Bank's Ladder for checkers was open for all players but put in the warning: anyone may enter but the competition is is extremely difficult as the programs and their programmers play at a high level. (then you would see the entrants names like Joe Blow..Cake Program etc.) I know of 3 people who play on the internet that cracked the top 20 without a program. A remarkable feat! But of course BK is not Banks Ladder. As a side note they closed down with the note that they had been threatened with a lawsuit by Ed Trice. I don't pretend to know the details but I did get a kick out of it.