A report on my first live example using a table format instead of a tree format
to run
an elimination list in an SCA combat tournament. It worked pretty well.
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Using a table format to run a list,
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| Updated: Jun 17, 2005 |
FAIR WARNING: This page is somewhat long ...
The Sword and Mistletoe Tourney is hosted annually by the Barony of Iron Mountain (based in Birmingham, Alabama) in the SCA Kingdom of Meridies. In December 1999, thirty fighters entered the tourney that I'd volunteered to run. I had two "fields", so I ran a list of sixteen and a list of fourteen simultaneously. As there should have been, there were exactly 59 bouts.
I made sure the index cards for the fighters were marked with the list ID (A or B) and the fighter's number within the list: A-1 through A-16 and B-1 through B-14.
For each list, I kept a stack (well, technically a queue) of cards for winners and one for losers based only on the result of the previous bout. When it was time to send out another pair, I found a pair for fighters that hadn't fought each other already in the tourney and sent them out.
This wasn't quite as organized as waiting until all the bouts in a given round had been fought and then assigning bouts — like I do in the fictional examples...
Introduction - Example 1 — Example 2 — Example 3 — Example 4
LIST "A" (18 fighters)
ROUND ONE
Note: If this stuff doesn't make sense, the pages linked above explain it in more detail.
Results:
Ftr Round
1
1 9/W
2 10/L
3 11/W
4 12/L
5 13/L
6 14/L
7 15/W
8 16/L
9 1/L
10 2/W
11 3/L
12 4/W
13 5/W
14 6/W
15 7/L
16 8/W
If you like, you can skip ahead to the last round of this list or the final bouts of the tourney.
ROUND TWO
Keeping winners with winners (based on the previous round) and alternating "winner" bouts with "loser" bouts (again, based only on the previous round), the pairings I assigned were:
#1-#10, #9-#2, #3-#12, #11-#4, #13-#14, #5-#6, #7-#16, #15-#8
Results:
Ftr Round
1 2
1 9/W 10/L
2 10/L 9/W
3 11/W 12/W
4 12/L 11/L out
5 13/L 6/L out
6 14/L 5/W
7 15/W 16/L
8 16/L 15/W
9 1/L 2/L out
10 2/W 1/W
11 3/L 4/W
12 4/W 3/L
13 5/W 14/L
14 6/W 13/W
15 7/L 8/L out
16 8/W 7/W
Remaining fighters, by bout, winners first: #10-#1, #2, #3-#12, #11, #14-#13, #6, #16-#7, #8.
ROUND THREE
The pairings: #10-#3, #1-#12, #2-#11, #13-#7, #6-#16, #14-#8.
Results:
Ftr Round
1 2 3
1 9/W 10/L 12/L out
2 10/L 9/W 11/W
3 11/W 12/W 10/W
4 12/L 11/L
5 13/L 6/L
6 14/L 5/W 16/W
7 15/W 16/L 13/W
8 16/L 15/W 14/L out
9 1/L 2/L
10 2/W 1/W 3/L
11 3/L 4/W 2/L out
12 4/W 3/L 1/W
13 5/W 14/L 7/L out
14 6/W 13/W 8/W
15 7/L 8/L
16 8/W 7/W 6/L
Remaining fighters, by bout, winners first: #3-#10, #12, #2, #7, #6-#16, #14.
ROUND FOUR
The pairings, not necessarily in this order, were:
#3-#7, #10-#16, #12-#6, #2-#14.
[ Had I stopped
and analyzed the situation, I probably should have assigned this:
#3-#2,
#6-#12, #10-#16, #7-#14. ]
Results:
Ftr Round
1 2 3 4
1 9/W 10/L 12/L
2 10/L 9/W 11/W 14/W
3 11/W 12/W 10/W 7/W
4 12/L 11/L
5 13/L 6/L
6 14/L 5/W 16/W 12/L out
7 15/W 16/L 13/W 3/L out
8 16/L 15/W 14/L
9 1/L 2/L
10 2/W 1/W 3/L 16/L out
11 3/L 4/W 2/L
12 4/W 3/L 1/W 6/W
13 5/W 14/L 7/L
14 6/W 13/W 8/W 2/L
15 7/L 8/L
16 8/W 7/W 6/L 10/W
Remaining fighters, by bout, winners first: #3, #16, #12, #2-#14.
ROUND FIVE
Pairings: #3-#16, #12-#2, (#14 got a pass and should get the first fight in the next round).
Results:
Ftr Round
1 2 3 4 5
1 9/W 10/L 12/L
2 10/L 9/W 11/W 14/W 12/W
3 11/W 12/W 10/W 7/W 16/L
4 12/L 11/L
5 13/L 6/L
6 14/L 5/W 16/W 12/L
7 15/W 16/L 13/W 3/L
8 16/L 15/W 14/L
9 1/L 2/L
10 2/W 1/W 3/L 16/L
11 3/L 4/W 2/L
12 4/W 3/L 1/W 6/W 2/L out
13 5/W 14/L 7/L
14 6/W 13/W 8/W 2/L pass
15 7/L 8/L
16 8/W 7/W 6/L 10/W 3/W
Remaining fighters, by bout, winners first: #16-#3, #2, (#14).
ROUND SIX
Pairings: #3-#14, #16-#2.
[ Perhaps I should have done this? ... #16-#14, #3-#2. ]
Results:
Ftr Round
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 9/W 10/L 12/L
2 10/L 9/W 11/W 14/W 12/W 16/W
3 11/W 12/W 10/W 7/W 16/L 14/L out
4 12/L 11/L
5 13/L 6/L
6 14/L 5/W 16/W 12/L
7 15/W 16/L 13/W 3/L
8 16/L 15/W 14/L
9 1/L 2/L
10 2/W 1/W 3/L 16/L
11 3/L 4/W 2/L
12 4/W 3/L 1/W 6/W 2/L
13 5/W 14/L 7/L
14 6/W 13/W 8/W 2/L pass 3/W
15 7/L 8/L
16 8/W 7/W 6/L 10/W 3/W 2/L out
ROUND SEVEN
Remaining: #2, #14.
Result: #14 won.
At this point two fighters were left in the other list, so #14 got some
more time to rest.
LIST "B" (14 fighters)
As noted previously, I ran this list simultaneously with the list above.
ROUND ONE
Ftr Round
1
1 8/W
2 9/L
3 10/W
4 11/L
5 12/W
6 13/L
7 14/L
8 1/L
9 2/W
10 3/L
11 4/W
12 5/L
13 6/W
14 7/W
The bouts with winners first were: #1-#8, #9-#2, #3-#10, #11-#4, #5-#12, #13-#6, #14-#7.
The second and fourth bouts were mis-reported at first, but corrected
soon thereafter.
This likely contributed to the weird timing of the bouts in the next round.
ROUND TWO
The pairings assigned, though not necessarily in this order, were:
#1-#9, #8-#2, #3-#5, #10-#7, #11-#13, #4-#6, #12-#14.
[ What I would have assigned, had I stopped and analyzed the situation:
#1-#9, #8-#2, #3-#11, #10-#4, #5-#13, #12-#14, #6-#7. ]
Results:
Ftr Round
1 2
1 8/W 9/W
2 9/L 8/W
3 10/W 5/W
4 11/L 6/W
5 12/W 3/L
6 13/L 4/L out
7 14/L 10/L out
8 1/L 2/L out
9 2/W 1/L
10 3/L 7/W
11 4/W 13/L
12 5/L 14/L out
13 6/W 11/W
14 7/W 12/W
Remaining fighters, by bout, winners first: #1-#9, #2, #3-#5, #10, #11-#13,
#4, #14.
ROUND THREE
The pairings, not necessarily in this order, were:
#1-#2, #9-#5, #3-#4, #13-#14 (unavoidable mismatch), #10-#11.
Results:
Ftr Round
1 2 3
1 8/W 9/W 2/W
2 9/L 8/W 1/L out
3 10/W 5/W 4/L
4 11/L 6/W 3/W
5 12/W 3/L 9/W
6 13/L 4/L
7 14/L 10/L
8 1/L 2/L
9 2/W 1/L 5/L out
10 3/L 7/W 11/L out
11 4/W 13/L 10/W
12 5/L 14/L
13 6/W 11/W 14/L
14 7/W 12/W 13/W
Remaining fighters, by bout, winners first: #1, #5, #3-#4, #13-#14, #11.
ROUND FOUR
The pairings, not necessarily in this order, were:
#1-#5, #3-#13, #4-#14, (#11 got a pass).
Results:
Ftr Round
1 2 3 4
1 8/W 9/W 2/W 5/W
2 9/L 8/W 1/L
3 10/W 5/W 4/L 13/W
4 11/L 6/W 3/W 14/W
5 12/W 3/L 9/W 1/L out
6 13/L 4/L
7 14/L 10/L
8 1/L 2/L
9 2/W 1/L 5/L
10 3/L 7/W 11/L
11 4/W 13/L 10/W pass
12 5/L 14/L
13 6/W 11/W 14/L 3/L out
14 7/W 12/W 13/W 4/L
Remaining fighters, by bout, winners first: #1, #3, #4-#14, (#11).
ROUND FIVE
Pairings: #1-#11, #3-#4, (#14 got a pass).
[ What I should have assigned: #11-#3, #1-#4 ]
Results:
Ftr Round
1 2 3 4 5
1 8/W 9/W 2/W 5/W 11/W
2 9/L 8/W 1/L
3 10/W 5/W 4/L 13/W 4/L out
4 11/L 6/W 3/W 14/W 3/W
5 12/W 3/L 9/W 1/L
6 13/L 4/L
7 14/L 10/L
8 1/L 2/L
9 2/W 1/L 5/L
10 3/L 7/W 11/L
11 4/W 13/L 10/W pass 1/L out
12 5/L 14/L
13 6/W 11/W 14/L 3/L
14 7/W 12/W 13/W 4/L pass
ROUND SIX
Pairing: #14-#4, (#1 got a pass).
#1 was undefeated, so it was decided to put #4 and #14 against each
other again
(a re-match of Round Four).
[ What I should have done: give #4 a pass and put #1 vs #14 to prevent the repeat. ]
Result: #4 won. This left fighters #1 and #4.
THE FINAL BOUTS OF THE TOURNEY
From List B, #1 fought #4 — and lost.
Fighter #1 then had a record of 5-1 and #4 had a record of 6-1.
Fighter #B-1 then fought the winner of List A (#A-14)... who also had a record of 5-1.
The winner, #B-1.
So, #B-1 and #B-4, both with a record of 6-1, faced each other in the finals. Though each fighter already had a loss, it was decided to make the final two out of three bouts. The "clean slate" option is used a lot here in Meridies. Winner: #B-1 in three bouts. (Several years later, he won Crown List!)
EPILOG
This was my first time using a table format for a live tourney. It wasn't easy as I had hoped, but I *was* running two lists concurrently... My attempts to schedule the bouts evenly to give the fighters a more equal amount of rest wasn't as good as I had hoped either, but the tourney ended about 20 minutes earlier than expected ... yay!
My article on field heraldry has some notes on how to speed up tourneys. I was allowed to lead the assembled fighters in a set of pre-tourney salutes, which must have saved at least a few minutes from the fighters doing several salutes before each bout — at least until the finals, of course.
I also read out ALL the pairings for the first round for both lists (and forgot to do it again for later rounds — I got caught up with just keeping it all going).
Overall though for a first effort, I think I did fine. What do you think?
Your feedback is most welcome!
My nifty email form stopped working ... but you can still send me email if you would like to.
Original page posted: December
27, 1999. Last tweaked:
July 1, 2006.
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]
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