Topic: How to run a competition

[Francesco]

Hi everyone can someone give me advice on how to run a competition?

[SumnerH]

Hi everyone can someone give me advice on how to run a competition?

Sure.  I'll talk you through how to run a DYP (draw your partner).  Getting things to run smoothly and quickly is important if you want to finish on time.

1. Get a double-elimination tournament bracket and print it out.  They have free brackets here:
http://www.foosballheaven.com/misc/foosbrackets.html
Use the smallest bracket that's bigger than the number of teams you have.  So if you have 8 or less teams, use the 8-team bracket.  With 9-16 teams, use the 16-team bracket.
2. Decide on the payouts.  If you have $100, you might say its $50/$30/$20 for 1st/2nd/3rd.  It is very important to write down the payouts before you draw up the teams, and you should have a rough idea beforehand how you're going to do it as far as what percentage of the money goes to each place (but if, say, only 6 teams show up you might pay only 1st and 2nd, and if 16 teams show up you might pay out to 4th place).
3. Write down all the player's names and collect the entry fee from them.  Keep a record (e.g. a checkmark next to their name) of everyone who's paid.
4. Write all their names on slips of paper, throw the paper in a hat, and draw out teams randomly.  The first 2 names will be the players on team #1, the next two are team #2, etc.
5. Write down the teams in their starting locations on the bracket (put team #1 where the #1 seed goes, team #2 where the #2 seed goes, etc).  If there aren't enough teams to fill the bracket (say you have 6 teams and are using an 8 team bracket) then you should enter "Bye" for the missing teams (so the #7 and #8 seeds would be "Bye").
6. Start calling matches with the first round.  After the first round has been called, call the matches from the first winner's bracket round, then the first loser's bracket round, then the next winner's bracket round, then the next loser's bracket round, etc.  It's important to call matches in this kind of staggered ordering to keep things running.
7. Enforce recalls: if you call a match and the team isn't around in 3 minutes, give them another call at 3 minutes, then they forfeit a game in 3 more minutes and the match 3 minutes later.
8. Pay the winners.
9. Whoever wins the loser's bracket has to beat the winner's bracket team twice in order to win the tournament, but the winner's bracket team only has to beat them once.

Every match is best 2 out of 3 games.  Also, make sure you know the rules ahead of times; as the tournament director, your word is final on all disputes (if there's someone who's better with the rules but doesn't want to run the tournament, you can designate them as the "head official" and have them settle rules arguments while you do everything else).  Don't let arguments or people get out of hand.

Running a bring your partner is similar except you already know the teams; you just need to randomly number them (so you know where to seed them) and otherwise things are similar.

[Francesco]

Hi summerH thanks for your help would you know anything how to run a singles event and whats the difference between dyp,byp and doubles

[SumnerH]

Hi summerH thanks for your help would you know anything how to run a singles event and whats the difference between dyp,byp and doubles

Singles would run exactly the same, just assign the random seeds to players instead of teams.  Just write everyone's name on a slip of paper, throw them in a hat, and pull them out--first one is #1, second is #2, etc.  Then fill them in the appropriate spots on the bracket.

BYP and DYP are both types of doubles.  A BYP is a Bring Your Partner; you show up with a partner and the two of you play together.  A DYP is a Draw Your Partner, where everyone who shows up is randomly paired together with another player and those two play together as a team for the entire event.

If the event doesn't specify (e.g. "open doubles", "rookie doubles", etc) then it's a BYP.

Some DYPs use special formats--for instance, a "no-two-pro DYP" where 2 pros can't be randomly paired together, or a "high-low DYP" where the players are ranked from best to worst and then players in the top half are randomly paired with players from the bottom half in an attempt to make the teams more balanced.