A league (more precisely called weekly leaderboard or simply Leaderboards)[1] is an XP competition initially available for Android and iOS users.[1] In May 2019, Leaderboards were added to the web (see image below), only for some users.
Mechanism 
Edit
The contest of Leaderboards runs as follows:
- One league consists of one of the five gem ranks, ranked from lowest to highest: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Sapphire and Ruby.
- Competitions refresh at 12:00 AM GMT on Monday.
- Each user is assigned to a league that consists of 50 random participants of a common rank who earned their first XP of the week at a similar time.
- To earn points for the competition all ways of earning XP in any platform are valid, except for the placement test. XP earned in any of the available trees are counted.
- The XP earned via web are counted only after the player begins the competition via app.
- By the end of all competitions except Ruby those who reach the top n in their group are promoted one rank higher. Initially n was 10 for all groups.[1] Currently it is as follows: Bronze 20, Silver 15, Gold 10, Sapphire 10.
- In addition, players who earn either 1st, 2nd or 3rd position in their group will earn 20, 10 or 5 lingots respectively (or 400, 200 or 100 gems in iOS). This is denoted in the league area by a gold, silver, or bronze chest by their name.
- Players who are below 45th position (44th in iOS) will be demoted one rank lower. In the Bronze competition there is no demotion as there is no lower rank.
- Otherwise, players will remain in the same rank.
Leaderboards Participation Edit
In order to participate in a league competition:
- Players must use an app updated after January 2019.
- At least 10 lessons must already be completed (in any number of trees) prior to the new competition. Any test or story that gives 10 XP or more counts as one lesson.
- At least 10 XP must be earned using an app to appear in a group of 50 persons.
- If you attempt to join a league on a Sunday and press the leagues icon, instead of joining a group you will see how much time is left for the next competition.
- If you press the Leaderboards icon and you haven't gained XP in this week you will see a sleeping Duo and a message that tells you to complete a lesson. If you haven't completed 10 lessons since you began Duolingo you will get a message telling you how many lessons you need to start competing.
Group GoalEdit
On July 2019 some leagues of 50 people have a group goal with a reward that will be distributed among all the members of that league.[2][3] A goal may be, for example, 22,000 XP,[3] which means 440 XP per person. A goal of 36,000 XP[2] means 720 XP per person. Some people have received 3 lingots for achieving the group goal,[4] and others have received 25.[5]
Breaking TiesEdit
When two or more persons accumulate the same amount of XP in the same competition, their rankings are ordered by completion time from earliest to latest.
VocabularyEdit
Leaderboards on the web
There are three concepts that can be called league or leaderboard.
- The official name of the contest is Leaderboards (see image). However many people say "leagues".[6]
- Each of the five ranks in which the game is divided is called a league.
- Each group of 50 people who compete together is called a league or a leaderboard.
ReferencesEdit
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Duolingo Forums, Leaderboards now on all Android devices (updated), January 18, 2019, updated April 5, 2019
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Duolingo Forums, What's in the group-goal chest?, July 4, 2019.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Reddit, New "Group Goal" on leaderboard, July 4, 2019.
- ↑ Reddit, What's in the group-goal chest?, Comment by lhk91, July 5, 2019.
- ↑ Duolingo Forums, What's in the group-goal chest?, Comment by okonoboh, July 4, 2019.
- ↑ Duolingo Forum, Leagues, March 6, 2019.
