Tournament Bracket Generator

Set up a knockout tournament for a game night, a sports day or an esports cup. Enter 2 to 64 players or teams and the generator builds a single or double elimination bracket. With a seeded draw, seed 1 meets the lowest seed and the top seeds get any byes; you can also draw at random or pair players in the order you typed them. You get the match list in playing order and a bracket image to print or share.

How to use this tool

1. List the participants, strongest first if you want a seeded bracket.
2. Choose seeded, random or listed-order pairing.
3. Choose single or double elimination, and optionally a third-place match.
4. Press Calculate, then download the bracket image; the table lists every match.

Formula

Bracket size = smallest power of 2 ≥ n · byes = size − n · matches: single n − 1 (+1 third place), double 2n − 2 (+1 if the grand final is reset)

Standard seeding places seed s against seed (size + 1 − s) in the first round and keeps seeds 1 and 2 in opposite halves, so the favourites can only meet in the final. Byes are the empty slots opposite the top seeds. In double elimination a player is out after a second loss; first-round losers drop into the losers bracket, which alternates rounds among its own players with rounds that take in new losers from the winners bracket.

Example

Six teams fill an 8-team bracket with 2 byes, which go to seeds 1 and 2 (Tigers and Eagles). The first round has two matches (Wolves v Bears and Sharks v Falcons), and the tournament takes 5 matches in 3 rounds. As double elimination the same six teams play 10 matches, plus a possible grand-final reset.