There are an infinite number of competition formats, from the classic round robins and single eliminations to progressive eliminations, Swiss-style brackets, and ladders.
We’ve seen hundreds of tournaments and leagues at STADIUM, and although every format has its pros and cons, there’s one that stands out.
If you’re looking for a great, all-purpose format that you can use for any competitive event - whether it’s an official tournament, league night, or just casual fun with friends - here’s our recommendation.
Format Details
Stage 1: Seeding Round
Snake-seeded Round Robin
Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 | Group 4 |
#1 Seed | #2 Seed | #3 Seed | #4 Seed |
#8 Seed | #7 Seed | #6 Seed | #5 Seed |
#9 Seed | #10 Seed | #11 Seed | #12 Seed |
Snake seeding means that you add players to groups in a “snake” shape: left-to-right, then right-to-left, left-to-right again, and so on. The #1 seed should be the strongest entry and the bottom seed should be the weakest.
Stage 2: Placement Round
Division-seeded Round Robin
Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 |
1st Place, Group 1 | 2nd Place, Group 1 | 3rd Place, Group 1 |
1st Place, Group 2 | 2nd Place, Group 2 | 3rd Place, Group 2 |
1st Place, Group 3 | 2nd Place, Group 3 | 3rd Place, Group 3 |
1st Place, Group 4 | 2nd Place, Group 4 | 3rd Place, Group 4 |
Division seeding means that you add players to one group at a time, top-to-bottom, so that each group contains similarly-performing entrants.
Why do we love it?
- It’s easy. It’s simple enough for anyone to set up and explain to others. At most, you’ll only need to make one announcement before each round.
- It’s very flexible. You can easily modify the number or size of the groups to accommodate any number of entries or time restrictions.
- Everyone plays the same number of matches. This is a big one, especially for recreational play. There’s no elimination, which means everyone plays the same number of total matches.
- It takes a predictable amount of time. Based on the number and size of groups, you can easily calculate the total estimated time the whole event will take.
- Everyone gets a good mix of difficulty throughout the event. In the first round, everyone should get to play higher or lower level entrants. But in the second round, the matches should be much closer. This means it can still be fun even if you have a huge range of levels.
- Pro Tip: If you have a big range of levels, it might be more fun to focus on the matches between similar-level opponents. So make the seeding round a bit quicker! Ex. make the first stage best of 3 and the second stage best of 5.
- It produces a complete finish order. By the end of the second round, each entry has a finishing position. Perfect for giving out a lot of fun prizes!
Try it for yourself
You can create a competition using this format in just a few clicks with STADIUM. After you create a tournament or league event, create two draws (one for each stage) using the Round Robin format.
In the first draw, remember to set “# Advance” to the total number of entries per group (ex. 4 if the largest group has 4 entries).