Tournament Types

There are several different types of tournaments. This article focuses on 4 primary types. Tournamatch has tournament management support for the first two.

Single Elimination
This is the most common type where one competitor competes against another. The winner advances and the loser is eliminated. Eventually, the remaining player or team is the only one not yet to lose any match.

Double Elimination
Like single elimination tournaments, one competitor competes against another with the winner advancing. In double elimination tournaments, the loser is added to a loser’s bracket and competes against other losers. The the loser of a match in the loser’s bracket is eliminated and the winner moves on to play future losers from the winner’s bracket. The same process can be repeated for triple elimination if desired.

Round-Robin
These tournaments differ significantly from the two above. In a round-robin tournament, one competitor will compete against every other competitor. The competitor with the best record after all matches have been played is crowned the winner.

Swiss
Similar to Round-Robin except every competitor is not required to face every other competitor. No competitor is every eliminated, and the number of rounds are pre-determined. The goal with Swiss tournaments is to determine the winner without playing as many matches as a round-robin tournament. Competitors are initially seeded randomly or based on some ranking, and in subsequent rounds competitors are paired against other competitors with similar scores or records.

Bonus Type: Scheveningen
In this style, individuals within a team compete round-robin style against another team. The team with the highest number of games won is the winner.