Winning the Skool Games

Approach the Skool Games by growing paid recurring revenue that your community can keep. As of September 2026, Skool's leaderboard FAQ documents the Games as a quarterly competition ranked by MRR growth, the new recurring revenue added during the quarter, with total MRR shown underneath as context. Only the first $100 a month of each member's price counts, annual plans are divided by twelve, one-time course sales do not count, rejoining members are excluded, and refunds are subtracted. One-time sales and public excitement do not replace careful onboarding, refund planning, and retention.

Best practice

Read the current Skool Games Rules before designing the campaign.
Plan from MRR growth within the quarter, which is what the leaderboard ranks, not from member count or gross cash collected.
Keep one-time course sales outside your Games projection; the leaderboard is about recurring revenue.
Treat cancellations and refunds as direct subtractions from the MRR growth that ranks you.
Pick the next milestone ($3,000, $10,000, $30,000, $100,000, $300,000, or $1 million in MRR) as a planning focus, not a promise.
Use the overall and category leaderboard views to understand the groups around you, then get back to serving members.
Build the first week member experience before increasing acquisition.
Keep private MRR, member names, and payment data out of public proof.

How it works

The Games leaderboard tracks community revenue, and ranks groups by MRR growth within the quarter, with total MRR shown as context.
A group appears on the leaderboard once it has at least $1 in MRR. Before that, Skool prompts you to earn your first paid dollar.
The leaderboard shows overall position, supports category filtering, and displays traffic and recent growth beside total MRR.
Milestone levels sit at $3,000, $10,000, $30,000, $100,000, $300,000, and $1 million in MRR, each with a status marker. Skool described a private club at $100,000 and physical awards at $100,000, $300,000, and $1 million.
Each round ends with the quarter, so a campaign has a deadline and the growth figure starts again when the next round opens.
Skool said physical awards require holding a threshold for a period of time, but it has not published the exact period.
Refunds and cancellations lower the MRR the leaderboard sees.
The Games landing page does not provide every detail, so check the current rules before planning.
Discovery rank and Games rank are separate systems.
Onboarding protects recurring revenue because a bad first week can create refunds and churn risk.
Pricing and transaction fees affect take-home economics even though the leaderboard shows gross MRR.

Pitfalls

Do not treat a high leaderboard position as proof that members are satisfied.
Do not build the Games plan around one-time course sales.
Do not ignore churn; MRR that leaves lowers your rank as surely as new MRR raises it.
Do not ignore refunds in leaderboard projections.
Do plan around the round's end date; Skool counts MRR growth per quarter.
Do not assume Skool has published how long a threshold must be held before a physical award arrives.
Do not use Discovery rank or trending placement as a Games score.
Do not copy social screenshots as official rules.
Do not buy low-fit members just to improve a short-term count.
Do not publish private member or payment details in a public Games recap.

A 90-day rhythm

Day 1: Read the current Games rules and note where your group sits on the leaderboard, or whether it still needs its first paid dollar.
Day 1: Confirm your recurring offer price and plan.
Day 1: Build a forecast for new paid members, monthly price, expected cancellations, and refunds, ending in projected total MRR.
Days 1 to 14: Prove the first-week onboarding path.
Days 1 to 14: Keep the checkout promise conservative enough to reduce refund pressure.
Days 15 to 30: Add acquisition only after support and onboarding are working.
Days 31 to 60: Review retained members, cancellations, refunds, first posts, first lessons, and support issues.
Days 61 to 90: Expand Discovery, social, external site, partner, or affiliate channels only when quality holds.
End of 90 days: Reconcile total MRR, cancellations, refunds, and member experience notes, then choose the next milestone.
After 90 days: Record unknown rules as questions, not assumptions, and keep going; the growth figure starts again with the next quarter.