The advantage of the Swiss system is that players are never completely eliminated. Even if you lose early, you can still place high in the rankings. You can even win if there are enough rounds! In addition, this system can be less intimidating for beg
inners and yet it determines rankings just as accurately.
The minimum number of rounds allowed in a tournament is four. The following chart is a suggested guide to go on:
Participants Rounds (minimum)
8 and under 4
9-16 5
17-32 6
...and so on.
For the mathematically inclined, the suggested minimum number of rounds is
(log (base2) X) + 1 (round up)
Where X = the number of participants.
Scoring:
Winning by achieving 100 points -- 2 points
Winning by running out of cards (or your opponent running out of cards) while you are ahead -- 1 point
Time limit win (see below) -- 1 point
Bye (see below) -- 2 points
Loss -- 0 points.
The time limit will be a minimum of one hour per round. You should
announce to players when there are ten minutes remaining in the round.
If the players are not finished when the time is up, the player with
the most points in each game shall be awarded the (1-point) victory.
You should also keep track of the margin of victory or loss in each game.
For instance, if a player wins 100 to 35, he would have a +65 margin.
His opponent would have a -65. If a player won a game called on account
of the time limit or running out cards by a score of 80 to 55, he would
have a differential of +25 (and his opponent would have a differential
of -25). These numbers will be used in tiebreakers (see below). The most
points a player can achieve in a game is 100. Even if a player exceeds that
total, assume that he or she only had 100 with regards to the margin of
victory.
PROCEDURE:
1) Get a box of blank index cards.
2) Write each player's name on the top of separate cards and number the
cards in the upper left-hand corner. Those numbers become each
player's number. Also, on each card, you should have one line
available for each round the player will play in, and four columns:
one for a player's opponent in the round, one for his points in that
round (0, 1 or 2), one for the margin of victory or loss, and one for
a running total, which will be needed to pair players off (see step #6).
3) In the first round, pair off players randomly. If there is an odd
number of players, the player who sits out will receive a 2-point
bye (with a point differential of zero).
4) Write the number of each player's opponent in the space provided for
that round.
5) After the game, write the results (score and margin) on the same line
as the opponent's number and compute that player's running total.
6) After each round is completed, rank the players according to their
scores, using the point differential as a tiebreaker. For instance,
a player with a score of 4(+80) would rank higher than a player with
a score of 4(+55). If two or more players have the exact same score
and exact same differential, their order doesn't matter. Stack the
players' cards in order by ranking, with the highest-ranked players
on top.
7) Take the top two index cards (representing the top two players) from
that pile and match them up against each other. Do the same for the
third and fourth cards, the fifth and sixth cards, etc. Again, if there
is an odd number of players, the last player (in this case, the lowest
ranked one) will receive a 2-point bye (with a point differential of
zero).
Repeat steps 4) through 7) for every round of the tournament. The winner
is the person with the most points at the end. In the event of a tie, add
up the margins of victory or loss for each player and the highest total in
that category is the winner.
Example: If one player had margins of +20, +80, -25, and +50, his total
would be +125.
If another player had +40, -80, +35, and +75, his total would be +70.
The first player would be ranked higher than the second.
If there is still a tie, the players involved will have to play a
tiebreaker game(s).
SIMPLE-SWISS (OPTIONAL):
In its simplest form, Swiss System events can also pair participants
randomly. In each round, you will pair players randomly, as you do in
the first round of the standard Swiss System, regardless of their point
values, making sure that you do not pair together players who have already
played each other. This has the advantage of being easier on the Tournament
Director. Also, it allows for a better "spread" and allows a player who
loses early a better chance of coming back and placing high in the standings.
On the down side, there is no guarantee that top-ranked players will play
each other. A superior player may play the entire tournament against
inferior foes.
SWISS-ELIMINATION (OPTIONAL):
If there are a large number of players and time is tight, rather than using
the Swiss System throughout, you may find it better to use the combination
Swiss System-elimination tournament format.
Follow the Swiss System as set above for a specified number of rounds
(this may be less than the suggested minimum number of rounds). Then,
take any number of top players who number a power of two (4, 8, 16, 32,
etc) and pair them off in an elimination tournament. You should not
include more than one-third the total number of participants in the
tournament. Rank the players (as you would for a new round) and then
pair them off according to their rankings and play a single-elimination
tournament. Points accumulated in previous rounds are discarded.
The pairings will follow the "Wimbledon-style" format, used in most major
sports championships. The player with the highest ranking faces the player
with the lowest, the second highest faces the second lowest, and so on.
The brackets are seeded so that, barring an upset, this will always be the
case in future rounds.
For instance, if you had eight players, the first round's pairings would
a. #1 vs #8
b. #4 vs #5
c. #3 vs #6
d. #2 vs #7
In the second round, the winners of game a and game b would face each
other, as would the winners of game c and game d. The winners of those
two games would then play for the championship. With 16 players, you
would arrange the matches like this:
a. #1 vs. #16
b. #8 vs. #9
c. #5 vs. #12
d. #4 vs. #13
e. #3 vs. #14
f. #6 vs. #11
g. #7 vs. #10
h. #2 vs. #15
Note that, if there were no upsets, the second round would played just
like the first round in an eight-person tournament.
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