Tournament Team Play Types Win Games Court Double Elimination

In this episode, we discussed two types of tournaments: double-elimination tournaments and round-robin tournaments. But there are several other common types in U.S. sports. These include single-elimination, up and down, and consolation tournaments.

"Whereas" (while, used for contrast) the double-elimination tournament makes it possible for a team to still win the tournament even after it has lost one game, a "single-elimination tournament" makes that impossible. In a single-elimination tournament, as soon as a team loses a game, it cannot win the tournament.

An "up and down tournament" is used when there isn't very much time, or when there aren't enough "courts" or "fields" (the places where the game is played) for all the teams. This is a common tournament type in elementary and junior high schools. All the teams play "simultaneous" (happening at the same time) games for a specified period of time. When that time ends (even if individual games have not ended), the winners move "up" to a lower-numbered court or field and the losers move "down" to a higher-numbered court or field. When the tournament ends, the winning team is in the lowest-numbered court or field.

A "consolation" tournament allows teams to continue to play even when it is clear that they cannot win the tournament. As teams lose games in the main bracket, they are moved to a second bracket where they can continue to play against other teams that have lost games. In this type of tournament, each team gets to play at least two games.