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How to Make a Double Elimination Bracket

How a double elimination bracket works, from the losers bracket to the grand final and its reset, and how to make, play and print one on iPhone.

  • How-to
  • Bracket Cat
Made for this: Bracket Cat

In a knockout, one bad game sends a team home. Double elimination gives everyone a second chance: you're out only after two losses. This guide explains how a double elimination bracket fits together, then how to make, play and print one with Bracket Cat, our tournament bracket maker for iPhone. Double elimination is a Bracket Cat Pro format; knockout and round robin are free.

How double elimination works

A double elimination bracket has three parts:

  • The winners bracket. It's an ordinary knockout bracket. Every team starts here, and gaps in the draw are byes, as in a single knockout.
  • The losers bracket. Lose a match in the winners bracket and you drop down here. Lose in the losers bracket and you're out.
  • The grand final. The winner of the winners bracket plays the winner of the losers bracket.

The losers bracket opens with the first-round losers playing each other, then takes turns. In one round, the teams just beaten in the winners bracket drop in and play the teams still alive in the losers bracket. In the next, the losers-bracket survivors play each other. That's why the losers bracket has more rounds: with 8 teams, 4 losers rounds against 3 winners rounds.

In the grand final, the winners-bracket team hasn't lost yet. If it wins, it's the champion. If the losers-bracket team wins, both teams have now lost once, so they play one more match, called a reset, to decide it.

Every team except the champion loses exactly twice, so the number of matches is twice the number of teams, minus 2, plus 1 if there's a reset. Byes aren't matches.

How Bracket Cat lays it out

Bracket Cat puts the three parts on one board, one under the other:

  • Winners bracket, with the note "Lose here and you drop to the losers bracket."
  • Losers bracket, with "Lose here and you're out."
  • Grand final, with "If the losers-bracket team wins, a reset match decides it."

The rounds are named for you. With 8 teams, the winners bracket runs Winners quarterfinals to Winners final, and the losers bracket runs Losers round 1 to Losers round 3, then the Losers final.

When losers drop in, Bracket Cat reverses their order every other round, so teams from the same half of the draw don't meet again straight away. With 2 teams there's no losers bracket: the team that loses the first match gets its second life in the grand final.

Make the bracket

Double elimination is part of Bracket Cat Pro.

  1. Open Bracket Cat and tap New bracket (the + button once you have brackets).
  2. Type a name in the first field. Leave it empty and it's called "Bracket".
  3. In the format switch (Knockout, Double, Round robin), tap Double. The footer reads "Lose twice and you're out. A losers bracket gives everyone a second chance."
  4. In Teams, type one team per line. Empty lines are skipped.
  5. Check the line under the list, like "6 teams, 2 byes." If a name is typed twice, Listed twice names it.
  6. The order of the list is the seed order. Seed 1 plays the lowest seed, and the top seeds get any byes. Tap Shuffle for a random draw instead.
  7. Tap Create. You need at least 2 teams.

Without Pro, picking Double shows a locked Double elimination row marked Pro. Tapping it, or Create, opens the Pro sheet, and the teams you typed stay in the list.

Play it through

  • Tap a team to make it the winner. It gets a checkmark, the loser is crossed out and the winner moves on. In the winners bracket, the loser drops into its place in the losers bracket.
  • Tap the winner again to take the result back.
  • Changed your mind? Tap the other team. Later results that no longer fit are cleared, in both brackets.
  • Undo steps back one result at a time, even after you close and reopen the app.

Places that wait on a match show as Waiting, and byes as Bye. A team drawn against a bye in the losers bracket goes straight through.

In the grand final, tap the winner. If it's the winners-bracket team, it's the champion. If it's the losers-bracket team, a Reset match appears beside the grand final with the same two teams. Give the grand final back to the winners-bracket team and the reset goes away, with its result. The champion's name then appears above the board with a trophy, and in your list of brackets.

Tap the share button (Share or print):

  • Print sends landscape pages on Letter or A4, picked by your region: the winners bracket first, then the losers bracket, then the grand final.
  • Share PDF sends the same pages as a file.
  • Share image makes one picture with the three parts stacked, each under its own title.

Each page's header says which part it shows, like "Double elimination · 8 teams · Losers bracket". Places still waiting on a result print as blank lines to write names on. Both brackets end in a box marked TO THE GRAND FINAL, and the finals page ends in a box marked CHAMPION. Until the grand final is played, the reset prints as a blank match headed RESET (IF NEEDED). A big draw splits into parts, one per page, as in a knockout.

Want everyone to play everyone instead? See how to run a round robin tournament.

What Bracket Cat doesn't do

  • It doesn't keep scores. You tap who won, and a double elimination match can't be a draw.
  • It doesn't skip the reset when the losers-bracket team wins the grand final.
  • It doesn't sync. Your brackets are kept on your phone.

What it costs

Knockout and round robin brackets for any number of teams, Undo, Rename, Print, Share PDF and Share image are free, with no limit on brackets and no watermark. There are no ads and no account. Bracket Cat Pro is an optional one-time purchase that adds double elimination, the seed editor, and a logo and colour. If you ever lose Pro, double elimination brackets you already made still open, play, print and share. Your brackets are kept on your phone and leave only when you share them.

Quick answers

How many games are in a double elimination bracket?
Twice the number of teams, minus 2, plus 1 if the grand final goes to a reset. 8 teams play 14 or 15 matches, and 16 teams play 30 or 31.

What is a bracket reset?
A second grand final. The winners-bracket team arrives unbeaten, so if it loses the grand final, both teams have one loss and one more match decides it. Bracket Cat adds the Reset match only when that happens.

Is double elimination free in Bracket Cat?
No, it's part of Bracket Cat Pro. Knockout and round robin are free.

Can I print a blank double elimination bracket?
Yes. Print it before tapping any results: your teams fill the first round, and places that wait on a result are blank lines to write on.

Try Bracket Cat

Try Bracket Cat: free, no watermark, no sign-up → iyio.com/apps/bracket-cat