Running a Tournament Smoothly- resources, examples and advice.

[final_cut]

Recently, I got put in charge of running a console tournament at the last minute, due to a friend who was running it having to leave town in an emergency. It ended up a mess. It was fun, but a mess and some people were not happy at all. Due to the fact that I had no experience doing such a thing or even working brackets, I thought I'd make a thread here so we can discuss which setups are good and for which game, and what kind of software to use set up everything with, along with all the little things that make tournies run well. Hopefully, in the future, we can make our venue a hotspot, as opposed to a disaster as it was this past weekend.
(should this go in the events thread maybe? its not an actual event thread, just asking for help- please move if necessary)

First thing first, can someone give me examples of the best run tournies, and examples badly run tournies and what went right and what went wrong?

Secondly, what are the benefits of making games team-based. Is this better for games with low turnout? better for some games than others?

Tournament bracket software: I came across a software program called 'tournament bracket builder' from a recommendation, and it is simple and to the point and seems to work well. Any other software recommendations?

Other things- Catering, Drinks, extra curricular activities- what else is good for making a good tourney even better?

Thanks for your participation.

[oyg]

Thanks for making this thread, saved me the extra time for typing. I'm planning to do a tourney myself and was wondering about Hotel/Motel conference room rates and opinions on them (since that is my only option now). This is just my opinion but team-based games offer a refreshment against just regular bracket run tournies. The last tourney I've been at was actually held inside of a restaurant, so not only did it bring business to the owners but it also held enough space for a few people. It effectively took care of catering and bathrooms and was overall better because I didn't have to walk a mile in the grass to eat.

[ParryPerson.]

Seth had some great articles on brackets and which kinds would work better in certian situations, I'll try and find the link, if it's gone (I don't think it is) I have it saved on my computer, as well as preppy's printable brackets.

EDIT:

Running The Bracket: http://www.shoryuken.com/features/e000225.shtml


EDIT 2: I couldn't find the link after searching high and low, so if Preppy has a problem I'll take these down, THE ATTACHED FILES ARE FROM PREPPY'S SITE and NOT of my own.

[final_cut]

Here is the bracket builder someone pointed out to me:

http://www.download.com/Tournament-Bracket-Builder/3000-2136_4-10444952.html

[ParryPerson.]

I would like to say that the article on the brackets is really REALLY good reading, even if you never do run a tourny, it's nice to understand how it should be done.

[oyg]

thanks for that interesting read.
On the idea of team-based tournies, would there be any special exceptions? (Like times with unequal numbers. i.e., 4 teamss of 3 but one team has 2.)

[Khiempossible]

Say I'm running a 16 man tourny. And I have 4 hours to do so. If all my players play each other semi regularly (they all come from the same arcade), there's no seeding by region. I don't want to arbritrarily seed everyone by how I feel their skill is, I'd rather pool them all to create a seed ranking for my bracket. Here's my options:

random seeding

top 8 single elim
top 8 double elim
16 double elim
16 single elim

4 pools of 4

top 8 single elim
top 8 double elim
16 single elim
16 double elim

2 pools of 8

top 8 single elim
top 8 double elim
16 single elim
16 double elim


Our game is 3s. Does anyone with tournament experience have time viability advice for my options?

I've never run a 3s tournament before. But I did a sc2 tournament with 4 pool 4 top 8 double elim once. It took 5/6 hours.

I like the pool idea, cause then I can 4 pools of 3 in 12 people show up or 4 pool 5 if closer to 20 people show up.

Basically, how long does it take to do:

2 pool 8
4 pool 4
top 8 single elim
top 8 double elim
16 single elim
16 double elim

for 3s?