Running the Plate Match

Just in case my car gets hit by meteors or something, I'm making this page to show how I've been running the plate match, particularly the tournament tree and loser's bracket.

First are the qualifying runs, so we match shooters against someone with a similar skill level to start. On the clipboards in the cabinet in the RSO shack is a paper sheet for recording these, like we used to, in case I'm not there with my laptop. In February 2008 we had such a huge turnout we cut the qualifying runs from three to two, to save time; we might keep that, especially if we keep getting that kind of attendance. All the forms are at the bottom of this page, in MSWord format; right-click and Save As to download.

Here's a simple 16-place tree:

Nothing to it, anyone can run one of these. For more than 16 entries, simply add another level of branches on the left, which I've done with the new 32-place printout, which I've left a stack of (also Loser's Bracket and qualifying times sheets) in the cabinet in the R/O shack, and which you can download in MS Word format below.

If you're using a 32-place tree for a match with 16 or fewer entries, just cross out the first level of branches, and the first TWO levels on the corresponding Loser's Bracket tree, and so on for smaller numbers in the obvious manner.

The tricky part is the Loser's Bracket. What I did was, I searched the web to see how other tournaments did it, and I found the pattern I needed at a billards site. Here's a Loser's Bracket tree to match the 16-place standard tree above:

And here's how I draw it on the dry-erase boards I still haven't made use of:

As the match currently stands, I use one of these arrangements for each of the three divisions (auto, revolver, .22), on separate clipboards or dry-erase boards. I also make these up ahead of time so there's less fumbling on match day. Then, after all three divisions are complete, it's a simple matter to have a shootoff between the division winners for the overall match winner, flipping a coin if one shooter won two divisions or drawing straws for the odd entry to get a Bye.

Using this system, nearly the entire Loser's Bracket can be filled as the regular bracket progresses; you don't have to interleave the Loser's and regular brackets (though you certainly can if you want to), and when the regular bracket is done you can go instantly to the first round of the LB without having to stop and figure out who goes where. How it works is as follows.

Let's make a tree full of regular shooters. We've done the time trials and everyone is paired in the first round against someone with a similar qualifying time. I put the slowest qualifiers on top and progress down to the fastest on the bottom; like pole position for racing, this way if there's an odd number, the top qualifier gets the Bye and advances automatically to the next round; also the slower qualifiers have more rounds to shoot so they have more chances to "warm up":

Now we're shooting head-to-head and shooters start eliminating each other:

As soon as someone loses a pairing, that name is put right into the appropriate place on the Loser's Bracket tree:

Since there's an odd number, there was no loser for the 8th pairing; therefore Garth gets the Bye in the 4th pairing of the LB and automatically advances to the 2nd round of the LB.

Now let's run through the rest of the regular pairings:

And now let's see what effect that had on the LB:

Now the LB is filled and ready to run. Note how a person is entered into the LB in a manner corresponding to where they were knocked out of the regular bracket.

So Jim Breen is in the lead, as usual; he's won the regular bracket for this division and is undefeated. We run the LB:

Now the winner of the regular bracket (Jim Breen) shoots against the winner of the LB (me) for 1st and 2nd in this division. That's it!

1st Place in this division goes to the winner of the final pairing between the winners of the Regular and Loser's brackets.

2nd Place in each division goes to the loser of that same final pairing.

The division winners then have a shootoff as described above to determine the overall match winner.