Tournament format database

This forum is for discussing tournament formats, question styles, strategy, and such.
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CPiGuy
Auron
Posts: 1070
Joined: Wed Nov 16, 2016 8:19 pm
Location: Ames, Iowa

Tournament format database

Post by CPiGuy »

I have spent some time creating a semi-exhaustive database of what I consider "good" tournament formats.

The database can be found here.

Currently it only includes formats for tournaments involving up to 36 teams and up to 14 rounds; there are very few tournaments per year which fall outside these parameters. If you are running such a tournament I will give you format advice nonetheless -- just contact me!

The folder contains a series of Google Sheets files for various numbers of teams, as well as a master sheet containing links to the sheets for each format as well as a (fairly condensed, especially for larger numbers of teams) description of the formats.

There is also a bonus sheet for 3-5-round "mini tournaments", inspired by the evening tournaments NAQT ran during the pandemic. These formats all guarantee at least three games for every team. Unlike the regular-length tournaments, they often involve unusual finals procedures that would be bad form at a longer tournament.

In general I have not included formats in which a single loss (outside a circle of death in prelims) can eliminate a team from championship contention (such as crossover-finals formats. Stop running tournaments on such formats!). In each phase teams should be ranked based on their record against their bracket only, with the exception of formats that are small enough for the initial "prelims" phase to be a full-field round robin, in which case all game results should be considered (as each team in a given bracket will all have played the same schedule). Usually I have included carryover games for more round-efficient formats; in some cases there are no carryover games. These are noted in the instructions for each format.

I have not included finals instructions but in general you can apply standard finals rules to the top bracket at the end of the tournament. There are no weird formats involving double elimination or anything like that.

I have also not included paired double-bye formats (such as those used at some packet-submission tournaments when prelim pools have an even number of teams but teams still need byes) because there is almost never a cause for using them outside a couple college tournaments a year; these are fairly easy to generate from the corresponding format without byes. (And again, if you'd like help, you can contact me and I'll help you!)

I also plan on writing a short guide to interpreting these schedules and (in particular) how to handle carryovers in tournaments in the near future.

If you think I have included some bad formats, or if you think there are some good formats that I have not included, you should let me know. My hope is for this database to be a fairly comprehensive guide for TDs who are in need of a format for their tournament, especially if they have an unusual number of teams. To this end I welcome any and all feedback to make this database better.
Conor Thompson (he/it)
Bangor High School '16
University of Michigan '20
Iowa State University '25
Tournament Format Database
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Oscario
Lulu
Posts: 22
Joined: Wed Sep 07, 2022 6:24 am

Re: Tournament format database

Post by Oscario »

This really nice, thanks a lot for putting it together. Although I've been advised against using crossover prelims to avoid byes (such as in the 14 team, 10 round schedule). Doing it can lead to some... strange results.
Oscar O'Flanagan
Imperial College London 2019-23, 2024-
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