Category
How tournament formats work: single elimination, groups and knockout, round robin, Swiss system and more. Rules, number of matches and examples.
Categories
How does a double elimination bracket work, what is the losers' bracket, and why can a competitor who has already lost still win a tournament in the Brazilian system? Rules, examples and a comparison with single elimination.
Groups first, then a bracket — that's how the World Cup and most amateur tournaments are played. Learn how to pick the number of groups, how many matches you'll play, who advances, how to seed teams, and what consolation brackets and group-group formats are.
How many matches will 6, 8 or 10 teams play, how do you build a schedule so nobody plays twice in a row, and what do you do with an odd number of participants? A guide with ready-made tables and a sample schedule.
32 players, one afternoon, and everyone should play several matches against opponents at their level? That's a job for the Swiss system. We explain pairings, the number of rounds, scoring, and the Swiss + knockout variant with a final bracket.
In kata, gymnastics or figure skating there are no goals or points from actions — the result is the judges' scores. Learn how to run a judge-scored tournament: how many judges, why the extreme scores are dropped, how to calculate the average, and how to run eliminations, a semifinal and a final.
Football, volleyball, darts or chess — a league season is more than a one-day tournament. Learn how to plan the number of rounds, write the rules, set scoring, forfeits, promotion and relegation, and keep the table and stats up to date all season.
A summer tournament series, a darts Grand Prix or a kids' event tour — it all comes down to one points table. Learn how to set points per place, when to count only the best results, and how to use the series standings to seed the next tournaments.
How many matches will 12 teams play, who gets a bye, and how do you seed the favorites so they don't meet in the first round? A complete guide with tables and examples.
