Picture this: You’re planning a friendly-but-competitive internal tournament at your company to find the best team for a new project. You've got 16 teams, each packed with talent and ready to show off their skills. The challenge is exciting, but you need a way to keep everything organized, fair, and fun. Enter: the tournament bracket.
With a tournament bracket, you can easily lay out matchups, track who's advancing, and keep the whole competition flowing smoothly. (It’s also very handy for planning your strategy when choosing your favorite college basketball teams.) Whether you go with a single-elimination format for quick drama or a double-elimination setup for a little more redemption, the bracket keeps everything clear and engaging.
As teams battle it out, the bracket serves as a real-time scoreboard, so everyone knows exactly where they stand. Plus, at the end, it’s easy to look at the bracket and see just how far each team made it, giving everyone something to celebrate — even if they didn’t make it to the final round. It’s a simple, fun way to add a competitive spark to your workplace, all while keeping things organized and transparent.
In this article, you’ll learn:
- The different types of elimination tournament brackets, and the best situations to use each
- The pros and cons of using tournament brackets for your events
- How to use a Mural’s Tournament Bracket Template or diagramming function to create a tournament bracket with your team.
What is a tournament bracket?
A tournament bracket is a visual tool used to organize and track the progression of participants in a competition. It outlines matchups, shows who competes against whom, and illustrates how teams or individuals advance through different rounds based on wins or losses. The bracket is usually organized in a tree-like way, where each level represents a round of the tournament. Each match leads to the next until a winner is chosen.
In the workplace, a tournament bracket can be used to organize friendly competitions such as team-building events, challenges, or even decision-making processes. Did you know 66% of knowledge workers aren’t happy with how their teams work together? A bracket is a helpful tool to ensure that changes for the better.
It makes activities like project pitch-offs, hackathons, or skill-based challenges more organized and exciting. It lets employees track their progress, interact with the competition, and clearly see who’s winning. Beyond just competition, it fosters team spirit, promotes healthy rivalry, and makes the overall process more engaging and transparent for everyone involved.
Some common reasons to use a tournament bracket in the workplace include:
- Marketing campaign selection
- Product feature prioritization
- Sales incentive programs
- Human resources engagement activities
Pros and cons of using a tournament bracket chart
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What are the most common types of tournament brackets?
In a recent survey, 80% of respondents said they believe that healthy competition is beneficial at work. When organizing a tournament, the bracket format you choose can greatly influence the flow of the event, the level of competition, and the overall experience for participants. Here’s a rundown of the most common types of tournament brackets and how each one works:
Single-elimination bracket
In a single-elimination (or knockout) tournament, each team or participant competes in one match per round. The loser of each match is immediately eliminated, and the winner advances to the next round. The process continues until only one team remains as the winner.
When to use:
- Ideal for short, competitive events with a limited number of rounds.
- Best for situations where time constraints are important (like, weekend tournaments, quick contests).
- Great for large tournaments where you need to manage a large number of participants in a short period of time.
Example in Mural:
Use a single-elimination bracket template in Mural to create a visually appealing, easy-to-update layout. With just a few clicks, you can drag teams into the bracket and show who progresses to the next round. Mural also allows you to color-code or add team logos for a more interactive and personalized experience.
Double-elimination bracket
In a double-elimination tournament, each participant is given a second chance. After a loss, they drop into a loser’s bracket where they can still fight to stay in the competition. If they lose again in the loser’s bracket, they’re eliminated. The winner of the loser’s bracket faces the winner of the winner’s bracket for the final match.
When to use:
- Perfect for more competitive or high-stakes tournaments where you want to give participants a second chance.
- Useful when you want to ensure that the ultimate winner is the best competitor, not just the one who avoids one bad match.
Example in Mural:
You can build a double-elimination bracket, which allows you to create two separate brackets: one for winners and one for losers. As the tournament progresses, you can update the progress of each team and color-code the brackets accordingly.
Round-robin bracket
In a round-robin tournament, every team or player plays against every other team or player. The winner is determined by the total number of matches won, rather than a knockout system. Round-robin is often used in league-style competitions where everyone gets a chance to compete, and rankings are determined by performance across all rounds.
When to use:
- Ideal for small groups where each team or participant plays multiple matches.
- Great for league formats or when determining rankings over a series of games.
- Works well when you want a fair, balanced approach, with no team being eliminated prematurely.
Example in Mural:
You can build a round-robin bracket to display matchups between all participants. Mural's visual tools allow you to track wins, losses, and scores across the tournament, creating a transparent and engaging experience for everyone.
Consolation bracket
A consolation bracket is a secondary bracket used in a tournament to give eliminated participants or teams a chance to compete for a lower-ranking prize or recognition after their initial elimination. It’s often paired with formats like single-elimination or double-elimination tournaments to ensure that participants who are knocked out early still get to compete for something, usually placing higher in the rankings than those who were eliminated at the same stage.
When to use:
- For larger tournaments where multiple rounds are involved and you want to keep all participants involved, even after elimination.
- When you want to add an extra layer of competition, such as ranking participants beyond just the first place.
Example in Mural:
When building a consolation bracket, create pairings based on previous results and update matchups after each round. This format works well for tracking standings and scheduling future matches with minimal effort.
How to make a tournament bracket and use it with your team
Creating a tournament bracket for your team activities or competitions is easier than ever. With the right tools and a clear process, you can streamline the entire workflow and make it a fun, collaborative experience for everyone involved. Here’s how you can get started:
Step 1: Define the purpose of the bracket
Before you dive into creating your tournament bracket, it’s important to brainstorm and clearly define the purpose of your event. Are you hosting a friendly competition to build team spirit, or is it a high-stakes tournament with prizes at stake? The purpose will influence the structure, rules, and overall feel of the competition. By setting a clear goal, you’ll be able to design a bracket that aligns with your objectives, whether it’s fostering creativity, testing skills, or simply having fun.
Step 2: Use a diagram maker to create the outline of a bracket
Now that you’ve defined the purpose and goal, it’s time to design the bracket. Using a diagram maker like Mural allows you to create a clear, visual structure for your tournament. Mural’s intuitive drag-and-drop interface lets you easily build tournament brackets, whether you’re organizing a single-elimination, double-elimination, or round-robin format.
With Mural, you can:
- Easily drag teams or participants into the bracket.
- Customize the layout to match your tournament style.
- Adjust the number of matchups or rounds to fit your competition size.
This structured outline ensures that everyone involved knows exactly when and where they’ll be competing.
Step 3: Establish evaluation criteria
To ensure that your tournament is fair and meaningful, you need to establish clear evaluation criteria. These criteria will help you determine how matchups are decided, how winners are judged, and what metrics you’ll use to evaluate performance. Consider the following when defining your criteria:
- Skill level: Are you judging participants based on technical ability, creativity, or teamwork?
- Performance: Are there specific challenges or tasks each team must complete?
- Audience engagement: Is fan support a factor in determining winners?
- Creativity: Are teams encouraged to bring innovative ideas to the table?
These criteria should align with your tournament’s goal and be clearly communicated to all participants in advance.
Step 4: Run the tournament process
Once everything is set up, it’s time to run the tournament! Here's how you can keep the event organized and engaging:
- Host discussions or presentations for each matchup, where participants can present arguments or strategies before each round. This helps build excitement and adds a layer of interaction.
- Use Mural’s voting feature or anonymous polls to allow the audience to vote on winners, or to decide on tie-breakers. This brings in a collaborative aspect that involves everyone, creating a dynamic and fun atmosphere.
- Track progress live: As matches progress, keep the bracket updated in real time. Mural’s live updates ensure that everyone has access to the latest results and can follow the action as it unfolds.
Step 5: Finalize and implement the decision
Once your tournament has come to a close, it’s important to finalize the outcome and ensure all participants are aligned:
- Document the final results: Capture the winning team, key moments, and any other important details to share with your participants and audience.
- Evaluate the process: Reflect on how the tournament went, what worked, and what could be improved for next time. Gathering feedback from participants can help refine the experience for future events.
- Celebrate the winners: Recognize the winning teams or individuals and celebrate their success, whether it’s through prizes, certificates, or just a round of applause.
Create a tournament bracket on Mural to foster teamwork and innovation
Mural is a powerful visual collaboration platform that helps teams, educators, and event organizers bring their ideas to life through interactive, creative diagrams. Whether you're planning a sports tournament, gaming event, or a friendly competition, Mural's intuitive interface makes it easier than ever to design and manage tournament brackets in a way that's not only effective but also enjoyable.
With Mural's diagram maker (or tournament bracket template), you can quickly create as many tournament brackets as you need, all while customizing them to fit your specific competition format. It’s a simple yet powerful solution for visualizing complex tournament structures, ensuring that everyone involved can easily follow along and stay engaged.
Key features of Mural and how they streamline the creative process
- Interactive diagram maker: Create and customize tournament brackets with drag-and-drop ease. Choose your preferred layout, add matchups, and adjust as needed, all in real-time.
- Collaborative environment: Invite team members, participants, or colleagues to collaborate on your tournament brackets. Everyone can contribute, comment, and make live edits, ensuring seamless teamwork.
- Template library: Start with pre-designed templates tailored for different types of tournaments — whether you're running a single-elimination, round-robin, or double-elimination event. Save time and effort while ensuring your brackets are professional and functional.
- Customizable visuals: Adjust colors, shapes, and sizes to suit your branding or personal style. Make your tournament brackets visually appealing and easy to follow for both participants and spectators.
- Cloud-based access: Access and edit your tournament brackets from anywhere, on any device. No more worrying about lost files or outdated versions — everything is updated in real-time.
- Time-saving integrations: Connect Mural with your favorite tools, like Slack or Microsoft Teams, to ensure your tournament planning is aligned with the rest of your workflow.
Sign up for Mural today and start creating dynamic, engaging tournament brackets that will captivate your audience and participants alike. Whether you're organizing a sports league, eSports event, or friendly competition, Mural makes it easy and fun to design the perfect bracket!
