Greetings, everyone!

I’m excited to reintroduce JudgeApps: the centralized community website for Magic: The Gathering judges, tournament organizers, and event staff worldwide.

11 years ago, JudgeApps first launched to the community with a host of features including Events, Judge Profiles, Messaging, Projects, and Forums. Over the following years, numerous developers and community members contributed additional features like Exams, Reviews, the Exemplar Program, Investigations, and many more.

Since 2020, though, things have been fairly quiet on the JudgeApps front. When I discussed JudgeApps with other judges, I would often describe JudgeApps as “hibernating,” waiting until the time was right.

Today, I am happy to loudly say: JudgeApps is awake. JudgeApps is still here, and we’re excited to be your central home for all things related to judging, no matter where you are in the world or what judge organization you’re part of.

To help make JudgeApps cozy and comfortable again, we’ve been working on a few things to tidy up:

• Terms of Service: We’ll be adding Terms of Service to JudgeApps, which all registered users will be prompted to review upon visiting the site. These terms outline what is (and isn’t) allowed on the site, clarify who owns content that is posted to JudgeApps, and address other legal points.
• What are DCI Numbers? You no longer need a DCI number to sign up for a JudgeApps account. Many judges don’t even have a DCI number, so it didn’t make sense for JudgeApps to keep requiring them.
• Judge Academy Level Data: Judge Academy judges were able to transmit their level information to JudgeApps through the Judge Academy site. This level information should now be fully synced: If you were a Judge Academy member as of October 13, 2023, your Judge Academy level should appear on JudgeApps. If you notice a discrepancy in your judge level on JudgeApps, please let us know through our Account Assistance form.
• Outdated Exams: We’ve paused all the old practice exams on the site, as these had grown wild and unreliable. If you’re interested in volunteering your time to help them return, let us know!
• General Cleanup: We’ve removed various references to concepts from the historical Judge Program, and will continue to tidy these up over time. Judge regions are staying in place, since they also serve valuable functions as community hubs (forums) and for managing event notifications.
• Non-Profit Formation: Rob McKenzie and I are forming a non-profit to administer JudgeApps and the other services hosted on magicjudges.org, like the Judge Blogs. Creating a formal legal entity provides clarity and continuity for legal matters, and enhances our ability to partner with other organizations. The JudgeApps non-profit will remain legally distinct from such organizations.

We’re also pleased to announce that JudgeApps will be hosting the exams and certifications for Judge Foundry, the new judge association for Canada and the United States. Judge Foundry will be providing financial support for JudgeApps’ server costs, and we’re grateful for the support of their members.

If you’re a leader of a regional/national judge association, and are interested in using JudgeApps to support your organization’s exams or other functions, please contact us so we can discuss further! To help distribute the costs of hosting JudgeApps equitably, we will request proportionate financial contributions from these organizations as well.

To be clear, JudgeApps itself will remain free to use for anyone, no matter where you are in the world.

Of course, there is still much to do – like any animal coming out of hibernation, it’s going to take us some time to get fully back into shape. We have new features to add, bugs to squash, and many other initiatives in the works. In particular, I believe that the heart of JudgeApps is the team of community members who have donated their time and effort to make JudgeApps an amazing platform. Along with longtime senior contributor Dan Collins, Rob and I are excited to restart and revitalize that team in the coming months.

Please feel free to discuss this article in the forums, or message us directly with any questions!