UPA Manual of Tournament Formats
Five Teams
Copyright (c) The Ultimate Players Association, 1994
Please direct comments on this document to Eric Simon
(70540.1522@compuserve.com).
A five-team tournament requires two fields and five rounds. Only under the
most extreme circumstances should there be only one day of play, and that,
only at Sectionals. Under the one-day scenario, the round-robin alone is
four games for each team (in five rounds), and to do any more would be
violating the 4-game limitation rule.
For some of the formats, where there are lots of games, you might consider
making the round-robin games to 13.
- For Regional Championships:
- Even though there are only five teams, two days of play are expected
for teams that will be competing for spots at nationals. You must use
one of the two-day options.
- For Sectional Championships:
- As mentioned above, a one-day tournament is only permitted under
extreme circumstances and only at Sectionals. (See the discussion on
"A One-Day or Two-Day Format". Use the two-day
options.
- 5.1.1. Seven game option:
- Use Table 5.1.1 (round-robin) on the first
day. The top four teams qualify and use Table
4.2.1, the flexible four-team round-robin. Four of the five
teams get to play seven games, and the last round almost always is
a "finals," i.e., the game for first place. The only down side to
this format is the potential problem of deciding first place on
point differentials in a three-way tie.
- 5.1.2. Six game option:
- Use Table 5.1.1 (round-robin) on the first
day. The top four teams qualify and use 4.3, a
single elimination on the second day. In this option three of five
teams get only 5 games or less. No team enjoys sticking around
overnight only to get eliminated the first round on the second
day. This format could be made a bit less objectionable if the
last round of the round-robin was on the second day, although a
problem may arise because the team with the bye might have an
unfair advantage. On the other hand, this option avoids the
potential problem of deciding first place on point differentials
in a three-way tie.
Use Table 5.1.1 (round-robin) on the first day.
The top four teams qualify and use Table 4.4, the
modified double-elimination. This is a very exciting format because,
on the second day, there is a game for first place (in the second
round), and, in the third round, there is only one game: the match for
second place.
This format requires eight rounds, five for the round-robin and three for
the modified double-elimination. The most games a team will play is seven.
Use Table 5.1.1 (round-robin) on the first day.
The top four teams qualify and use Table 4.2.1,
the flexible four-team round-robin. Four of the five teams get to play
seven games, and the last round almost always is a "finals," i.e., the
game for first place. Additionally, the other game in the last round
is usually to decide third and fourth place. This makes for a very
exciting second day.
This format requires eight rounds, five for the round-robin and three for
the flexible four-team round-robin. All the teams involved in the second
day will play seven games.
Not written yet.
- 5.5.1. Seven game option one:
- Use Table 5.1.1 (round-robin) on the first
day. The fifth place team takes fifth place. The other four teams
and use Table 4.2.1, the flexible four-team
round-robin. Four of the five teams get to play seven games, and
the last round almost always is a "finals," i.e., the game for
first place. The potential problem of deciding places on point
differentials is not very relevant since all five teams qualify
anyway.
- 5.5.2. Seven game option two:
- Use Table 5.1.1 (round-robin) on the first
day. The first place team takes first place. The other four teams
and use Table 4.2.1, the flexible four-team
round-robin. Four of the five teams get to play seven games. The
potential problem of deciding places on point differentials is not
very relevant since all five teams qualify anyway. This option may
only be used if all the teams agree on it at the captains meeting.
This format is probably preferable where there is one team that is
clearly much stonger than the rest, and none of the other teams
would want to play that team twice in the same weekend.
- 5.5.3. Eight game option:
- Use Table 5.1.1 (round-robin) for both days.
This gives every team eight games. The only problem is that this
format requires five rounds each day, and teams that travel far
may not want to stick around that long on the second day. At least
a majority of the teams must agree to this format at least 24
hours in advance, or all five teams must agree to this format at
the captains meeting before you can use this format.
Use Table 5.1.1. Only under the most extreme
circumstances should there be only one day of play, and that, only at
Sectionals. Under the one-day scenario, the round-robin alone is four
games for each team (in five rounds), and to do any more would be
violating the 4-game limitation rule.
The following is a straight five-team round-robin, which takes five rounds.
Should circumstances require, you can split the round-robin over two days
and six rounds. Each team will get exactly one bye and two games each day.
This is much preferable to simply taking this schedule and playing three
rounds one day and two rounds the other. The split schedule appears in
Table 5.1.2.
For some of the formats, where there are lots of games, you might consider
making the round-robin games to 13.
1 2 3 4 5
- - - - -
1 _ 4 2 5 3 B 1 v 5 2 v 4
2 _ 3 1 4 B 5 1 v 3 4 v 5
3 _ 2 5 B 1 4 2 v 5 3 v 4
4 _ 1 B 2 5 3 1 v 4 2 v 3
5 _ B 3 1 4 2 1 v 2 3 v 5
This is a five-team round-robin that is split into two parts. If, for some
reason, you wanted to have the round-robin over two days, this schedule
provides each team with an equal number of byes and games each day. This
schedule might be used if, for instance, you had a huge three-day
tournament with limited field space. However, unless the games are pretty
long, teams will probably not like travelling far and only playing two
games in a day. The UPA used this format for its Nationals, some years
back, when there were ten Open Division teams and five Women's Division
teams, most recently in 1985. The round-robin took the first two days, and
semis and finals were played on the third day. Round-robin games for the
Open Division in 1985 were to 19.
first part: second part:
1 v 5 2 v 4 1 v 4 2 v 3
2 v 5 3 v 4 1 v 2 3 v 5
1 v 3 4 v 5