Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the difference between a single elimination tournament and a double elimination tournament?
- In a single-elimination tournament, if your team loses, you're out of the running. In double-elimination, players or teams compete in winners and losers brackets (or upper and lower brackets, or championship and consolation), and the winner of the losers bracket still has a chance to play in the finals. A single elimination tournament moves more quickly, and may also be referred to as a "knockout" or "sudden death" tournament and is the standard format for cup games as well. In both cases, it's simplest if there's an even number of teams or players (to the power of two), or someone will have to get a "bye"-advancing automatically to a later round.
- Can I use these brackets for seeded tournaments?
- Seeding can mean more than one thing. There's "advantage seeding," when teams or players are placed on brackets based on pre-tournament standings or other factors, or the term can simply referred to the process of filling in or "planting" the brackets. You could label these brackets with seeded entrants or to incorporate "byes" (players or teams moving ahead due to factors preceding the tournament at hand), but they are primarily designed for blind draw, in which team names are drawn at random and placed on the bracket in the order in which they are drawn. If tournament organizers wish to use seeding to avoid having the best competitors face one another early on, place these teams deliberately and proceed with placing the remaining teams randomly.
- How do I host an office pool?
- In many offices, people vie for (or shy away from) the job of "commissioner." It typically doesn't take a lot of time to set up brackets for a NFL football pool, NBA or NCAA March Madness basketball playoff or other series (especially if you use the printables on PrintableTournamentBrackets.net). It's also easy to distribute them to your officemates and manage the money. Most commissioners find that the hardest part is getting participants to turn in their brackets and payments on time. (Be sure to set a due date and time.) Make sure your company is on board with it all. Finally, be aware of any laws governing betting in your state.
- How are the betting grids used?
- With a square pool or betting grid, participants "buy" a square for a set amount, say, $1, $2 or even $5. (This ensures a good payoff). Betting grids are especially common for the Super Bowl. The grids can have 25, 50 or 100 squares based on the size of your office or group placing bets. You may want to limit how many squares each person can buy at first, so no one misses the chance. Pass the printed grid around and have each person write his or her name in the square(s) they've chosen. Once each square is filled, randomly draw numbers from 0 to 9 and write the numbers in the top horizontal (gray) boxes. Then, draw again for numbers for the left, vertical gray boxes. Before game day, make copies of the grid for each player. The last digit of the score for each team is what counts for each quarter of the game. The winner is the person whose name is in the square where the two scores meet on the X-Y style grid. It's common to have a smaller payout for the first and third quarter, a slightly higher pot for the halftime score, and the biggest take for the final game score. (Agree ahead of time what to do in case of overtime.)
Disclaimer: Some offices have rules against holding office pools during NFL football season or at other times. In fact, some states technically outlaw such betting altogether. Savetz Publishing will not be held liable in any way for any activities relating to use of the materials and information on this site.
