Bracket Maker Guide

The bracket editor lives at /editor/tournament-bracket. You can also get there from the bracket hub, from any format page (single elimination, double elimination, a team-count page), or from a sports template like the NBA Playoff Bracket. Open it from a sports template and the editor starts with that event's teams already loaded.

The bar across the top is the toolbar. The big field on the left is the bracket title. Click it and type. The name shows on the printed sheet and on your dashboard, so "Spring Office Tournament" beats the default.

1. 1Bracket title. Click and type.
2. 2Hide setup collapses the setup panels once your bracket is built.
3. 3Guide opens this page.
4. 4Print / PDF and Save (Save needs an account).

Scroll to the Step 2: Teams & seeding panel. There are three ways to get teams in, and you will probably use all three.

• Quick fill. The 4 / 6 / 8 / 16 / 32 buttons drop in that many placeholder teams in one click. Best as a starting point: fill 8, then rename.
• Add one at a time. Type a name, press Enter. Good for a short list.
• Bulk add.Open "Bulk add. Paste a list" and paste names, one per line or comma-separated. Fastest for a real roster.

1. 1Seed number. The list is in seed order, top to bottom.
2. 2Quick fill buttons. The active size is highlighted green.
3. 3Hover a row for the move-up, move-down, and remove controls.

The Step 1: Bracket format panel sets the shape of the tournament. Every setting has an i icon next to it. Hover or tap the icon for a plain explanation without leaving the editor.

Here is what each setting does.

• Elimination. Single elimination is one loss and out, the fastest format. Double elimination adds a Losers Bracket, so a team has to lose twice. It is fairer and takes about twice as many games.
• Consolation(single elimination only). "No consolation" sends losers home. "Third place" adds one match between the semifinal losers. "Full consolation" keeps every team playing, so nobody drives home after one game.
• Tie format."Single match" is one game per round. The two-legged options play matches home and away, with the aggregate score deciding the winner, for the final only or for every match.
• Display. Show game numbers prints a small number on each match, handy for calling games at a venue.

Once you have at least two teams, a stats bar appears with a Generate bracket button. The stats tell you what you are about to build before you build it: how many rounds, how many matches, and how many byes.

With the bracket generated, a floating toolbar appears at the bottom of the editor. The four color dots on the left are the design themes: tap one and the whole bracket re-skins instantly. There's no rebuild, no lost scores, and the design choice saves to your browser so it sticks the next time you open the editor.

1. 1Classic — cardinal red on white, the default. Clean broadcast look.
2. 2Scoreboard — cream + slate team rows with a floating black score box. Inspired by overhead arena boards.
3. 3Hardwood — basketball-court warm wood tones. Tan rows + brown score plates.
4. 4Midnight — charcoal cards with neon-blue glowing score plates. For dark-mode prints and night-game broadcasts.

Switching designs is purely visual. Connector lines, byes, seeds, scores, and the bracket structure all stay exactly the same. Find the look that fits your event and stick with it.

The bracket fills the page. Each match is a card with two teams and a score box for each. Type the two scores and the winner is detected automatically, then advanced into the next round. Keep scoring and the bracket fills itself in all the way to the final.

1. 1Round label and game number sit at the top of each card.
2. 2Type a score into each box.
3. 3The higher score wins. The winner row turns green and advances.

If you picked a two-legged tie format in Step 1, matches play home and away. The card splits into Leg 1 and Leg 2, and the winner is decided by the aggregate score across both. A tied aggregate shows a "Tied" badge until you break it.

Step 3 is collapsed by default, because most brackets never need it. If your event runs across multiple venues or days, click Set up schedule to open the panel. Add your venues and the weekday time slots they are free, then click Auto-schedule. The editor assigns a date, time, and venue to every match while respecting the bracket order, so a semifinal never lands before the quarterfinals that feed it. Done with it? Hide schedule collapses it again.

Two buttons in the toolbar finish the job.

• Print / PDFopens your browser print dialog. The toolbar, setup panels, and buttons drop out automatically, so only the bracket prints. Choose "Save as PDF" for a file, or send it straight to a printer for the wall.
• Save stores the bracket, scores and all, to your dashboard. It needs a free account. Reopen it any time, next round or next season.