gizmobench

Round Robin Generator

Type or paste the teams, one per line or separated by commas, and the whole draw appears round by round. The fixtures come from the circle method, so every team meets every other team exactly once, and when the count is odd a bye slot joins the circle and each team sits out exactly once rather than one unlucky name sitting out three times. A switch turns one leg into two, with home and away swapped in the return. Turn scores on and every fixture gets two boxes, which feed a league table with the points scheme you choose and the tie rules printed under it: points, then score difference, then points scored, then wins, and anything still level shares a rank instead of being separated by a rule nobody agreed to. Copy the fixtures as plain text, or print them on a sheet with nothing else from the page on it. The roster and the results stay in this browser, with no upload and no account.

Fixtureswaiting for teams
0 teamsSingleNo byes

Fixtures appear here.

No teams yet.

Every pair meets exactly onceAn odd roster gets one bye eachNothing leaves your browserNo account, and it prints
Teams
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Rounds
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Matches
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Byes
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Rounds played
Scores
  • 8 teamssingle round robin
    7 rounds, 28 matches
  • 7 teamsodd count
    7 rounds, 21 matches, one bye each
  • Double round robin8 teams
    14 rounds, 56 matches

Teams are separated by line breaks and by commas, so a column pasted from a spreadsheet and a typed list both work. Up to 64 teams schedule in one table. Print puts the fixture list, and the table when scores are on, on paper on its own.

How the rounds are built. The names sit around a circle with the first one pinned in place. Each round pairs every name with the name opposite it, then everybody but the pinned name rotates one place. After a full turn each pair has met exactly once, which is why the round count is one less than the number of teams. An odd roster has no opposite for somebody, so a bye slot joins the circle: the name paired with it sits that round out, and because the slot rotates too, each team sits out exactly once. A double round robin runs the same rounds again with home and away swapped.
Accuracy. Exact scheduling by the circle method: every team meets every other team exactly once per cycle, and an odd team count gives each team exactly one bye.

Common questions

How many rounds and matches does a round robin have?
With an even number of teams it is one round fewer than the number of teams: 8 teams play 7 rounds of 4 matches, 28 matches in all. With an odd number it is as many rounds as there are teams, because one team sits out each round: 7 teams play 7 rounds of 3 matches, 21 matches in all. The match total is always the number of teams times one fewer, divided by two. A double round robin doubles both figures, so 8 teams play 14 rounds and 56 matches. The tool prints the arithmetic under the fixtures so you can check it against your own count.
What happens when the number of teams is odd?
A bye slot joins the circle to make the count even, and the team paired with that slot in a round is the team sitting out. Because the slot rotates like every other position, each team draws it exactly once per leg: with 7 teams there are 7 rounds and 7 byes, one each, and the round shows a bye line naming who is out. Nobody is given two byes while somebody else is given none, which is the usual failure of a hand-drawn draw.
Can it do a double round robin, home and away?
Yes. Set Rounds played to Double and the whole first leg runs again with the sides swapped, numbered straight through: 8 teams give rounds 1 to 7 in the first leg and rounds 8 to 14 in the second, 56 matches in total. A pair that opened at home closes away. In the first leg the top pairing of the circle alternates sides between rounds, so the first name on your list is not at home every week.
Can I enter scores and keep a league table?
Turn Scores on and every fixture gets two boxes. The table underneath counts played, won, drawn, lost, scored, conceded, difference and points, and you pick the points scheme: 3 points for a win, 2 for a win, or 1 for a win with nothing for a draw. Ties are settled by score difference, then by points scored, then by wins. Two teams no rule separates share the rank, marked with an equals sign, and keep the order you typed them in. The table says how many of the matches have results in it, so a half finished league is never presented as a final one.
Can I print the fixtures?
Yes. Print puts the fixture list, and the table when scores are on, on paper by itself: the page around it, the controls and the notes are left off the sheet. The same text is what the Copy button puts on the clipboard, one match per line under a round heading, so it pastes into a message or a document without turning into a table or a link.
How many teams can it schedule?
Up to 64 in one draw, which is 2016 matches and 63 rounds for a single round robin. Past that it says so and asks you to split the entries into groups of 64 or fewer rather than quietly cutting the list down. Two teams is the smallest draw it accepts: one round, one match. If two entries have the same name it refuses the draw and names the repeat, because a table cannot tell two rows called Sam apart.
Are the fixtures random, or the same every time?
The same every time. The circle method is a construction, not a draw, so the same list in the same order always produces the same rounds, which is what you want when you have to rebuild a sheet you printed last week. To vary the order, reorder the names: the position in your list decides where a team starts on the circle. Editing a name keeps any scores you have entered, because the fixtures are the same fixtures. Adding or removing a team, or switching to a double, clears the score boxes, because the rounds are then a different schedule.
Is the roster saved, and does anything leave my browser?
The roster, the leg setting and any scores are kept in this browser so a reload opens on what you left, and nothing is uploaded, no account is asked for, and the list is not sent anywhere. Start over, in the row above the heading, forgets it. If your browser blocks site data the tool still works for the session, it simply has nothing to come back to.

Exact scheduling by the circle method: every team meets every other team exactly once per cycle, and an odd team count gives each team exactly one bye.