will not forfeit.
2. You will not cheat (which is essentially using any resource other than your brains to derive an answer).