Format Question

[Kyle]

I want to make a nine-round round robin for nine teams. Normally, this would be easy enough. But I also need to keep one team in the same room the whole time because one of their players is visually impaired and can't move easily from room to room. And I want to minimize the number of times that teams have to move from Rooms 1 and 2 (which are together) to Rooms 3 and 4 (which are together but a fairly long way from Rooms 1 and 2). Is there a good way to make this all work?

(Well, yes, obviously – adding a tenth team simplifies things considerably. But that plan has been nixed.)

[Stained Diviner]

Somebody may come up with something better than this.
Round 1: 1v6, 2v9, 3v8, 4v5
Round 2: 1v9, 2v7, 3v5, 4v6
Round 3: 1v7, 2v8, 3v6, 4v9
Round 4: 1v8, 2v5, 3v9, 4v7
Round 5: 1v5, 2v3, 6v7, 8v9
Round 6: 1v4, 2v6, 5v8, 7v9
Round 7: 1v2, 3v4, 5v6, 7v8
Round 8: 1v3, 4v8, 5v7, 6v9
Round 9: 6v8, 2v4, 3v7, 5v9

[Kyle]

That's good - and thanks very much for working on it. It does suggest, however, that what I feared is likely to be the case: if you leave one team in the same room the whole time, then other teams are also going to have to remain in the same room for long stretches. I suppose there isn't any way around this?

[nobthehobbit]

You can rearrange the games in the other rooms as desired, so:

Round 1: 1v6, 2v9, 3v8, 4v5
Round 2: 1v9, 3v5, 4v6, 2v7
Round 3: 1v7, 4v9, 2v8, 3v6
Round 4: 1v8, 2v5, 3v9, 4v7
Round 5: 1v5, 6v7, 2v3, 8v9
Round 6: 1v4, 5v8, 7v9, 2v6
Round 7: 1v2, 3v4, 5v6, 7v8
Round 8: 1v3, 5v7, 4v8, 6v9
Round 9: 6v8, 2v4, 3v7, 5v9

[Matt Weiner]

You can also rotate staff from round to round so that being in the same room isn't a big deal.

[the return of AHAN]

Somebody may come up with something better than this.
Round 1: 1v6, 2v9, 3v8, 4v5
Round 2: 1v9, 2v7, 3v5, 4v6
Round 3: 1v7, 2v8, 3v6, 4v9
Round 4: 1v8, 2v5, 3v9, 4v7
Round 5: 1v5, 2v3, 6v7, 8v9
Round 6: 1v4, 2v6, 5v8, 7v9
Round 7: 1v2, 3v4, 5v6, 7v8
Round 8: 1v3, 4v8, 5v7, 6v9
Round 9: 6v8, 2v4, 3v7, 5v9

ITT, Reinstein posts the Streator Northlawn Middle School "Knowledge Power" Tournament rotation. Ahh.. memories.
Oh, and what Matt said.

[Kyle]

You can also rotate staff from round to round so that being in the same room isn't a big deal.

You're right – that's a good point.

[Kyle]

You can rearrange the games in the other rooms as desired, so:

Round 5: 1v5, 6v7, 2v3, 8v9
Round 6: 1v4, 5v8, 7v9, 2v6
Round 7: 1v2, 3v4, 5v6, 7v8

Yeah, but this way Team 8 has to make the long walk in consecutive rounds.

(Keep in mind that Oxford, as a collegiate university, has no classroom buildings)

[nobthehobbit]

You can rearrange the games in the other rooms as desired, so:

Round 5: 1v5, 6v7, 2v3, 8v9
Round 6: 1v4, 5v8, 7v9, 2v6
Round 7: 1v2, 3v4, 5v6, 7v8

Yeah, but this way Team 8 has to make the long walk in consecutive rounds.

(Keep in mind that Oxford, as a collegiate university, has no classroom buildings)

Yes, but that was merely an example of a potential rearrangement; any sort of change could be done (reordering rounds, further swapping of games between rooms) to minimize movement between the rooms. I don't know how much such movement can be minimzed, though.