Tournament Brackets¶

The bracket system provides flexible tournament structure options for organizing competitive matches. Multiple formats are supported to accommodate different tournament sizes and styles.

Bracket Formats¶

Single Elimination¶

Traditional knockout format where one loss eliminates a team.

Structure:

Round 1          Quarterfinals    Semifinals       Finals
Team 1 ─┐
        ├─ Winner ─┐
Team 8 ─┘          │
                   ├─ Winner ─┐
Team 4 ─┐          │          │
        ├─ Winner ─┘          │
Team 5 ─┘                     ├─ Champion
                              │
Team 3 ─┐                     │
        ├─ Winner ─┐          │
Team 6 ─┘          │          │
                   ├─ Winner ─┘
Team 2 ─┐          │
        ├─ Winner ─┘
Team 7 ─┘

Characteristics:

Fast tournament completion
High stakes per match
Clear winner determination
Best for larger team counts

Double Elimination¶

Teams must lose twice to be eliminated, featuring upper and lower brackets.

Structure:

Upper Bracket: Winners continue; losers drop to lower bracket
Lower Bracket: One more loss means elimination
Grand Finals: Upper bracket winner vs lower bracket winner

Characteristics:

More forgiving - teams get a second chance
Longer tournament duration
More matches for spectators
True skill determination

Round Robin¶

Every team plays against every other team.

Structure:

         Team A  Team B  Team C  Team D
Team A     -      W       L       W
Team B     L      -       W       W
Team C     W      L       -       L
Team D     L      L       W       -

Characteristics:

All teams play equal number of matches
Points-based standings
Best for league-style play
Can feed into playoff brackets

Bracket Visualization¶

Bracket View

Features¶

Automatic Bracket Generation¶

Seeding based on team rankings or random assignment
Bye handling for non-power-of-2 team counts
Automatic match scheduling

Match Management¶

Score reporting by admins or team captains
Match status tracking (pending, in-progress, completed)
Winner advancement to next round

Live Updates¶

Real-time bracket updates via WebSocket
Spectator view for tournament followers
Match result notifications

Data Models¶

Bracket¶

Field	Type	Description
`tournament`	ForeignKey	Associated tournament
`bracket_type`	CharField	`single`, `double`, or `round_robin`
`created_at`	DateTime	When bracket was generated

Match¶

Field	Type	Description
`bracket`	ForeignKey	Parent bracket
`round`	Integer	Round number (1, 2, 3...)
`match_number`	Integer	Match position in round
`team1`	ForeignKey	First team (null for bye)
`team2`	ForeignKey	Second team (null for bye)
`winner`	ForeignKey	Winning team (null until complete)
`team1_score`	Integer	Team 1's score
`team2_score`	Integer	Team 2's score
`status`	CharField	`pending`, `in_progress`, `completed`

API Endpoints¶

Generate Bracket¶

POST /api/tournaments/{id}/bracket/generate/

Request:

{
  "bracket_type": "single",
  "seeding": "ranked"
}

Report Match Result¶

POST /api/matches/{id}/report/

Request:

{
  "team1_score": 2,
  "team2_score": 1
}

Get Bracket State¶

GET /api/tournaments/{id}/bracket/

Response:

{
  "bracket_type": "single",
  "rounds": [
    {
      "round_number": 1,
      "matches": [
        {
          "id": 1,
          "team1": {"id": 1, "name": "Alpha"},
          "team2": {"id": 8, "name": "Omega"},
          "winner": null,
          "status": "pending"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Frontend Components¶

BracketView¶

Interactive bracket visualization:

Zoomable and pannable bracket display
Click matches for details
Real-time updates
Mobile-responsive layout

MatchCard¶

Individual match display:

Team names and logos
Score display
Match status indicator
Report result button (for admins)

Implementation Notes¶

Seeding Options¶

Option	Description
`ranked`	Teams ordered by rating/seed
`random`	Random bracket placement
`manual`	Admin assigns positions

Bye Handling¶

When team count isn't a power of 2:

Calculate byes needed: next_power_of_2 - team_count
Assign byes to top seeds
Bye teams advance automatically to round 2