Follow a club. Join it if they’ll have you.

Until today, joining a Castle meant tapping Join and waiting for an organizer to say yes. The organizer would look at a name and a handle, have no idea who that was, and say yes anyway. So we’ve taken the wait out.

For players

Follow any Castle and you’re one of its players. It’s free, it’s instant, and nobody approves it. Its public nights and gambits show up on your Home, and you can make it your home Castle without being a member. Organizers see how many players follow them. Below five, they just see “fewer than 5”.

Some clubs also have members, and that’s the club’s own list. It might be the people who pay dues, or the regulars the club invites. If a club has one, its page says what it’s called, what members get, and where to sign up. Sign-up happens on the club’s own page, and the club takes any money, not us. Members see each other, the members-only nights and anything else the club keeps for members. Following never opens any of that.

Two choices are yours, and you can change them any time from the Following button or in Settings:

• Your name. Clubs on Keep, our plan for organizers, will be able to see who follows them. New follows show your name, and the line under the Follow button says so before you tap. Hide it whenever you like. If you followed a club before today, your name stays hidden until you say otherwise. We’ll ask you once.
• Emails. Following doesn’t sign you up for anything. “Get emails from this club” is a separate box, unticked until you tick it. Every email has a one-tap way out, and the club never sees your address.

For organizers

No more queue. If you have a membership, set it up from your Members screen: give it a name (“Members” is fine, “The Back Rank” is better), a line about what members get, and a link to wherever people sign up or pay. Then add members with a member link, made on the same screen, and send it to the people who paid, or to one person by handle. Links run out after a day, a week or 30 days, and you can turn one off any time.

Your Members screen now reads “players” and “members”: the people who follow you, and the people on your list. Members-only gambits and nights stay members-only.

Coming next for clubs on Keep, a club at a time: the names of the players who follow you, and an email you can send to the ones who asked to hear from you. Plain text, a few a month, sent by us, so you can tell your players about the Halloween blitz or the membership without anyone handing over an address.

If you asked to join a Castle before today, your request is still there and an organizer can still say yes. You can cancel it, and follow in the meantime.