Bracket Generator
Build a seeded single-elimination tournament bracket from a list of entrants — byes for non-power-of-two fields, standard seeding, optional seed shuffle.
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What this tool does
Build a seeded single-elimination tournament bracket from a list of entrants — byes for non-power-of-two fields, standard seeding, optional seed shuffle. Single elimination. Later rounds are shown as 'Winner of match N' because results are not entered — this tool builds the bracket structure, it does not track scores.
How to use the Bracket Generator
- Enter or select entrants (one per line, best seed first in list order).
- Enter or select seeding.
- Read the calculated result; change any measurement to compare alternatives.
Formula
The field is padded to the next power of two; empty slots become byes for the top seeds. First-round pairings use standard seeding (seed pairs sum to bracket size + 1: 1 vs 8, 4 vs 5, 2 vs 7, 3 vs 6 in an 8-slot bracket), so the top two seeds can only meet in the final.
- entrants
- Entrants (one per line, best seed first in list order)
- seeding
- Seeding
Single elimination. Later rounds are shown as 'Winner of match N' because results are not entered — this tool builds the bracket structure, it does not track scores.
Worked example
Sample bracket: with six entrants (Alex seeded 1 through Casey seeded 6), the bracket grows to 8 slots with 2 byes — Alex and Priya sit out round one, Jordan plays Casey and Sam plays Taylor, and the structure runs through two semifinals to a final. Ordered seeding makes this exact bracket reproducible from the same list.
Inputs
- Entrants (one per line, best seed first in list order)Alex Priya Jordan Sam Taylor Casey
- SeedingKeep list order (first line = seed 1)
Result
- Bracket size (slots)8
- Entrants6
- Byes2
- Total matches7
- Rounds3
Results explained
- Bracket size (slots)
- Bracket size (slots) from the formula above. Single elimination. Later rounds are shown as 'Winner of match N' because results are not entered — this tool builds the bracket structure, it does not track scores.
- Entrants
- Entrants from the formula above. Single elimination. Later rounds are shown as 'Winner of match N' because results are not entered — this tool builds the bracket structure, it does not track scores.
- Byes
- Byes from the formula above. Single elimination. Later rounds are shown as 'Winner of match N' because results are not entered — this tool builds the bracket structure, it does not track scores.
- Total matches
- Total matches from the formula above. Single elimination. Later rounds are shown as 'Winner of match N' because results are not entered — this tool builds the bracket structure, it does not track scores.
- Rounds
- Rounds from the formula above. Single elimination. Later rounds are shown as 'Winner of match N' because results are not entered — this tool builds the bracket structure, it does not track scores.
Frequently asked questions
When the entrant count is not a power of two, the bracket is padded to the next power of two (6 entrants → 8 slots) and the empty slots pair against the top seeds, who get the byes. Six entrants means two byes, and they go to seeds 1 and 2.
First-round pairs are arranged so the strongest remaining seeds meet the weakest: in an 8-slot bracket, 1 plays 8, 4 plays 5, 2 plays 7 and 3 plays 6. If the favourites keep winning, seed 1 and seed 2 cannot meet before the final.
It crypto-shuffles the entrant list before seeding, so list order no longer decides who is seed 1 — use it for pickup tournaments where there is no ranking. Ordered mode is fully deterministic: the same list always builds the same bracket.
The number of rounds is log2 of the bracket size: 8 slots → 3 rounds (quarterfinals, semifinals, final), 16 slots → 4 rounds, and so on. The table lists every round including the final.
This tool builds the structure only — later rounds appear as 'Winner of match N' placeholders. Print the bracket and fill results in by hand, or pair it with a spreadsheet for live tracking.