Formats for ACF Tournaments

Last updated: October 29, 2019

Table of Contents

Table of Formats

# teams Type Description Notes
4 teams quadruple round robin with zero or more limited single-bye round robins 12 games in 12 (or more) rounds non-blind packets used on teams’ byes
5 teams double round robin, followed by top 3/bottom 2 split round robin 10 games in 12–13 rounds non-blind packets used on teams’ byes
note: the bottom 2 teams must play twice to achieve 10 rounds and can be structured as a best-of-3 type series if they are close in record
6 teams double round robin with zero or more limited single-bye round robins 10 games in 10 (or more) rounds non-blind packets used on teams’ byes
7 teams double round robin 12 games in 14 rounds
8 teams round robin, followed by top 4/bottom 4 split round robin 10 games in 10 rounds
8 teams limited single-bye round robin, followed by top 4/bottom 4 split round robin 10 games in 11 rounds non-blind packets used on teams’ byes
9 teams round robin, followed by top 3/middle 3/bottom 3 split round robin 10 games in 12 rounds non-blind packets used on teams’ byes
10 teams round robin, followed by top 4/middle 3/bottom 3 split round robin 11–12 games in 12 rounds if there are five non-blind packets, then at least 1 must be from a team with a playoff bye and 2 others from teams not involved in the finals
11 teams round robin 10 games in 11 rounds
12 teams round robin 11 games in 11 rounds run non-blind packets in different rooms [2 packets per round]
(i.e. run Chicago A packet in one room and Michigan A packet in another room to avoid teams hearing their own packet)
12 teams limited single-bye round robin 11 games in 12 rounds non-blind packets used on teams’ byes
13 teams round robin 12 games in 13 rounds non-blind packets used on teams’ byes
14 teams split 7/7 for prelim round robin, followed by top 3/bottom 4 split with top 3 playing full round robin and bottom 4 playing crossover 10–11 games in 11–12 rounds non-blind packets used on teams’ byes during prelims
14 teams split 7/7 for prelim round robin, followed by top 4/bottom 3 split with top 4 playing crossover and bottom 3 playing full round robin 10–11 games in 11–12 rounds non-blind packets used on teams’ byes during prelims
15 teams split 8/7 for prelim round robin, followed by top 4/bottom (3/4) crossover 10–11 games in 11 rounds
16 teams split 8/8 for prelim round robin, followed by top 4/bottom 4 crossover 11 games in 11 rounds
16 teams split 8/8 for prelim limited single-bye round robin, followed by top 4/bottom 4 crossover 11 games in 12 rounds non-blind packets used on teams’ byes during prelims
17 teams split 9/8 for prelim round robin, followed by top 3/middle 3/ bottom 3(2) crossover 10–11 games in 12 rounds run non-blind packets in different rooms [2 packets per round] (note that the bottom crossover bracket ends up with 3 teams from the 9 bracket and 2 from the 8 bracket)
note: the 8 team bracket is run as a straight round robin (7 rounds, no byes) and so finishes 2 rounds earlier than the 9 bracket
17 teams split 9/8 for prelim round robin/limited single-bye round robin, followed by top 3/middle 3/ bottom 3(2) crossover 10–11 games in 12 rounds non-blind packets used on teams’ byes during prelims (note that the bottom crossover bracket ends up with 3 teams from the 9 bracket and 2 from the 8 bracket)
note: the 8 bracket is run as a limited single-bye (8 rounds, 1 paired bye per team) and so finishes 1 round earlier than the 9 bracket
17 teams split 9/8 for prelim round robin/double-bye round robin, followed by top 3/middle 3/ bottom 3(2) crossover 10–11 games in 12 rounds non-blind packets used on teams’ byes during prelims (note that the bottom crossover bracket ends up with 3 teams from the 9 bracket and 2 from the 8 bracket)
note: the 8 bracket is run as a double-bye (9 rounds, 2 paired byes per team) and so finishes with the 9 bracket
18 teams split 9/9 for prelim round robin, followed by top 3/middle 3/bottom 3 crossover 11 games in 12 rounds non-blind packets used on teams’ byes during prelims
19 teams split 10/9 for prelim round robin, followed by top 4/middle 3/bottom 3(2) crossover 11–13 games in 12–13 rounds non-blind packets used on teams’ byes during prelims
note: the bottom crossover bracket ends up with 3 teams from the 10 bracket and 2 from the 9 bracket
20 teams split 10/10 for prelim round robin, followed by 2/2/2/2/2 crossover 11 games in 11 rounds
20 teams split 10/10 for prelim limited single-bye round robin, followed by 2/2/2/2/2 crossover 11 games in 12 rounds non-blind packets used on teams’ byes during prelims
20 teams split 10/10 for prelim limited single-bye round robin, followed by 3/3/2/2 crossover 11–12 games in 12–13 rounds non-blind packets used on teams’ byes during prelims
21 teams split 7/7/7 for prelim round robin, followed by taking the top 2 in each bracket to a crossover, with the remaining 15 teams divided into 5-team brackets for a round robin using PPB tiebreakers 10–11 games in 12 rounds non-blind packets used on teams’ byes during prelims
note: this format requires stats to be completed at the end of the prelims. the #1s & #2s by W-L go to a crossover in the 1st bracket. all #3s and (2) #4s [determined by highest PPB] go to the 2nd bracket. the remaining (1) #4, all #5s, and (1) #6 [determined by highest PPB] go to the 3rd bracket. the remaining (2) #6s and all #7s go to the 4th bracket.
22 teams split 11/11 for prelim round robin, followed by 2/2/2/2/2/1 crossover 11–12 games in 12–13 rounds non-blind packets used on teams’ byes during prelims
22 teams split 11/11 for prelim round robin, followed by 3/2/2/2/2 crossover 11–13 games in 13–14 rounds non-blind packets used on teams’ byes during prelims
23 teams split 12/11 for prelim round robin, followed by 2/2/2/2/2/2(1) crossover 12–13 games in 13 rounds non-blind packets used on teams’ byes during prelims
note: the bottom crossover bracket ends up with 2 teams from the 12 bracket and 1 from the 11 bracket
24 teams split 8/8/8 for prelim round robin, then 2/2/2/2 crossover 11 games in 11 rounds
24 teams split 8/8/8 for prelim limited single-bye round robin, then 2/2/2/2 crossover 11 games in 12 rounds non-blind packets used on teams’ byes during prelims

Round-robin schedules

3 teams

Round Room 1 Bye
1 2 v 3 1
2 1 v 3 2
3 1 v 2 3

4 teams

Round Room 1 Room 2
1 1 v 4 2 v 3
2 2 v 4 1 v 3
3 1 v 2 3 v 4

5 teams

Round Room 1 Room 2 Bye
1 1 v 4 2 v 3 5
2 3 v 5 1 v 2 4
3 2 v 4 1 v 5 3
4 1 v 3 4 v 5 2
5 2 v 5 3 v 4 1

6 teams, no byes

Round Room 1 Room 2 Room 3
1 2 v 6 3 v 5 1 v 4
2 2 v 5 1 v 6 3 v 4
3 4 v 5 3 v 6 1 v 2
4 4 v 6 1 v 5 2 v 3
5 1 v 3 2 v 4 5 v 6

6 teams, limited single bye

Round Room 1 Room 2 Room 3 Bye
1 2 v 5 1 v 6 3, 4
2 3 v 5 1 v 4 2, 6
3 4 v 5 3 v 6 1 v 2
4 4 v 6 2 v 3 1, 5
5 1 v 3 2 v 4 5 v 6
6 2 v 6 1 v 5 3 v 4

7 teams

Round Room 1 Room 2 Room 3 Bye
1 3 v 5 2 v 6 1 v 7 4
2 5 v 7 1 v 4 2 v 3 6
3 4 v 6 3 v 7 1 v 2 5
4 1 v 6 2 v 5 3 v 4 7
5 2 v 4 1 v 5 6 v 7 3
6 1 v 3 4 v 7 5 v 6 2
7 2 v 7 3 v 6 4 v 5 1

8 teams, no byes

Round Room 1 Room 2 Room 3 Room 4
1 3 v 7 4 v 6 1 v 5 2 v 8
2 2 v 7 1 v 8 3 v 6 4 v 5
3 5 v 6 3 v 8 4 v 7 1 v 2
4 2 v 3 5 v 7 4 v 8 1 v 6
5 5 v 8 2 v 4 1 v 3 6 v 7
6 6 v 8 1 v 7 2 v 5 3 v 4
7 1 v 4 3 v 5 2 v 6 7 v 8

8 teams, limited single bye

Round Room 1 Room 2 Room 3 Room 4 Bye
1 2 v 7 1 v 8 3 v 6 4, 5
2 3 v 7 4 v 6 1 v 5 2 v 8
3 5 v 6 4 v 7 1 v 2 3, 8
4 2 v 3 5 v 7 4 v 8 1 v 6
5 5 v 8 2 v 4 1 v 3 6 v 7
6 6 v 8 2 v 5 3 v 4 1, 7
7 1 v 4 3 v 5 7 v 8 2, 6
8 3 v 8 1 v 7 2 v 6 4 v 5

9 teams

Round Room 1 Room 2 Room 3 Room 4 Bye
1 3 v 5 2 v 6 1 v 7 8 v 9 4
2 7 v 9 1 v 6 2 v 5 3 v 4 8
3 6 v 8 5 v 9 1 v 4 2 v 3 7
4 5 v 7 4 v 8 3 v 9 1 v 2 6
5 4 v 6 3 v 7 2 v 8 1 v 9 5
6 1 v 8 2 v 7 3 v 6 4 v 5 9
7 2 v 4 1 v 5 6 v 9 7 v 8 3
8 1 v 3 4 v 9 5 v 8 6 v 7 2
9 2 v 9 3 v 8 4 v 7 5 v 6 1

10 teams, no byes

Taken from “Designing Schedules for Leagues and Tournaments” by Jeffrey H. Dinitz

Round Room 1 Room 2 Room 3 Room 4 Room 5
1 3 v 10 6 v 9 1 v 4 5 v 8 2 v 7
2 5 v 9 4 v 10 6 v 7 2 v 3 1 v 8
3 2 v 4 5 v 7 8 v 9 1 v 10 3 v 6
4 6 v 8 1 v 3 2 v 10 7 v 9 4 v 5
5 1 v 7 2 v 8 3 v 5 4 v 6 9 v 10
6 3 v 4 5 v 10 7 v 8 1 v 9 2 v 6
7 5 v 6 3 v 9 1 v 2 7 v 10 4 v 8
8 8 v 10 1 v 6 4 v 9 2 v 5 3 v 7
9 2 v 9 4 v 7 6 v 10 3 v 8 1 v 5

10 teams, limited single bye

Round Room 1 Room 2 Room 3 Room 4 Room 5 Bye
1 5 v 9 4 v 10 6 v 7 1 v 8 2, 3
2 3 v 10 6 v 9 5 v 8 2 v 7 1, 4
3 2 v 4 8 v 9 1 v 10 3 v 6 5, 7
4 1 v 3 2 v 10 7 v 9 4 v 5 6, 8
5 1 v 7 2 v 8 3 v 5 4 v 6 9, 10
6 3 v 4 5 v 10 7 v 8 1 v 9 2 v 6
7 5 v 6 3 v 9 1 v 2 7 v 10 4 v 8
8 8 v 10 1 v 6 4 v 9 2 v 5 3 v 7
9 2 v 9 4 v 7 6 v 10 3 v 8 1 v 5
10 6 v 8 5 v 7 1 v 4 2 v 3 9 v 10

11 teams

Round Room 1 Room 2 Room 3 Room 4 Room 5 Bye
1 1 v 10 2 v 9 3 v 8 4 v 7 5 v 6 11
2 9 v 11 1 v 8 2 v 7 3 v 6 4 v 5 10
3 8 v 10 7 v 11 1 v 6 2 v 5 3 v 4 9
4 7 v 9 6 v 10 5 v 11 1 v 4 2 v 3 8
5 6 v 8 5 v 9 4 v 10 3 v 11 1 v 2 7
6 5 v 7 4 v 8 3 v 9 2 v 10 1 v 11 6
7 4 v 6 3 v 7 2 v 8 1 v 9 10 v 11 5
8 3 v 5 2 v 6 1 v 7 8 v 11 9 v 10 4
9 2 v 4 1 v 5 6 v 11 7 v 10 8 v 9 3
10 1 v 3 4 v 11 5 v 10 6 v 9 7 v 8 2
11 2 v 11 3 v 10 4 v 9 5 v 8 6 v 7 1

12 teams, no byes

Round Room 1 Room 2 Room 3 Room 4 Room 5 Room 6
1 2 v 11 1 v 12 3 v 10 4 v 9 5 v 8 6 v 7
2 5 v 9 6 v 8 1 v 7 4 v 10 3 v 11 2 v 12
3 5 v 10 3 v 12 4 v 11 1 v 2 6 v 9 7 v 8
4 4 v 12 7 v 9 6 v 10 5 v 11 1 v 8 2 v 3
5 8 v 9 2 v 4 5 v 12 6 v 11 7 v 10 1 v 3
6 3 v 4 8 v 10 7 v 11 6 v 12 2 v 5 1 v 9
7 8 v 11 3 v 5 2 v 6 7 v 12 1 v 4 9 v 10
8 2 v 7 9 v 11 8 v 12 1 v 10 3 v 6 4 v 5
9 3 v 7 4 v 6 1 v 5 2 v 8 9 v 12 10 v 11
10 10 v 12 1 v 11 2 v 9 3 v 8 4 v 7 5 v 6
11 1 v 6 5 v 7 4 v 8 3 v 9 2 v 10 11 v 12

12 teams, limited single bye

Round Room 1 Room 2 Room 3 Room 4 Room 5 Room 6 Bye
1 2 v 11 1 v 12 3 v 10 5 v 8 6 v 7 4, 9
2 5 v 9 6 v 8 1 v 7 4 v 10 3 v 11 2 v 12
3 5 v 10 3 v 12 4 v 11 1 v 2 6 v 9 7 v 8
4 4 v 12 7 v 9 6 v 10 5 v 11 1 v 8 2 v 3
5 8 v 9 2 v 4 6 v 11 7 v 10 1 v 3 5, 12
6 3 v 4 8 v 10 7 v 11 6 v 12 2 v 5 1 v 9
7 8 v 11 3 v 5 2 v 6 7 v 12 1 v 4 9 v 10
8 2 v 7 9 v 11 8 v 12 1 v 10 3 v 6 4 v 5
9 4 v 6 1 v 5 2 v 8 9 v 12 10 v 11 3, 7
10 10 v 12 2 v 9 3 v 8 4 v 7 5 v 6 1, 11
11 1 v 6 5 v 7 4 v 8 3 v 9 11 v 12 2, 10
12 3 v 7 1 v 11 5 v 12 4 v 9 2 v 10 6, 8

13 teams

Round Room 1 Room 2 Room 3 Room 4 Room 5 Room 6 Bye
1 1 v 12 2 v 11 3 v 10 4 v 9 5 v 8 6 v 7 13
2 11 v 13 1 v 10 2 v 9 3 v 8 4 v 7 5 v 6 12
3 10 v 12 9 v 13 1 v 8 2 v 7 3 v 6 4 v 5 11
4 9 v 11 8 v 12 7 v 13 1 v 6 2 v 5 3 v 4 10
5 8 v 10 7 v 11 6 v 12 5 v 13 1 v 4 2 v 3 9
6 7 v 9 6 v 10 5 v 11 4 v 12 3 v 13 1 v 2 8
7 6 v 8 5 v 9 4 v 10 3 v 11 2 v 12 1 v 13 7
8 5 v 7 4 v 8 3 v 9 2 v 10 1 v 11 12 v 13 6
9 4 v 6 3 v 7 2 v 8 1 v 9 10 v 13 11 v 12 5
10 3 v 5 2 v 6 1 v 7 8 v 13 9 v 12 10 v 11 4
11 2 v 4 1 v 5 6 v 13 7 v 12 8 v 11 9 v 10 3
12 1 v 3 4 v 13 5 v 12 6 v 11 7 v 10 8 v 9 2
13 2 v 13 3 v 12 4 v 11 5 v 10 6 v 9 7 v 8 1

Determining win–loss records

If all teams in a given playoff bracket have played the same pool of preliminary opponents, their preliminary win–loss records carry over to playoffs. This is usually the case when a large preliminary field is broken down into smaller playoff brackets.

If multiple preliminary brackets feed into each playoff bracket, the only games that carry over to playoffs are any preliminary games played against opponents placed in the same playoff bracket. This is usually the case when a very large preliminary field is broken into multiple preliminary brackets, followed by crossover playoff games.

Finals procedures

The procedures below should be used for overall finals.

Undergraduate and Division II

If there are at least four Undergraduate teams and/or four Division II teams, but the field is not entirely comprised of those teams (see ACF’s trophy policies, these procedures should also be used for those titles.

If the field composition merits awarding Undergraduate and/or Division II titles and the tournament format involves rebracketing, and only one Undergraduate and/or Division II team is in the top bracket, they automatically win that title. If an Undergraduate and/or Division II team finishes one game ahead of another Undergraduate and/or Division II team, but the team with the higher placement is involved with finals procedures, they automatically win that title.

Two teams

At the end of normal phases of play, if the top team is two or more games ahead of the second-place team, no final is played. The phrases “games ahead” or “games behind” is defined here.

If the top team is one game ahead of the second-place team, the two teams play a disadvantaged final series of up to two games. If the top team wins the first final game, they are declared the tournament winner. If the second-place team wins the first final game, the teams play a second final game, the winner of which is declared the tournament winner.

If the top two teams have the same record, they play a single game to determine the tournament winner.

More than two teams

If two teams are tied for second place, with records that put them one game behind a team in first place, the tied teams play a single game (a “play-in” game). The winner of the play-in game then plays a disadvantaged final against the top team, in a standard final series of up to two games.

If three teams are tied for first place, they are seeded statistically by points per game by common games. This may include both carried-over preliminary games and playoff games, see the Statistics guidelines. The second- and third-seeded teams play a play-in game, the winner of which plays a single-game final against the first-seeded team.

If four teams are tied for first place, they are seeded statistically by points per game by common games. The first- and fourth-seeded teams and the second- and third-seeded teams play a semi-finals game. The winners of those two games play a single-game final.