How to Draw Tournament Brackets

Part of the fun of playing or watching sports is the tournaments. America is enamored with watching all sorts of professional sports events---the World Series, the Super Bowl, March Madness and the U.S. Tennis and Golf Opens. Tournaments are not just for the pros, though. Both children and adults enjoy competing. There are many different ways to schedule a tournament. If you want to act as a tournament director or just want to understand how the different types of tournaments work, there are a few important steps to know.

Instructions

    • 1

      Use single elimination. This is probably the easiest type of tournament in which to do a draw. The player or team is out after the first loss. Winners continue to advance until there is only one left and the tournament has a champion.

    • 2

      Try single elimination with a consolation round. This works the same way as the standard single elimination for the winner's bracket. If a player or team wins, they keep playing until they lose or win the whole thing. However, with this format, if a player or team loses in the first round, they go into the consolation round, which is also single elimination. The consolation round guarantees that players get a chance to play at least two times.

    • 3

      Consider double elimination. This works just like single elimination with a consolation round, only the winner of the consolation round will play the winner of the main draw.

    • 4

      Schedule a round robin. This kind of tournament is the most fair because everyone plays everyone else. The player or team with the most wins is the champion. Round robins work best when there are few players or teams. With a large amount of tournament entrants, there is usually not enough time to play a round robin.

    • 5

      Think about doing a double round robin. If you have few players or teams and enough time, you can schedule the double round robin, which works just like the regular round robin, only each player or team plays each other twice. Again, the player or team with the most wins is the champion. People use this when they want to guarantee a lot of playing time.

    • 6

      Use pool play. This is a round robin for many players. You have different round robin groups or flights, and how many flights you have will determine how many players or teams will advance to the playoffs. For example, if you have six round robin flights, you may allow the top two teams from each flight into a playoff round robin to determine the tournament winner. With an odd number, you may allow the top two third-place teams to compete as well.