How Does TNL Work? A Beginner's Guide to The Ninja League (as of S8)

Here's a beginner's guide to The Ninja League (TNL), as of Season Eight. TNL is a fantasy "Ninja Warrior" league hosted on the simulator "Ninja Machine", created by Alex Cunningham.

What's the roster rules?

Each roster has to have between seven and 12 players on its roster. At least six of them will play in a single game, with two competitors per each of the three stages. A competitor can only be selected to one stage.

The team also must have at least one female that plays on one of the three stages. For example, a team's lineup could look like the following below:

Stage One: Player One, Player Two (female)
Stage Two: Player Three, Player Four
Stage Three: Player Five, Player Six
Stage Four (Final Stage): Player Seven

How does the point system work?

Points are awarded per the number of obstacles cleared in a stage. In Stage One, one point is awarded for each obstacle cleared and two bonus points are awarded for a competitor who clears all obstacles in the stage. In Stage Two, that total is doubled to two and four, respectively. And in Stage Three, the sum is tripled to three and six. If the score is tied after three stages, each team selects a finalist to attempt Stage Four. The competitor that gets the furthest of the two wins the tie-breaking extra point.

In the regular season, the top four teams in scoring for each round progress to an extra round known as "The Gauntlet". Each of the four teams sends one competitor that will run through as many obstacles of all four stages as possible. The round is arranged in a tournament-style bracket (1 seed vs. 4 seed, 2 seed vs. 3 seed). The winner of the Gauntlet receives 25 bonus points for themselves and for their team, while the second-place competitor receives ten bonus points.

How do trades and the salary cap work?

Trades have to adhere to the player count as well as the salary cap. Each team has $65M in available cap space and must abide by all roster rules.

During the offseason, there is a free agency period, known as "bidding", where players can move to different teams depending on who offers the highest amount. Teams can only place bids on players with expiring contracts. For a bid to be valid, the contract must last at least one season and be worth at least $1M. The maximum contract length is two seasons, with a maximum value of $25M per season, or $30M for players eligible for a Supermax contract. The Supermax is for any player who has made an All-TNL team (top 15 in individual scoring) in any of the previous three seasons.

If a player is targeted by another team, the incumbent team must offer a higher bid unless the target is offered a max contract. In that case, they can match that exact bid to retain the player.

How do the playoffs work?

At the end of the season, the top six teams automatically enter the playoffs. The seventh through 10th seeds compete in the TNL Wildcard Clash, a tournament whose premise is based off the NBA Play-In Tournament.

The seventh-place team hosts the eighth-place team in a double-chance game, with the winner advancing to the playoffs to face the No. 2 seed. The loser of the double-chance game faces the winner of the ninth/10th seed game — the winner of the final game moves on to claim the last spot in the eight-team playoff bracket. 

From there, it's a single-elimination tournament-style bracket. Each team has to claim four wins in a best-of-seven matchup to advance to the next round — the last team left standing is the season's overall champion.

What are "Active Captain Points?"

"Active Captain Points", introduced in Season Eight as an incentive reward for captains to be active, awards points based on activity. It awards one point for submitting a lineup, attending a round, attending a SHIRO (a four-stage, 250-competitor tournament) running and calculating the standings for a round. Two points are awarded for calculating player stats and for inviting a fellow competitor.

Captains can use 10 points to purchase a redo, which can be used on any competitor in the first three stages (the best run of the two is the one that counts). Each captain must stay above five captain points to ensure that they will remain in TNL for the next season.

The team with the most ACP at the end of the season earns $5 million in salary cap space for the next season, with second place receiving $3 million and third place receiving $1 million.