UTS Rules

Each match consists of four quarters of 8 minutes + the time of a hypothetical Sudden Death.

The timer stops during the 3-minute changeover at the end of each quarter.

The 1st player to win 3 QTS wins the match. If both players are tied at 2 QTs apiece, the 5th QT is played in a ‘Sudden Death’ format.

The ‘Sudden Death’ is a dramatic cliffhanger where the first player to win two consecutive points wins the match. Every point from the second point onwards is a match point during the Sudden Death.

There is no warm-up: Players enter the court and the match starts straight away

During the quarter, Players serve two points each : player A serves for two points, then player B serves for two points, then player A serves for two points again, etc.

As a major change designed to reduce down time and create more rallies, UTS players are allowed one-serve only per point : missing the serve results in losing the point.

Finally, the ‘No-Let’ rule during serve will be in effect.

Each quarter lasts 8 minutes of regular time + quarter points at the end. During the 8 minutes of regular time, players score as many points as possible (with a tie-break counting style).

At the end of the 8 minutes, quarter points are played, and the leader has an advantage: he must only score one more point to win the quarter.

On the other hand, the challenger can try to fight back: he must draw level without losing a single point. If he manages to do so, a deciding point is played to award the quarter.

Example: after 8 minutes, player A leads by 13-9… then the first player to 14 wins the quarter.

If regular time expires on a tie, a deciding point is immediately played to award the quarter.

To make the matchups even more exciting, we’re introducing a bonus card.  Each player can decide to use this bonus card once per quarter, during the regular time only. The “Next point counts x3” effect applies only for the player who uses the card. And only for the very next point.

Coaches will be on the player’s bench all match long and will be allowed to coach at any time during the match, except during the point. They are equipped with microphones.

UTS aims at redefining the relationship between fans and players during matches. Each player is equipped with a headset during the changeover so that he can talk to his coach, his fans, and answer questions from an interviewer.

Moreover players can talk to each other during the match, except during the points. They are allowed to say anything, except insults and name-calling. Finally, fans can express themselves during the match, even during the points. No more silence, let’s make some noise to support UTS Players!

All UTS tournaments have a 8 players line-up

There are 2 types of event:

3-day tournament:

❖ 2 groups of 4 players (Group A / Group B)

❖ The best two players of each group qualify for the Final Four (semi-final & final)

2-day tournament:

❖ Quarter-finals, semi-finals and final

❖ 2 Classification matches

The final standings of each group are determined by :

❖ Highest number of wins

❖ Highest number of matches played

❖ Head-to-head results if only two players are tied

If three players are tied, then: 

a) Best quarter average (won quarters – lost quarters)

b) Best point average (won points – lost points)

c) Lucky draw

3-day tournament:

• Friday: 4 round robin matches, featuring all 8 players 

• Saturday afternoon: 4 round robin matches, featuring all 8 players
• Saturday evening: 4 round robin matches, featuring all 8 players
• Sunday: 2 semi-final matches followed by the final

• 2-day tournament:
• Day 1: 4 Quarter-finals, featuring all 8 players
• Day 2: Classification matches, semi-finals, and final, featuring all 8 players

The UTS League is composed of 2 types of events : Regular Events and 1 Grand Final.

The UTS League has its own “UTS Race Rankings” system based on each Regular Event’s results.

After each of the Regular Events, the following points are distributed to the players, and the UTS Race Rankings is updated.

	3-Day tournament	2-Day tournament
Winner	20 points	15 points
Finalist	15 points	11 points
Semi-finalist	11 points	8 points
Eliminated in Round Robin with 2 victories	8 points	does not apply
Eliminated in Round Robin with 1 victory / Eliminated in quarter-final and win in the classification match	6 points	6 (5th place)
Eliminated in Round Robin with no victory / Eliminated in quarter-final and loss in the classification match	4 points	4 (7th place)
Extra point : All Stars Skills Challenge victory	1 point	1 point

This rankings will be used as one way to determine the players that are qualified for the UTS Grand Final.

The last event of the league is the “Grand Final event” where the winner is crowned “UTS Champion”. 8 players are competing for this title. There are three ways to qualify for the UTS Grand Final :

• – Winning a regular event : Each Winner is directly qualified

• – UTS Race ranking qualification : top 3 players in the race ranking (excluding winners of UTS Events)
• – At least 2 wild cards will be distributed