Random Tournament Bracket Generator
Paste players or teams, shuffle the seeding and click winners to move them through the rounds. Byes are added automatically, so 6, 11 or 23 entrants work just as well as 16.
Tournament bracket
Enter at least two names and build the bracket.
- Gaming nightsEA FC, Smash Bros, Mario Kart or chess. Draw the bracket in front of everyone so nobody argues about the matchups.
- Office tournamentsPing-pong, foosball or a lunchtime quiz. Print the bracket and pin it next to the coffee machine.
- Classroom debate bracketsPair students or teams at random for debate rounds and let the class vote each winner through.
- Bracket anythingBest pizza topping, best Pixar movie, best snack. Run a March Madness style vote on any list.
Build a fair bracket in under a minute
List the entrants
Type or paste one name per line, from 2 up to 128. Name the tournament so the printout has a title.
Shuffle the seeding
Shuffle for a random draw, or build in listed order if line 1 is your top seed. Byes go to the top seeds automatically.
Play it out
Click each match winner to advance them. Changing an early result clears the later matches it affected, all the way to the champion.
Everything a casual tournament needs
How byes work in a single-elimination bracket
A single-elimination bracket needs a power of two in round one: 4, 8, 16, 32 and so on. When your number of entrants falls between two of those, the bracket rounds up and the empty slots become byes. A player with a bye skips round one and goes straight to round two.
The number of byes is always the bracket size minus the number of entrants. Whatever the size, the tournament needs exactly one match fewer than the number of entrants, because every match knocks out one player and only the champion is never knocked out.
| Entrants | Bracket size | Byes | Round 1 matches | Total matches | Rounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| 5 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 3 |
| 6 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 3 |
| 7 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 3 |
| 10 | 16 | 6 | 2 | 9 | 4 |
| 12 | 16 | 4 | 4 | 11 | 4 |
| 14 | 16 | 2 | 6 | 13 | 4 |
| 20 | 32 | 12 | 4 | 19 | 5 |
| 24 | 32 | 8 | 8 | 23 | 5 |
Byes go to the top seeds, so after a random shuffle they land on whoever drew seeds 1, 2, 3 and so on. If you want to reward the best players with byes, list them first and build in listed order.
Random draw or seeded bracket?
Shuffle when everyone is roughly equal or when fairness matters more than a dramatic final, such as a family game night or a first-time office tournament. Every player is equally likely to land anywhere in the bracket.
Build in listed order when you already know who is strongest. Line 1 becomes seed 1 and meets the lowest seed, seed 2 is placed in the other half, and seeds 3 and 4 are split so the best players are kept apart until the late rounds. This is the same layout used in tennis and the NCAA tournament.
- 8-player order in round one: 1 v 8, 4 v 5, 2 v 7, 3 v 6.
- Seeds 1 and 2 can only meet in the final, and seeds 1 to 4 only in the semifinals or later.
- With 6 players, seeds 1 and 2 get byes and the other four play 3 v 6 and 4 v 5.
Bracket ideas for game nights, offices and classrooms
- EA FC or NBA 2K draft night: everyone draws a random team, then the bracket decides the matchups.
- Smash Bros or Mario Kart: best of three per match, loser picks the next stage.
- Office ping-pong or foosball cup over a week, one round per day.
- Classroom debate: random pairs argue one motion, the class votes the winner through.
- Book or movie bracket: 16 titles, the club votes one match per meeting.
- Best snack, best song, best Pokémon: a quick March Madness style vote in a group chat.
- Chess or board game club ladder for new members who have no rating yet.
Frequently asked questions
How many byes do I need for my number of players?
Subtract your number of players from the next power of two. For 6 players that is 8 minus 6, so 2 byes. For 10 players it is 16 minus 10, so 6 byes. The generator works this out and adds them automatically.
Who gets the byes?
The top seeds. After a random shuffle that is simply whoever drew the first seed numbers. If you build in listed order, the names at the top of your list get the byes.
Can I undo a result?
Yes. Click the winner again to clear that match, or click the other player to change the winner. Any later results that depended on it are cleared automatically.
Is my bracket saved?
Yes, in this browser on this device. Your names, seeding and results come back when you return. Clearing your browser data or using a private window removes it.
Can I print the bracket?
Yes. Press Print bracket and only the bracket and its title are printed. Landscape orientation fits larger brackets best.
Does it support double elimination or round robin?
No, this tool makes single-elimination brackets only. For a simple losers bracket, build a second bracket from the players knocked out in round one.
How many participants can a bracket have?
From 2 up to 128. Beyond 32 the bracket gets tall, so scroll down the first round or print it in landscape.