DuelDuck Creator Guide 2026: Design Duels, Set Fees

What Is a DuelDuck Creator?

A DuelDuck creator is anyone who designs a binary YES/NO prediction duel, publishes it on duelduck.com/create-duel, and distributes it to a community. Creators earn a commission fee on every pool they create - regardless of which side wins. The creator sets the commission percentage during setup (default: 5%). On a $1,000 pool with a 10% commission, the creator earns $100 gross - the platform retains 50%, leaving $50 net creator income. DuelDuck creators do not need to predict correctly. They need to design good questions, set the right parameters, and reach communities with genuine conviction on both sides of the outcome.

Step 1: Your Prediction - Writing the Question That Fills Pools

The prediction field is the most important element of any duel. A well-designed question generates genuine two-sided conviction. A poorly designed question leaves one side obvious and kills pool participation. The field accepts up to 162 characters and must align with DuelDuck's platform rules. The AI Magic button can suggest question refinements - useful for getting the phrasing right when the concept is clear but the wording needs polish.

The Anatomy of a Good Duel Question

Every high-performing duel question has four components:

• A named subject: 'Arsenal', 'Bitcoin', 'Apple', 'the Federal Reserve'. Never vague: 'a major team', 'a tech company', 'rates'.

• A specific outcome: 'wins the UCL Final', 'hits $100,000', 'announces HomePad at WWDC', 'cuts rates in June'. The outcome must be binary and unambiguous.

• A resolution reference: 'official Apple press release', 'CoinGecko 24-hour average', 'Transfermarkt official result', 'Fed FOMC statement'. The resolution source prevents disputes.

• A deadline anchor: 'before May 30', 'by June 30', 'in 2026 Q2'. The deadline is set in the Duel Deadline field but should also be referenced in the question for clarity.

The AI Magic Button: When to Use It

The AI Magic button suggests question refinements based on the text entered. It is most useful when:

• You have the concept but are unsure how to phrase it within 162 characters

• You want to check whether the question is genuinely binary (some questions look binary but have ambiguous edges)

• You want to add specificity without exceeding the character limit

AI Magic does not replace creator judgment on community fit. A question that is technically well-formed but irrelevant to your distribution community will not fill the pool regardless of how well it is phrased.

Step 2: Currency - Choosing the Right Token for Your Community

DuelDuck supports four currency options for duel pricing and payouts. The choice determines which communities can easily participate and sets the perceived stakes of the duel.

Practical rule: match currency to topic. A UCL Champions League duel for a European football Discord should use USDC (global, stable). A Solana memecoin duel for a BONK Telegram group should use SOL or BONK SPL. A political prediction duel for a US-based community should use USDC. Mismatched currency reduces participation.

Step 3: Duel Deadline - Setting the Cut-Off That Protects the Pool

The Duel Deadline is the last moment at which participants can enter the duel. After the deadline passes, the pool is locked. DuelDuck converts your local time to UTC automatically.

The most common creator mistake: setting the deadline after the event resolves. A 'Will Arsenal win the UCL Final?' duel with a deadline of May 31 (the day after the final on May 30) allows participants who already know the result to enter at 50/50 and extract guaranteed profit. This destroys pool integrity and the creator's reputation.

Deadline Strategy by Event Type

Step 4: Duel Price and Fee - Setting Your Ticket Price and Commission

The Duel Price and Fee field has two components: the ticket price per vote (cost per participant entry) and the commission percentage (the creator's fee, set at the time of duel creation). The platform preview card shows the default commission as 5%.

Ticket Price Strategy

The ticket price determines your pool's accessibility and the seriousness of participant conviction:

Commission Percentage: The Creator's Income Lever

The commission percentage is the creator's primary income mechanism. DuelDuck's default is 5%. The platform retains 50% of the commission; the creator nets the remaining 50%. The commission is calculated on the losing side pool.

The Creator Fee Math: Realistic Income Scenarios

Step 5: Who Resolves - Creator Control vs Platform Safety

The Who Resolves field determines who declares the final outcome. DuelDuck offers two options:

Option A: Creator Resolves

The creator manually declares YES or NO after the event. Creator-resolved duels give maximum control and allow the creator to apply judgment when edge cases arise. The trade-off: incorrect or disputed resolution damages reputation.

Reputation consequences for creator-resolved duels:

• -10 reputation points or full reputation score reset for incorrect resolution (confirmed by platform review)

• Self-resolve restrictions applied after repeated incorrect resolutions

• Community trust built over time from a track record of accurate, timely resolutions

Creator resolution works best when: the resolution source is public and unambiguous (Spotify charts, CoinGecko prices, official press releases), the creator has direct access to the resolution data, and the community trusts the creator's track record.

Option B: Platform Resolves

DuelDuck's platform admin resolves the duel based on stated criteria. Platform resolution removes the creator's conflict-of-interest risk and is more appropriate for creators who participate in their own duels. The trade-off: the creator has less control and must specify resolution criteria clearly enough for the platform to apply them without ambiguity.

Platform resolution works best when: the creator is also a participant in the duel, the event involves official verified data (government statistics, exchange settlements), or the creator is new and building a reputation track record.

Step 6: Publish and Preview - What Participants See

Before publishing, the right side of the create-duel interface shows a live Duel Preview card. The preview displays exactly what participants will see: the duel deadline, the prediction text, the ticket price, and the commission percentage. Review the preview before hitting PUBLISH to verify all fields are correct.

The preview card shows:

• Duel deadline: Displayed as the UTC datetime set in the Duel Deadline field

• Your prediction: The exact 162-character (max) question text

• Ticket Price: The cost per vote in the selected currency

• Commission: The percentage displayed as the creator's fee (default 5%)

• PUBLISH button: Yellow button at the bottom of the preview; publishes the duel immediately

• Duel Preview link: A shareable URL generated after publication - the primary distribution tool

Step 7: Distribution - How to Fill Your Pool

Publishing a duel is step one. A duel without an audience produces a one-sided pool and poor resolution. Distribution - getting the right community to the duel before the deadline - is the creator's primary job after the question is designed.

Match Community to Question

The single most important distribution rule: distribute to communities where genuine conviction exists on both sides of the question. A duel about Arsenal winning the UCL Final, distributed to an Arsenal fan Telegram group, will fill YES heavily and under-fill NO. The same duel distributed to a neutral football prediction community fills both sides from different conviction bases.

Distribution Channels by Community Type

• Telegram groups: Highest engagement for crypto duels. Share the duel preview link with context: 'I just published a BTC vs $100K duel - community conviction on both sides needed.' Include the deadline and ticket price in the message.

• Discord servers: Best for gaming, sports, and culture duels. Pin the duel in the predictions channel. Add a poll alongside the duel link to generate pre-participation conversation.

• X (Twitter): Effective for current-event duels. Post the question as a poll, then follow up with the DuelDuck link for participants who want to put money behind their answer.

• Reddit communities: Sports prediction subreddits, political forecasting communities, crypto analysis threads. Match the subreddit's expertise to the duel topic precisely.

• Newsletter and blog: For creators building a prediction brand, including DuelDuck links in newsletters generates recurring participation from an audience that follows their prediction track record.

The Shareable Duel Link

Every published duel generates a shareable URL on duelduck.com. This link is the primary distribution tool. When shared in a community, it shows the duel preview card - question, deadline, ticket price, commission - and a direct JOIN button. The link should be accompanied by context: why this question matters to the community, what the creator's own view is (optional), and what deadline participants must meet.

Advanced Creator Strategy: Building a Pool-Filling Reputation

Start Small, Build Track Record

New DuelDuck creators should start with low-ticket, platform-resolved duels on topics where the resolution source is unambiguous. A 'Will BTC close above $80,000 on May 31? (CoinGecko)' duel with a $0.50 USDC ticket and platform resolution is low-risk for both creator and participant. Five correctly resolved duels build more reputation than one large creator-resolved duel that goes wrong.

Weekly Cadence Beats One-Off Events

Creators who publish on a consistent schedule - every Monday before market open, every Friday before the weekend sports slate - build a participant base that checks DuelDuck for their new duels. Consistency creates recurring pool volume without requiring fresh distribution effort for every new duel. The platform's referral system rewards creators whose referred participants return repeatedly.

Layer Duels Around the Same Event

For major events (UCL Final, Apple WWDC, Fed meeting), publish multiple duels at different specificity levels:

• Outright winner: 'Will Arsenal win the UCL Final on May 30?'

• Score threshold: 'Will the UCL Final have more than 2.5 goals?'

• Individual performance: 'Will Harry Kane score in the UCL Final?'

• Timing: 'Will the UCL Final go to extra time?'

Each duel attracts different conviction bases and fills from different participant segments. A participant who declines the outright winner duel may have strong conviction on the goals total. Layered duels maximize pool volume from a single event.

The DuelDuck Creator Income Calculator

Estimate monthly creator income based on duel volume and average pool size:

These figures assume a 50/50 pool split. When pools are imbalanced, the creator earns commission on the smaller (losing) side only, which reduces net income proportionally. A pool that is 80% YES and 20% NO with $1,000 total has a $200 losing side - commission applies to $200, not $1,000.

Combining Creator Duels With DuelDuck Tournaments

DuelDuck's tournament system at duelduck.com/tournaments runs parallel to individual creator duels. Tournament participants compete on PnL (Profit and Loss) across a curated set of duels within a tournament theme. Creators can design duels specifically for tournament audiences - Solana ecosystem duels for the Solana Duel Sprint, culture duels for an entertainment-themed tournament.

The synergy: creators earn fee income from every pool, plus tournament participants bring higher conviction and larger ticket sizes than casual duels. A duel that generates $50 in fee income from casual distribution might generate $200 in fee income when distributed to a tournament participant leaderboard community chasing PnL rankings.

View active DuelDuck tournaments at duelduck.com/tournaments. April Season 2026 distributes 5,000 USDC. Solana Duel Sprint distributes 6.866 SOL. Tournament creator opportunities emerge when platform themes are announced.

The DuelDuck API: Automating Creator Income at Scale

The DuelDuck API at duelduck.com/api allows creators to programmatically publish duels, monitor pool sizes, and track resolution status. For creators building prediction market content at scale - daily crypto price duels, automated sports event duels, weekly economic release duels - the API removes the manual publication bottleneck.

API use cases for creators:

• Automated daily BTC/ETH/SOL price threshold duels published at midnight UTC

• Sports event duels generated from a fixture list API and published before each match

• Economic release duels triggered by the FOMC meeting calendar or CPI release schedule

The API enables a creator income model that runs partially on autopilot - questions are generated systematically, published on schedule, and distributed to a standing community that returns for each new duel without requiring manual outreach.

Start Creating. Start Earning

duelduck.com/create-duel - Publish your first duel. duelduck.com/tournaments - Enter an active tournament. duelduck.com/api - Build at scale. duelduck.com/blog - Read more guides.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. Creator income depends on pool size, commission rate, and participant engagement. DuelDuck does not guarantee any specific income level. Prediction market trading involves risk of loss.