Tournament Builder: Getting Started Guide (OLD)
Last updated - Feb 27, 2020
Overview
Step 1: Create a new tournament
Step 2: Add players
Adding individual players
Importing multiple players
Step 3: Add tables
Adding a single table
Adding multiple tables
Step 4: Starting the tournament
Scoring matches
Tips & Tricks
Tournament Builder Key Features
Overview
This guide is designed to help you get started using the DigitalPool Tournament Builder software to create and run your next pool tournament. Please keep in mind this software is in Beta and still under active development. We are looking for feedback and beta testers, so if you would like to get involved, please email contact@digitalpool.com for more information. Our goal is to create the best software to run pool tournaments of any type, size, and format.
Step 1: Create a new tournament
https://digitalpool.com/tournament-builder/new
Note: If you select “public” under access when creating your new tournament, it will become visible in the public tournaments page (https://digitalpool.com/tournaments) that anyone can see and access (even without an account).
You can then navigate to your tournament detail page and share that link with other people who may want to see the standings, bracket, live match scores etc. For an example see: https://digitalpool.com/tournaments/2020-predator-dfw-9ball-tour-stop-1-rustys
Form fields to fill out and their purpose:
Name (required)
This field is required and every tournament name should be unique to avoid duplicate entries
Description (optional)
Optional but helpful if you want to include special details that people should know about. This will appear on the public tournament list and tournament detail pages. E.g. https://digitalpool.com/tournaments
Start date & time (required)
When the tournament is scheduled to begin
End date & time (required)
When the tournament is scheduled to be over
Venue (required for now)
Where the tournament will take place at (you can add new venues or select from venues already in the system). I may make this optional to allow for venues like home residences that should not be made public.
Player type (required)
The player format that will be used for the tournament
Singles
Doubles
Scotch doubles
Teams
Tournament type (required)
The format that will be used to run the tournament (grey options are not yet supported).
Double elimination - Players are eliminated after 2 losses
Available
Single elimination - Players are eliminated after 1 loss
Coming soon
Single modified - It has a partial losers side of the bracket that allows multiple people to eventually come back to the winner's side (and at that point, it's simply a single elimination bracket).
Coming soon
Round robin - Everyone plays everyone else
Coming soon
Knockout - Single elimination and a new draw occurs each round (Derby city classic format)
Coming soon
Multi-stage - Multiple brackets converge into one single elimination bracket after a predetermined number of rounds.
Coming soon
Game type (required)
The type(s) of games that will be played in the tournament
Bank pool
Eight ball
Nine ball
One pocket
Snooker
Straight pool
Mixed
Winners race to (required for now)
The number of games required to win a match on the winners side (used for double elimination tournaments)
Losers race to (required for now)
The number of games required to win a match on the losers side (used for double elimination tournaments)
Max players (required)
The size of bracket you wish to create. You can change this setting later but you will need to reset the bracket afterwards (soon this value will be determined automatically by the number of players added to the player list).
4
8
16
32
64
128
256
512
Rating system (optional)
Which rating system to use. In the future this may automatically determine races based on individual player handicaps such as APA or Fargo ratings. Currently all larger tournament results are reported to Fargo.
Fargo Rate
APA
A,B,C,D
Local
In-house
No handicap (even race)
Break format (optional)
What break format should be used throughout the tournament for all matches
Winner break format
Loser break format
Alternate break format
Rules (optional)
Which rule format to use for all matches in the tournament
WPA rules
BCA rules
APA rules
Local rules
Other
Entry fee (optional)
How much it costs each player to enter the tournament
Added money (optional)
Any money that will be added to the tournament payouts
Payout type (optional)
How the payouts will be disbursed. In the future this can be used to determine payout structures automatically using percentages and other formulas.
Winner take all
Top heavy
Deep
Custom
Draw type (optional)
How the bracket should be seeded
Random draw - Match up players at random
Seeded draw - Match up players based on skill level (best for larger events that have pros in the field or where order is important)
Custom draw - In the future custom logic could be applied to seed the bracket
Sign up cutoff time (optional)
When players are no longer allowed to sign up for the tournament
At start time
10 minutes before
15 minutes before
30 minutes before
1 hour before
2 hours before
6 hours before
1 day before
2 days before
No cutoff time
Allow players to RSVP (optional)
In the future this will be used to allow players to RSVP for the tournament online or using the player app (currently in development).
Yes or no
Use text MMS/SMS messaging (optional)
When enabled, players that have phone numbers entered in the player list will receive text messages when their match has been assigned to a table.
E.g. “Your match against John Doe has been assigned to table 5. You go to 5 and John goes to 4.”
Consolidation finals (optional)
Some tournaments use a true double elimination format in the finals that requires the loser bracket winner to defeat the undefeated winner twice in order to win the tournament. This field adds a consolidation final to the bracket to handle this format.
Access (optional)
This determines if the tournament is shown on the public pages or not (you can always change it later if you want). This is useful if you want to make a tournament private while setting it up or if you want to keep the draw results private if you are running a calcutta or something similar
Step 2: Add players
You can add players individually or many at once by using the Player Import feature. If you include phone numbers, you will be able to send SMS notifications to those players during the tournament. After adding your players, head over to the bracket page to start managing your tournament
Note: After completing step 1, step 2 and 3 will become available.
Adding individual players
Start by clicking the “Add Player” button to start adding players.
Form fields to fill out and their purpose:
Name (required)
The name of the player
Nickname (optional)
An optional nickname the player prefers to go by E.g. Earl “The Pearl” Strickland
Email (optional)
Useful in the future for sending email invites to players to join your tournament
Phone number (optional)
Useful if you wish to enable match assignment SMS messages (require SMS messaging to be enabled in the tournament configuration)
Country (optional)
A nice to have if players would like to represent their nationality during a tournament. This will display a Flag next to their name in the brackets, live table scores, stats and standings.
Special group (optional)
This can be used for anything you wish to track about each player
E.g. Top female, High run winner, Raffle winner, Most improved player, etc.
Seed (optional)
This field is dynamically set when seeding the bracket but you can override it. In the future this will be handy for creating your own custom seeding order.
Skill level (optional)
Useful to keep track of each players skill level / handicap (APA 7, Fargo 540, A+ player etc)
In the future this field can also be used to dynamically assign races based on a pre-defined algorithm. E.g. Fargo race charts, APA handicap race chart etc.
Race to (optional)
This can be used to override the number of games a player must go to to win each match. Useful if there are Pro players in the field or race handicaps in place.
Status (optional)
Useful for tracking the status of each player and if they have paid or not.
Confirmed - Signed up and paid
RSVP - Expressed commitment to join the tournament and reserve a spot (not yet paid).
Unconfirmed - Signed up but not yet paid
Waiting list - Signed up but put on the waiting list due to the tournament already being full.
Importing multiple players
Start by clicking the “Import Players” button to start adding players.
Upload a spreadsheet of players containing these columns (any order is fine):
Name (required)
Email
Phone number (there is validation in place that checks for duplicate phone numbers)
Skill level
Race to
Country
Tip: Download one of the sample spreadsheets of different bracket sizes as a template to work from.
Step 3: Add tables
You can add tables individually or multiple at once. In the near future you will also be able to automatically import tables from the selected tournament venue (if any exist).
Note: After completing step 1, step 2 and 3 will become available.
Adding a single table
Start by clicking the “Add Player” button to start adding players.
Form fields to fill out and their purpose:
Label (required)
How to refer to this table (E.g. Table 1)
Manufacturer (optional)
The make of the table
Diamond
Brunswick
Valley
Rasson
Gabriels
Imperial
Olhausen
Size (optional)
The size of the table
6.5 Foot
7 Foot
8 Foot
9 Foot
10 Foot
12 Foot (Snooker)
Streaming table (optional)
Useful if your tournament has a live streaming or PPV table for featured matches. Enabling this will make the table appear red in the live table scores screen and all matches assigned to this table will be colored red in the bracket.
Livestream URL (optional)
Including a link here will enable a Livestream link button in the live scoring and tournament brackets pages.
A scoring overlay can also be used together with software like OBS as a layer. The link to the overlay can be found here:
You can find an example here - https://digitalpool.com/tournaments/test-tournament-11414/overlay
Featured table (optional)
Useful to designate a table to be used for featured matches. include live streaming.
Status
The current status of the table
Open - Available to assign matches to
Closed - Not available to assign matches to
In-use - Currently being used and unable to assign new matches to.
Adding multiple tables
Start by clicking the “Add Player” button to start adding players.
Form fields to fill out and their purpose:
Start number (required)
The first table number to in the range to create
This field combined with the end number field allow you to generate multiple tables in a range. (E.g. entering 1 and 10 would generate 10 tables with names starting with Table 1, Table 2, Table 3, …Table 10)
End number (required)
The last table number in the range to create
This field combined with the start number field allow you to generate multiple tables in a range. (E.g. entering 1 and 10 would generate 10 tables with names starting with Table 1, Table 2, Table 3, …Table 10)
Manufacturer (optional)
The make of the table
Diamond
Brunswick
Valley
Rasson
Gabriels
Imperial
Olhausen
Size (optional)
The size of the table
6.5 Foot
7 Foot
8 Foot
9 Foot
10 Foot
12 Foot (Snooker)
Step 4: Starting the tournament
Start by navigating to the Bracket page and clicking the “Start Tournament” button to start the tournament clock and seed the bracket with first round matches.
After clicking “Start Tournament” you should see the first round filled with matches.
You can then manually assign matches to tables, or click the “Assign Matches to Open Tables” Button to automatically assign matches to any open tables in order starting with match #1.
Congratulations! Your tournament is now up and running.
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