A fun tournament isn't about who's the best – it's about giving as many members as possible a great time together. Yet the tournament format is often decided almost as an afterthought, the same way it was done last year. In reality, it's the one lever that determines the whole character of the tournament.
The Honest Question First: Should the Strongest Win?
This question sounds trivial, but it decides everything that follows. For a club championship, the answer is obviously yes – the format then has to reflect playing strength accurately, or the title is worthless.
For a fun tournament, the honest answer is: it barely matters. The winner gets applause and maybe a small prize. That's exactly why the format is allowed to leave room for chance here.
Anyone who skips this question often ends up choosing a format that works against their own event: in the worst case, a knockout tournament where half the people are standing on the sidelines checking their phones after twenty minutes.
What Works for Us: Doubles with Random Pairings
Our recipe for the annual fun tournament is a doubles tournament with a round-robin system, where pairings are redrawn every round. Not fixed teams that stay together all evening – instead, a new partner and new opponents every round.
The effect is bigger than it looks on paper:
- You end up playing alongside people you'd otherwise never be paired with
- Weaker players are carried by stronger partners instead of being shown up
- Stronger players have to adapt their game – more demanding than it sounds
- A loss doesn't stick, because everything is new again next round anyway
There's a final ranking at the end, sure, but honestly, people talk afterwards about the pairings, not the points. That's exactly the point of the exercise.
Why We Don't Separate by Gender
Instead of classic men's / women's categories, we draw the pairings for our fun tournament completely at random. Sometimes a man plays with a woman against two women, sometimes two men against two women.
Important: Should the draw result in a very large gap in strength between two teams, members are free to swap partners on the court before the match. The goal is the most balanced matches possible, rather than lopsided ones.
The Problem of an Awkward Number of Participants
Doubles needs groups of four. As long as 12, 16 or 20 people show up, the maths works out. But often it's 13. Or 14. Then the question becomes what happens with the rest.
The maths behind it is refreshingly simple:
| Number of participants | What's possible |
|---|---|
| Divisible by 4 (12, 16, 20) | Everyone plays doubles, nobody sits out |
| Even, not by 4 (14, 18) | One singles match per round fills the gap – everyone plays |
| Odd (13, 15, 17) | At least one person sits out each round |
An inserted singles match is the more elegant solution here than a forced sit-out – but only under one condition: singles matches should be assigned as fairly as possible, so nobody has to play a second singles match early on while others haven't played one at all.
The same goes for sitting out: rotation has to be fair. Anyone who sits out twice while others play straight through goes home with a sour taste.
When a Different Format Is the Better Choice
To be clear – random doubles aren't a cure-all:
- Club championship with a title: There's no way around a Swiss or knockout system here. A randomly assembled winner convinces nobody.
- A very competitive field: If everyone genuinely wants to fight for every point, the Swiss system produces the more balanced matches – opponents with a similar record face each other.
- You want a final moment: A knockout bracket with a real final creates tension a round-robin never has. A group stage beforehand cushions early eliminations.
A more detailed comparison of the three systems, including timing and a checklist for tournament day, is in our article Organising a Fun Tournament.
Exactly What the Club Turnier Manager Is For
Random doubles pairings round after round, gender-independent or separate, with automatically inserted singles matches and fairly rotating sit-outs – the app handles the bookkeeping. Offline in the browser, no installation.
Try It NowConclusion
The best tournament format isn't the most sophisticated one, it's the one that fits the occasion. For a club evening where everyone should have fun, we've found the round-robin system with randomly drawn doubles works well – gender-independent, with an inserted singles match whenever the number of participants calls for it. It's the format with the fewest losers and the most stories by the end of the evening.