Am World Series · Rules

Am World Series rules

How a Clutch21 Am World Series game is won, how the ladder is climbed, and what a result is worth.

The short version. Games to 21, win by two, ones and twos, make it take it, twelve-second shot clock, ten-minute cap with overtime on a tie. Everything below is the detail that makes those six things enforceable.

What is different about the Am World Series. One open competition climbing from a city bracket to the World Championship, with age classes and a rolling ranking. The game itself is the same one the Pro tour plays.

What a result is worth

Rankings run on a rolling twelve months, and only your 21 best results in that window count. A twenty-second tournament can only improve your total by displacing a weaker result, never by padding it — so the ranking measures how well you play, not how many events you can get to.

Level	How often	Winner	Runner-up	Semi-final	Quarter-final	Round of 16
City ×1	Many tournaments a year	100	70	45	30	15
State / Region ×2	Many tournaments a year	200	140	90	60	30
Country ×4	One national final a year	400	280	180	120	60
Continent ×6	One continental final a year	600	420	270	180	90
World ×8	One world final a year	800	560	360	240	120

A city bracket win is 100. The same win at the World Championship is 800.

The pathway

One ladder — city, state or region, country, continent, and then the World Championship — and the same rule decides who climbs every rung of it.

Am only. The Am World Series is a single competition. It does not run twice: there is no separate Pro bracket at any level, and a commissioner never has two draws to fill.
How often. City and state or region carry the volume — many tournaments a year, as many as a territory can sustain. Above them there is one national final, one continental final and one world final each year.
Qualification. Reach the semi-finals of a level and you qualify for the level above: the four semi-finalists go up from every bracket.
Filling the bracket. If a level does not produce enough qualifiers to fill its bracket, the remaining places go to the highest-ranked athletes in that territory who have not already qualified. A national championship draws a 32-player bracket. If only 20 athletes in that country have reached a State / Region semi-final, those 20 are in and the last 12 places go to the 12 highest-ranked athletes in the country who have not qualified. The bracket is always full; nobody gets a bye because their region was quiet.
Why four and not one. A single bad night against a single opponent should not end a season, and a continental bracket needs a field that one champion per country could never fill.
Where there is no region. Plenty of countries have no state or regional tier. Where that is so, city semi-finalists go straight to the national stage — nobody is held back by an administrative gap.
Continents. Five: America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania. The Americas are one continent in this league, so there is one American championship rather than two — a player from Toronto and a player from São Paulo meet before the World Championship, not at it. Asia and Oceania are separate, so Australia and New Zealand have a continental final of their own rather than one shared with the whole of Asia.
The World Championship. Where the Am World Series road ends. The semi-finalists of all five continental championships meet for one title. It is the only stage that is not somebody’s territory — no commissioner is appointed to run the world, so the league puts it on.

Points & ranking

The same five finishing positions at every level, multiplied by the level. A rolling twelve months, and only your 21 best results in it.

The scale. A city bracket is the base. State or region doubles it, country is ×4, continent ×6 and the World Championship ×8. The table above sets out every value.
Rolling year, 21 best results. Rankings run on a rolling twelve months, and only your 21 best results in that window count. A twenty-second tournament can only improve your total by displacing a weaker result, never by padding it — so the ranking measures how well you play, not how many events you can get to.
Five rankings at once. Every athlete who competes is ranked at five levels at once — their city, their state or region, their country, their continent, and the World Ranking. One official result moves all five.
What counts, and who validates it. Only official games — those played inside a tournament — move the rankings, and the commissioner who ran the event validates them. A 1v1 duel, arranged and posted by the players themselves, counts towards your statistics — games played, win–loss, points for and against, points per game, win percentage — and never towards any of the five rankings. A duel needs both players to validate it; if they disagree it freezes until the commissioner for that territory settles it, and an unanswered duel lapses after seven days without touching either record.

Age classes

Three bands, and an athlete can be eligible for more than one. Age is counted by season, not by birthday, so nobody changes class halfway through a campaign.

Elite. The open class, for every athlete who is 18 or older during the season — no upper limit. If you turn 18 at any point in the season, you are Elite for the whole of it, birthday or not. Most of the field is here, and it is the class the Am World Series is built on.
Youth. U10, U12, U14, U16 and U18, for athletes still under 18 across the season.
Masters. 40+, 50+ and 60+. These sit alongside Elite rather than after it — reaching 40 adds a class, it does not take one away.
You will often qualify for more than one, and you choose. At 18 that is U18 or Elite; at 45, Elite or 40+; at 62, Elite, 40+, 50+ or 60+. Your account lists every class you can enter. Nothing picks for you.

Entering

The Am World Series asks for far less than the Pro tour. It is meant to be enterable by anyone who can get to a court.

What you need. A live licence, a date of birth so the right age class can be worked out, and the age class itself. No passport file, no medical on record, no club release.
No age floor. Youth brackets run here, for the athletes the Pro tour will not take yet. A guardian’s consent is required before a minor competes.
Where to enter. Through the commissioner running your city. If nobody holds your territory yet, there is nothing to enter — which is why the league is recruiting.
What is coming up. Every bracket that has a date sits on the Am World Series schedule — city, state or region, country and continent, one calendar rather than one per level. A territory appears there as soon as its commissioner sets a date.

The game

The same game in both competitions

Everything below this line is identical on the Pro tour and in the Am World Series. What differs is above it: the format, the points and who may enter.

The game

Twenty-one is played half court, one against one, on a regulation half court with a size 7 ball.

Scoring. A basket made inside the three-point arc is worth one point. A basket made with both feet behind the arc is worth two.
Winning. First player to 21 points wins, and must win by two clear points. There is no ceiling on the score: a game can finish 23–21 or longer.
Time cap. Regular playing time is ten minutes of game clock. If a player is ahead when it expires, that player wins. If the score is tied, an overtime is played.
Overtime. The first player to score two points in the overtime wins the game. That is one basket from behind the arc, or two inside it — so an overtime can be decided by a single shot, and cannot end level.
Start. A coin toss decides the opening possession. The player who wins the toss checks the ball at the top of the arc.

Possession & clearing

Clutch21 is make it, take it. Scoring keeps you on offence — runs are part of the sport.

Make it, take it. The scoring player keeps the ball. There is no change of possession after a basket — the scorer checks it at the top of the arc and goes again, for as long as they keep scoring.
Clearing. After a change of possession, the ball must be taken behind the three-point line before a shot attempt. A shot taken without clearing is waved off and the ball turns over.
Checks. Every dead ball restarts with a check at the top of the arc. The ball is live once it is returned to the offensive player.
Out of bounds. The sidelines, baseline and half-court line are live boundaries. It is a turnover if the ball touches one, or if a player touches one with any part of the body while in contact with the ball. Stepping on a line without the ball is nothing.

Clock & shot clock

Two clocks run: a ten-minute game clock and a twelve-second shot clock. Both are operated by the table, not the players.

Shot clock. Twelve seconds from the check. The ball must hit the rim; failing to do so is a turnover.
Stoppages. The game clock stops for a time-out, and for nothing else. It runs through checks, fouls, free throws and reviews.
Time-outs. Each player has one time-out of one minute per game. Unused time-outs do not carry over.
Delay. Two delay-of-game warnings result in a turnover; a third awards a point to the opponent.

Fouls & free throws

Contact is expected. Fouls are called by the officials, never by the players — the pick-up game convention does not apply here.

Personal fouls. The first four fouls by a player result in a check for the opponent. From the fifth onward, the opponent shoots one free throw worth one point and retains possession.
Shooting fouls. A foul on a one-point attempt gives one free throw; on a two-point attempt, two. A made basket plus a foul adds one free throw.
Disqualification. Eight personal fouls, one flagrant, or two unsportsmanlike fouls end a player’s game and forfeit it 21–0.
Free throws. Taken from the regulation line. The shooter keeps possession after the final attempt.

Officiating & reviews

Every league game is worked by two officials and a table crew, with video available on request.

Crew. One lead official on the baseline, one trail at the arc, plus timekeeper and scorer.
Reviews. Each player may request one video review per game. A successful challenge is retained; an unsuccessful one is lost.
Automatic reviews. Two-point line, game-winning baskets and flagrant contact are reviewed by the crew chief regardless of challenges.
Final say. The crew chief’s decision after review is final and not subject to protest.

Conduct & integrity

One-on-one is personal by design. What happens between the lines stays competitive, not hostile.

Respect. Abuse directed at officials, opponents or spectators is an unsportsmanlike foul on first offence and a disqualification on second.
Betting. Players, officials and staff may not wager on any Clutch21 event. Breach ends participation for the season.
Anti-doping. The league follows the WADA prohibited list. Testing is conducted at every stop and at the Finals.
Media. Finalists are required to attend the post-event media session.

Court & equipment

The playing surface and equipment are standardised so results carry across cities.

Court. Regulation half court, 50 ft × 47 ft, with a three-point arc at 23 ft 9 in.
Ball. Official league size 7 composite ball, provided at every stop.
Kit. League-issued jerseys are worn in all bracket games. Personal footwear is permitted.
Warm-up. Players get eight minutes on court before their first game of the day, four before subsequent games.

The Pro tour rules →

Think you can go to 21?

Two ways in. Open qualifiers run in every host city the day before each Pro stop — sixteen spots, no seeding, no favours. The Am World Series is open to every licensed athlete, and it starts in your own city.

Enter a qualifier Enter the Am World Series Read the rules