Tournament Formats
The format decides how you score races and crown a winner. You pick it when you create a tournament. Here's what each one is best for.
FFA points
Everyone races together and earns points by finishing position across a set of races. The points come from a scoring table (1st is worth the most), and cumulative standings update live as you enter each race. Best for casual nights and large fields where everyone plays every race.
Round robin
A points-based format built for smaller fields where you want a fair, everyone-plays structure across multiple races. Scores roll up the same way as FFA points.
Single elimination
A classic knockout bracket: lose once and you're out. You report each match winner and the bracket advances automatically until a champion is left. Best for head-to-head events with a clear finish.
Double elimination
Like single elimination, but a loss drops you to the losers' bracket instead of out. Players get a second chance, and the event ends when one bracket runner beats the other. Best when you want results to reflect more than one bad match.
Group knockout (lobbies)
Split a large field into lobbies, race them, and advance the top finishers from each into the next round. Set your lobby size and how many advance. Best for big fields that can't all race at once.
Heat → Mains
The sprint-car style ladder: racers run heats, then feed into consolation mains and up to the A-Main, where the title is decided. It rewards a strong run through the night rather than a single race. This is also the format each event uses inside a Championship season.
Flights
Run several parallel groups (flights) that each race their own schedule, then combine into overall placements. Useful when you're running many players across multiple lobbies at once.
Which should I pick?
- Casual night, everyone plays: FFA points.
- Small, fair, competitive: round robin.
- Head-to-head bracket: single or double elimination.
- Big field, can't all race together: group knockout or flights.
- Sprint-car ladder / a season: Heat → Mains (or a Championship).
Any format can also be run as a multi-crew battle, where results roll up per crew on top of the individual standings.
Just want to try one?
You can experiment with brackets and Heat → Mains with no account and no database using the tournament sandbox.
Still need help?
Email support@gameshuffle.co and we'll point you at the right format.