Our Round Robin Generator
Our free tournament management Brackets app helps streamline the process of round robin schedule creation and streamline the tournament itself, leaving you and your friends more time to enjoy the game.
Here’s what our free round robin maker app has the following features:
- handles singles, doubles, mixed doubles or teams schedules, even with odd number of participants
- supports points-per-round or win-tie-loss points as well as social (no points) format
- shows live score updates
- supports desktop and mobile experience
- helps you generate catchy tournament name
- automatically calculates standings based on the scores entered
In addition to the core features, the app can also:
- export schedules and results to PDF for printing or CSV/Excel for records
- display tournament schedule in a presentation mode for large screens
- let the organizer delegate scores keeping to other players or coaches
What is a Round Robin Tournament?
It’s a tournament scheduling format where competitors play against each other once or twice (aka double round robin). It’s also known as “king of the court” or “queen of the court”. Sometimes it can also be called “league format” when games happen over several weeks of months.
Round robin tournaments can be played individually, in pair, or in teams (e.g. in 6 teams). Unlike knockout (or elimination) format, in round robin everyone plays with everyone to ensure fairness.
This format work particularly well for small to medium groups of players and it’s quite popular for playoffs, social or club events.
Popular Types
Depending on the sport, there might be one or two rounds for opponent teams or players. Below are the most popular round robin formats:
Single Round Robin
In a single round robin, each participant faces every other participant once. This format is straightforward and less time-consuming than its double counterpart. Our round robin tool can help manage the scheduling process.
Double Round Robin
Double round robin tournaments require each participant to play against every other participant twice, once at home and once away, often seen in sports leagues like football and basketball. Our round robin matchup generator can help optimize these pairings.
Switch Doubles Round Robin
In this variation, players pair up with each other once and play against other pairs, but collect points individually. This format is a bit more complicated to manage since you need to make sure players mix fairly. Our round robin schedule creator can help manage partner rotations efficiently.
Start Switch Doubles Tournament
Mixed Doubles Round Robin
Very similar to the above, but players pair with the opposite gender only (e.g. Male 1 + Female 1 vs Male 2 vs Female 2). This is the trickiest one, but our round robin bracket generator handles it too!
Start Mixed Doubles Tournament
Other variations in different sports
There are specific variations of round robin format in sports like pickleball, padel & tennis.
For instance, below are popular padel tournament formats to play in country clubs and among friends:
- Americano: basically, it’s a classic switch doubles round robin format where players collect point individually. Our round robin draw generator can create optimal brackets for this format.
- Mixed americano: same as above, but players are divided into mixed-gender teams (M1+F1 vs M2+F2); this format requires equal number of male and female players
- Team americano: works with existing teams. Use our round robin randomizer to create fair initial matchups.
- Mexicano & Mixicano: the key difference is that teams are repaired after each round based on the current leaderboard; the repairing logic depends on whether you have mixed-gender teams, and on the repairing rules of the tournament
Advantages
- Fairness: round robin tournaments provide a level playing field, as each participant competes against all others, reducing the chance of luck affecting the outcome.
- Comprehensive skill assessment: since everyone plays against each other, the final standings reflect a true measure of each participant’s abilities and performance.
- Audience engagement: these tournaments can be highly engaging for audiences, as they get to see multiple matchups and enjoy more content.
- Advanced tracking: using a round robin chart generator, organizers can visualize progress and standings throughout the tournament.
Disadvantages
- Time-consuming: due to the number of matches required, round robin tournaments can take a long time to complete, which may not be practical for all events; for example, for 4 teams there will be 6 games, for 5 teams — 10, for 6 teams — 15, for 7 teams — 21 games, but for for 16 teams there will be 120 games!
- Resource intensive: organizing such tournaments requires significant resources in terms of venues, scheduling, and management.
- Potential for predictable outcomes: if one participant is vastly superior, the outcomes can become predictable, reducing excitement.
How Round Robin Tournaments Work
Players and Matches
In a classic round robin tournament, each participant plays against every other participant at least once. In case of playing in doubles, each player will play with every other player once. Using a comprehensive round robin point system, all players have the same opportunity to earn points during the tournament.
This structure contrasts sharply with knockout tournaments, where a single loss results in elimination. To better understand the differences, you can use our round robin simulator to compare various tournament formats.
Rounds and Games
The number of games and rounds depends on the number of players or teams involved. The more players there are, the more games, rounds and time it requires to complete the tournament.
This table shows how fast the number of games grow with the number of teams (or players):
| Teams | Rounds | Byes | Games | Courts Needed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 teams | 3 | 1 | 2 per team, 3 total | 1 court |
| 4 teams | 3 | — | 3 per team, 6 total | 1–2 courts |
| 5 teams | 5 | 1 | 4 per team, 10 total | 1–2 courts |
| 6 teams | 5 | — | 5 per team, 15 total | 1–3 courts |
| 7 teams | 7 | 1 | 6 per team, 21 total | 1–3 courts |
| 8 teams | 7 | — | 7 per team, 28 total | 1–4 courts |
| 9 teams | 9 | 1 | 8 per team, 36 total | 1–4 courts |
| 10 teams | 9 | — | 9 per team, 45 total | 1–5 courts |
| 11 teams | 11 | 1 | 10 per team, 55 total | 1–5 courts |
| 12 teams | 11 | — | 11 per team, 66 total | 1–6 courts |
| 13 teams | 13 | 1 | 12 per team, 78 total | 1–6 courts |
| 14 teams | 13 | — | 13 per team, 91 total | 1–7 courts |
| 15 teams | 15 | 1 | 14 per team, 105 total | 1–7 courts |
| 16 teams | 15 | — | 15 per team, 120 total | 1–8 courts |
| 17 teams | 17 | 1 | 16 per team, 136 total | 1–8 courts |
| 18 teams | 17 | — | 17 per team, 153 total | 1–9 courts |
| 19 teams | 19 | 1 | 18 per team, 171 total | 1–9 courts |
| 20 teams | 19 | — | 19 per team, 190 total | 1–10 courts |
Duration
The duration of a round robin tournament depends on several factors:
- number of teams
- number of courts
- duration of each game/match
- breaks duration
You can use our calculator below to get an estimate for your tournament:
Scoring
Participants earn points for wins, draws, and losses. Typically, a win awards 3 points, a draw (or tie) 1 point, and a loss 0 points. The round robin chart generator helps track and visualize these scores throughout the tournament.
In some sports like Padel or Pickleball, each match lasts until a predefined number of points (e.g. 20, 24, or 32). Each point won gives respective player a point. For instance, if P1 and P2 won the match with P3 and P4 with 20-12, P1 and P2 each gets 20 points, and P3 and P4 — 12 points.
Rankings
Players are ranked based on the amount of points they earned during the tournament. Player with the highest number of points is considered a winner. Our round robin tool provides real-time ranking updates and statistics.
How to Organize Round Robin Tournament — Step-by-Step Guide
The round robin tournament organization process normally looks like this:
- The organizer signs up players or teams, and decides what variation of the round robin format they will play: single, double, etc. The round robin builder can help customize the perfect format for your needs.
- If it’s team play, and there are no teams yet, use the round robin matchup generator to arrange teams according to the format so that every team plays with every other team at least once
- After that, the first round is played
- The consequent rounds depend on the format again: in the classic round robin, all rounds can be arranged from the start using the round robin draw generator, while in some variations the next round will get formed after the current one is finished
- Once all the games are played, the winner is determined based on the amount of points
Round Robin vs. Knockout (Elimination) Tournaments
Key Differences
Round robin tournaments focus on fairness and comprehensive competition, while knockout tournaments emphasize excitement and quick results. Using a round robin randomizer ensures fair initial matchups, while the round robin point system provides comprehensive performance tracking throughout the tournament.
When to Use Each Format
Round robin schedule is ideal for skill assessment and ensuring all participants get ample playtime, whereas knockout is perfect for high-stakes, fast-paced competitions. Our round robin simulator can help you determine which format best suits your needs.
