diff --git a/planetwars-server/Cargo.toml b/planetwars-server/Cargo.toml
index 3a28d5d..198d38f 100644
--- a/planetwars-server/Cargo.toml
+++ b/planetwars-server/Cargo.toml
@@ -21,6 +21,11 @@ chrono = { version = "0.4", features = ["serde"] }
 serde_json = "1.0"
 base64 = "0.13.0"
 zip = "0.5"
+toml = "0.5"
+planetwars-matchrunner = { path = "../planetwars-matchrunner" }
+
+# TODO: remove me
+shlex = "1.1"
 
 [dev-dependencies]
 parking_lot = "0.11"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/planetwars-server/src/db/bots.rs b/planetwars-server/src/db/bots.rs
index bef69c0..970dcf9 100644
--- a/planetwars-server/src/db/bots.rs
+++ b/planetwars-server/src/db/bots.rs
@@ -68,3 +68,10 @@ pub fn find_bot_code_bundles(bot_id: i32, conn: &PgConnection) -> QueryResult<Ve
         .filter(code_bundles::bot_id.eq(bot_id))
         .get_results(conn)
 }
+
+pub fn active_code_bundle(bot_id: i32, conn: &PgConnection) -> QueryResult<CodeBundle> {
+    code_bundles::table
+        .filter(code_bundles::bot_id.eq(bot_id))
+        .order(code_bundles::created_at.desc())
+        .first(conn)
+}
diff --git a/planetwars-server/src/lib.rs b/planetwars-server/src/lib.rs
index 01e9041..1d08580 100644
--- a/planetwars-server/src/lib.rs
+++ b/planetwars-server/src/lib.rs
@@ -22,6 +22,11 @@ use axum::{
     AddExtensionLayer, Router,
 };
 
+// TODO: make these configurable
+const BOTS_DIR: &str = "./data/bots";
+const MATCHES_DIR: &str = "./data/matches";
+const MAPS_DIR: &str = "./data/maps";
+
 type ConnectionPool = bb8::Pool<DieselConnectionManager<PgConnection>>;
 
 pub async fn api() -> Router {
diff --git a/planetwars-server/src/routes/bots.rs b/planetwars-server/src/routes/bots.rs
index 8327443..5f5d8f5 100644
--- a/planetwars-server/src/routes/bots.rs
+++ b/planetwars-server/src/routes/bots.rs
@@ -1,22 +1,18 @@
-use axum::extract::{Multipart, Path, RawBody};
+use axum::extract::{Multipart, Path};
 use axum::http::StatusCode;
-use axum::response::IntoResponse;
 use axum::Json;
 use rand::distributions::Alphanumeric;
 use rand::Rng;
 use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 use serde_json::{json, value::Value as JsonValue};
 use std::io::Cursor;
-use std::path::{self, PathBuf};
+use std::path::PathBuf;
 
 use crate::db::bots::{self, CodeBundle};
 use crate::db::users::User;
-use crate::DatabaseConnection;
+use crate::{DatabaseConnection, BOTS_DIR};
 use bots::Bot;
 
-// TODO: make this a parameter
-const BOTS_DIR: &str = "./data/bots";
-
 #[derive(Serialize, Deserialize, Debug)]
 pub struct BotParams {
     name: String,
diff --git a/planetwars-server/src/routes/matches.rs b/planetwars-server/src/routes/matches.rs
index 7eca6ab..4a556af 100644
--- a/planetwars-server/src/routes/matches.rs
+++ b/planetwars-server/src/routes/matches.rs
@@ -1,12 +1,72 @@
+use std::path::PathBuf;
+
 use axum::Json;
+use hyper::StatusCode;
+use planetwars_matchrunner::{run_match, MatchConfig, MatchPlayer};
+use rand::{distributions::Alphanumeric, Rng};
 use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 
+use crate::{
+    db::{bots, users::User},
+    DatabaseConnection, BOTS_DIR, MAPS_DIR, MATCHES_DIR,
+};
+
 #[derive(Serialize, Deserialize, Debug)]
 pub struct MatchParams {
     // Just bot ids for now
     players: Vec<i32>,
 }
 
-pub async fn play_match(params: Json<MatchParams>) {
-    println!("start match: {:#?}", params);
+pub async fn play_match(
+    user: User,
+    conn: DatabaseConnection,
+    Json(params): Json<MatchParams>,
+) -> Result<(), StatusCode> {
+    let map_path = PathBuf::from(MAPS_DIR).join("hex.json");
+
+    let slug: String = rand::thread_rng()
+        .sample_iter(&Alphanumeric)
+        .take(16)
+        .map(char::from)
+        .collect();
+    let log_path = PathBuf::from(MATCHES_DIR).join(&format!("{}.log", slug));
+
+    let mut players = Vec::new();
+    for bot_name in params.players {
+        let bot = bots::find_bot(bot_name, &conn).map_err(|_| StatusCode::BAD_REQUEST)?;
+        let code_bundle =
+            bots::active_code_bundle(bot.id, &conn).map_err(|_| StatusCode::BAD_REQUEST)?;
+
+        let bundle_path = PathBuf::from(BOTS_DIR).join(&code_bundle.path);
+        let bot_config: BotConfig = std::fs::read_to_string(bundle_path.join("botconfig.toml"))
+            .and_then(|config_str| toml::from_str(&config_str).map_err(|e| e.into()))
+            .map_err(|_| StatusCode::INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR)?;
+
+        players.push(MatchPlayer {
+            name: bot.name.clone(),
+            path: PathBuf::from(BOTS_DIR).join(code_bundle.path),
+            argv: shlex::split(&bot_config.run_command)
+                // TODO: this is an user error, should ideally be handled before we get here
+                .ok_or_else(|| StatusCode::INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR)?,
+        });
+    }
+
+    let match_config = MatchConfig {
+        map_name: "hex".to_string(),
+        map_path,
+        log_path: log_path.clone(),
+        players,
+    };
+
+    tokio::spawn(run_match(match_config));
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+// TODO: this is duplicated from planetwars-cli
+// clean this up and move to matchrunner crate
+#[derive(Serialize, Deserialize)]
+pub struct BotConfig {
+    pub name: String,
+    pub run_command: String,
+    pub build_command: Option<String>,
 }