Many Lights Tools

Round-robin schedule maker with court assignment

Enter one team name per line and choose the number of courts, and the tool makes a round-robin schedule. You get the matches of each round, the court and time of every match, a list for each team and a results grid to fill in, and you can print them or save a CSV file. Back-to-back matches and uneven use of courts are reduced as far as it can. Points and standings are not calculated yet.

Made for people who organize tournaments, leagues, and workplace or community matches.

Teams

The names are used on this device only. They are not sent or stored.

Settings
Times (optional)

To show times, enter both the start time and the length of one match.

How to use

  1. Enter the team names, one per line (3 to 32). Choose the number of courts, and one or two rounds.
  2. To show times, enter a start time and the length of one match (optional). You can also shuffle the order of the names and enter an event name.
  3. Press “Make the schedule”. Then tick the tables you want and press “Print”, or press “Save as CSV”.

Frequently asked questions

Are the names I enter sent anywhere?
No. The schedule is worked out entirely in your browser. The names are used only on the screen, in the printout and in the CSV file; they are not sent anywhere and are not stored. They are gone when you close the page. The page only sends anonymous counts: that a page was opened, and that an action such as “a schedule was made” or “the print dialog was opened” happened. See the Privacy Policy.
What method does it use?
The circle method. One team is held fixed and the others are rotated, so that in every round each team plays exactly once. With an odd number of teams, one team has a bye in each round. A double round repeats the same pairings with home and away swapped.
Will back-to-back matches and uneven courts disappear?
They are reduced as far as the tool can, but may not disappear. Matches are assigned so that the same team does not appear in consecutive slots (a slot is a set of matches played at the same time) and so that each team does not stick to one court. When there are many courts for the number of teams, some back-to-back matches cannot be avoided. The table “Court assignment and back-to-back matches” in the result shows, for each team, the number of back-to-back matches and the court imbalance (matches on its busiest court minus matches on its quietest court). The assignment may not be the best possible.
How are home and away decided?
In a single round, the difference between a team's home and away matches is at most 2 (byes are not counted). In a double round the two are equal. The home and away order follows a mechanical rule based on the order of the pairings; venues and travel are not taken into account.
Does it calculate points or standings?
Not at the moment. The “results grid” is an empty table for you to fill in by hand.
How many teams can I enter?
3 to 32 teams, and up to 16 courts. A name can be up to 40 characters, and the same name cannot be used twice (names that differ only in full-width and half-width letters, or in upper and lower case, count as the same). Empty lines are skipped.
What if there are more courts than needed?
Courts beyond the number of matches that can be played at once (half the number of teams, rounded down) are not used. The number of courts used is shown in the result.
What does the CSV look like?
It is saved as UTF-8 with a BOM so that Excel can open it. The columns are round, slot, time, court, home, away and the bye for that round. So that Excel does not run a name as a formula, a name that starts with = + - or @ is saved with a ' in front.
How do I print?
Tick the tables you want (matches by round, schedule for each team, results grid) and press “Print”. Your browser's print dialog opens, and only the tables you chose come out on paper. To keep a PDF, set the destination to “Save as PDF”. The results grid gets wide with many teams, so setting the orientation to landscape in the print dialog makes it easier to read.
Does it cost anything?
It is free, and there is no sign-up.

Before you use it