# PLAYCUP — Full context

> Long-form, machine-readable reference for PLAYCUP (https://playcup.ro), a Romanian Counter-Strike competitive platform for CS2 and CS 1.6. This file expands on https://playcup.ro/llms.txt so assistants can answer common questions without crawling every page. Canonical UI copy lives in the guides linked from each section.

## What PlayCup is

PlayCup is a competitive Counter-Strike platform built around 5v5 matchmaking with a skill-based ELO ladder, tournaments, teams and clubs, a community forum, and a first-party anti-cheat (PAC). Accounts are Steam-based. The platform runs its own game servers and supports SourceTV/demos for match review.

## Matchmaking and lobbies

Players queue from lobbies into 5v5 matches. Matchmaking uses wait modes that trade off queue time against match quality:

- Standard: balanced wait, tighter skill matching.
- Extended: waits longer to widen the acceptable skill range.
- Full: prioritises filling a match quickly.

Queues are backed by Redis. Presence and idle counting drive live queue numbers shown on the lobbies page. See https://playcup.ro/guides/matchmaking-guide and play at https://playcup.ro/play/lobbies. Wingman is a 2v2 variant at https://playcup.ro/play/wingman.

## Ranking and ELO

Skill is tracked with an ELO rating. The ladder is divided into tier bands roughly 5000 points wide. Cosmetic promotion matches gate visible advancement: a player has an internal ELO plus a confirmed tier and a display ELO, so ranking up to a new band is confirmed by a promotion match rather than shown instantly. The public ladder is at https://playcup.ro/ranks and the mechanics are documented at https://playcup.ro/guides/ranking-guide.

## Tournaments

PlayCup hosts CS2 and CS 1.6 tournaments with brackets, schedules, match rooms and results. Users can create, join and manage tournaments. Browse at https://playcup.ro/play/tournaments; how-to at https://playcup.ro/guides/tournaments-guide.

## Teams and clubs

Teams have a short tag and a public profile at /teams/{tag}. Clubs are larger communities with a profile at /clubs/{id}. Both have rosters, stats and history. Directories: https://playcup.ro/teams and https://playcup.ro/clubs.

## Player profiles

Each player has a profile at /players/{alias} with ELO history, match stats, achievements, titles and cosmetics. Directory at https://playcup.ro/players.

## Anti-cheat (PAC)

PlayCup Anticheat (PAC) is a desktop client that must run to play competitive matches. It reports scan status and CS2 status back to the platform. Download and setup instructions are at https://playcup.ro/guides/anticheat-guide.

## Engagement systems

- Playstreak: a daily streak for playing matches, with freezes that protect a streak when you miss a day and milestone CUP rewards. See https://playcup.ro/guides/playstreak-guide.
- Weekly drops: any match earns XP; morning/evening/weekend bonuses apply. Players open weekly PlaySkin care packages and claim a subset of offered skins. See https://playcup.ro/guides/weekly-drops-guide.
- Missions: a checklist of milestones across tracks that pay out CUP, cosmetics and referral rewards.
- Referrals: inviting friends pays both sides in CUP, with an activation bonus after the referred player completes matches and a claimable milestone ladder. See https://playcup.ro/guides/referral-guide.
- Titles: earned profile titles. See https://playcup.ro/guides/titles-guide.

## Economy and cosmetics

CUP is the in-platform currency used in the marketplace. Cosmetics include Steam-tradable skins and PlaySkins (an in-game skin changer), plus player-to-player PlaySkin listings.

## Forum

The forum is server-rendered. Categories are at /forum/{category-slug}, topics at /forum/{category-slug}/{topic-slug}, and individual comments have permalinks at /forum/{category-slug}/{topic-slug}#post-{id}. Category pages carry CollectionPage + ItemList + BreadcrumbList JSON-LD; topic pages carry DiscussionForumPosting with nested Comment objects.

## Languages

The interface is available in Romanian (default) and English. Both languages use the same URLs; language is a user setting, not a path prefix or subdomain.

## Canonical entry points

- Homepage: https://playcup.ro/
- Site index for agents: https://playcup.ro/llms.txt
- Full URL list: https://playcup.ro/sitemap.xml
- FAQ: https://playcup.ro/faq
- Platform status: https://playcup.ro/status