Tournament Bracket Generator

How a single-elimination bracket works

A single-elimination (knockout) bracket is the fastest way to crown a winner: lose once and you are out. With N entrants there are exactly N−1 matches in total, because every match eliminates exactly one competitor and everyone except the champion gets eliminated once. That predictability is why knockouts run everything from cup football to tennis majors to the office table-tennis ladder: 16 players is always 15 matches across 4 rounds, whatever happens on the day. Rounds are named for how many are left standing — Round of 32, Round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, final. With only 4 entrants, the first round already is the semi-finals.

Byes: padding the field to a power of two

Brackets only come in power-of-two sizes — 4, 8, 16 or 32 slots. If your entry count lands in between, the field is padded with byes: empty slots that concede their "match" automatically. Byes always go to the top seeds — the reward for seeding high is a first-round rest. The arithmetic is simple: next power of two minus entrants. 13 entrants play in a 16-slot bracket, so seeds 1, 2 and 3 each get a bye and skip straight to the second round. This generator places and resolves the byes the moment you build the bracket.

Seeding: why 1 and 2 can only meet in the final

Seeds are placed with the standard interleaving used from Wimbledon to March Madness: seed 1 and seed 2 anchor opposite halves of the draw, seeds 3 and 4 take opposite quarters, and every first-round pairing sums to the bracket size plus one — 1 v 8, 4 v 5, 2 v 7, 3 v 6 in an eight-slot draw. The consequence: the two strongest entrants can only meet in the final, and higher seeds always open against the theoretically weakest opponents. Line 1 of your list is the top seed — keep the checkbox on to show seed numbers, hit Shuffle for a random draw, or reorder the lines by hand. Prefer everyone-plays-everyone instead? Use the round-robin fixture generator.

Tips for running the day

• Check-in before you build. Build the bracket from the players who actually showed up — a late scratch after round one means a walkover, not a rebuild.
• Assign courts or tables per match, top of the bracket first, and keep the next pairing warming up so no court sits idle.
• Announce loudly and twice — "Ada v Cem, table 2" — and click the winner the moment a match ends so the next round fills itself in front of everyone.
• Put the bracket where people can see it: print a copy for the wall and send the share link to the group chat so nobody asks "who do I play next?"

Frequently asked questions

How many byes does my bracket need?

Subtract your entry count from the next power of two (4, 8, 16 or 32). For example, 13 entries play in a 16-slot bracket, so you need 3 byes — and they go to the top 3 seeds, who skip straight to the second round.

How are brackets seeded?

Standard placement puts seed 1 and seed 2 in opposite halves of the draw, so they can only meet in the final. Each first-round pairing sums to the bracket size plus one (1 v 8, 4 v 5, 2 v 7, 3 v 6 in an eight-slot bracket), which rewards higher seeds with the theoretically easiest early matches.

Can I edit results after a match is played?

Yes. Click the other team to change a decided match — every later result that depended on the old winner is cleared automatically, so the bracket never contradicts itself. Click the current winner again to clear just that result.

Can I print the bracket?

Yes — use the Print bracket button. Only the bracket itself prints, on a clean white background, with the input form and page text hidden. Your bracket is also saved in your browser automatically, and Copy share link carries the whole bracket inside the URL.

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