Ludoya runs the tournament so you can run the room. Pick a format, and it works out who plays whom each round, tracks the standings as results come in, breaks ties the way your community expects, and draws the bracket on screen.
Tournaments are a Club tier feature and need a group to host them. From your group page, choose Organize Tournament.
Choosing a Format
Swiss
Everyone plays every round, and nobody is knocked out. Players are paired against others on a similar score as the tournament goes on, and the winner is whoever tops the table at the end. The default choice for a league night or a store championship where people came to play games, not to watch.
Mixer
Swiss's sociable cousin. The whole schedule is built up front to maximise how many different people you play, rather than to sort the field by skill. Ideal for a club night or a convention where mixing the room matters more than crowning a champion.
Single elimination
A one-versus-one knockout bracket. Lose a match and you're out. Short, dramatic, and over quickly.
Double elimination
The same, but you have to lose twice to go home. It costs more rounds and gives everyone a second chance, which is usually the fairer feel for a title decider.
Setting It Up
Table size — how many players share a table each round. Swiss and mixer can seat three, four or more per game, which is what makes them work for board games rather than just chess. Elimination brackets are always one-versus-one, so this is fixed at two.
Rounds — Ludoya suggests a sensible number for your field size, and you can override it.
Points per placement — decide what finishing first, second, third and so on is worth. This is what the standings add up.
Bye points — when the numbers don't divide evenly, someone sits a round out. Set what a bye is worth so nobody is punished for the maths.
Shared placements — when players tie at a table, award them all the higher placement's points, or the average of the positions they share.
Tiebreakers
Equal points at the top is the moment a tournament either feels fair or doesn't. Pick the tiebreakers your community accepts, in the order they should apply:
- Head-to-head — who won when the tied players actually met
- Buchholz — the combined score of everyone you faced, so a hard draw counts for something
- Raw score sum — your total in-game points across the tournament
- First places — how many games you won outright
Announce your choice before you start. Nobody minds losing a tiebreak they knew about in advance.
Running the Day
- Build the roster. Players are seeded, and you can drop anyone who leaves partway through — the pairings adapt rather than breaking.
- Generate the round. Ludoya proposes the tables and any byes, and shows you a pair coverage preview: how much of the room is meeting fresh opponents, and how many pairs are repeating. Adjust before you commit.
- Confirm it. Each pairing becomes a real scheduled game, so players report results the way they log any other play.
- Watch the standings. They update as results land, with each player's per-round record and tiebreaker values visible. Put them on a screen — it's the best atmosphere-builder you have.
- Next round. For Swiss and mixer, generate the next one once the current round is in. Elimination brackets advance themselves, byes included.