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Round robin alternative: try a single-elim bracket

Round-robin guarantees every team plays every other — but it eats time. For one-afternoon events, a bracket is usually the better call.

Other formats coming soon.

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The free version does the job. The optional template pack just makes brackets look beautiful for events, classrooms and clubs.

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Use case

When to use this

If you've been considering round-robin but realised you only have 90 minutes, this page explains the trade-off and gives you a bracket maker right here.

How to use it

Step by step

  1. 1

    Paste teams

  2. 2

    Generate bracket

  3. 3

    Print & play

Time math

8 teams round-robin = 28 matches. 8 teams single-elim = 7 matches. The math is brutal. Single-elim costs you the 'every team plays every team' vibe but saves hours.

Hybrid: groups + bracket

If you have time for a bit more, split into two groups, round-robin within each group (3 matches per team if 4-team groups), then top of each group meets in a final. Best of both worlds.

Bracket sizing and byes

Single-elimination brackets only exist in power-of-two sizes: 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64. When your team count falls between two of those, the bracket maker rounds up and inserts byes for the highest seeds. So 11 teams becomes a 16-slot bracket with five byes, all assigned to the top five seeds. That preserves the 'top seeds shouldn't meet until late' principle and gives lower seeds a real path through the play-in round. If you'd rather have everyone play round one, pad the field with practice slots or switch to a round-robin format on a separate page.

Printing for the wall

The bracket renders as plain SVG, which is why it stays sharp on any paper size — A4, A3, US Letter, US Tabloid. For a wall-sized print, export as PDF and send it to a copy shop with 'fit to page' on A2 or A1; the lines and labels remain crisp because there's no rasterisation in the pipeline. For digital sharing, PNG export rasterises at 2× the on-screen resolution which is plenty for Slack, Discord, or email. Match colours to your event by tweaking team names with emojis (🟦 🟥 🟩) — they print fine and scan well from across a room.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Why no round-robin generator?

We're keeping the free tool focused. Bracket-only means we can polish one thing rather than half-doing two.

Can I edit team names after generating the bracket?

Yes. Click any team slot in the bracket and the name becomes editable. Edits stick across re-renders within the same session. If you reseed the bracket the edits are preserved as long as the team count doesn't change.

Does the bracket support double-elimination or losers' bracket?

Not yet. The current bracket maker is single-elimination only. For most amateur and one-day tournaments single-elim is the right format because it keeps the schedule predictable. Double-elim is on the roadmap; if it would help you, send a note via the contact page so we know to prioritise it.

How do I score matches?

Click a team in any matchup to mark them as the winner — they advance automatically to the next round. Click again to undo. The bracket doesn't track scores numerically; it just tracks who advanced, which is the only state the bracket itself needs.

Keep exploring

Related tools & guides

Ready to run your event?

Free forever for basic use. No signup required. The free version really does do the job.

Open team generator Open bracket maker

Want prettier prints? See the optional template pack